INHABITANTS OF SUMATEA. 103 



neighbours, except that they are more robust and of lighter complexion, and their 

 superiors in the qualities of truthfulness, honesty, and courage. Armed with a 

 simple stake they boldly attack the tiger, but, like the northern Orang-Lubu, 

 avoid all personal contact with the Chinese and Malay dealers. The Kubu 

 language is closely related to the current Malay speech. 



The Nias axd Mentawey Islanders. 



The natives of tlie West Sumatran islands are of diverse origin. Those of 

 Simalu (Babi) in the north descend from Menangkabao immigrants mixed with 

 Achinese blood. The Banjak islanders are also sprung from Malays and 

 Achinese, who arrived from the mainland about two hundred years ago. Bangkara, 

 the westernmost member of the group, is still uninhabited, and is even avoided, 

 through dread of the " evil sjîirits " by whom it is supposed to be peopled. 



The Ono Niha, or "children of men," as the Nias islanders are called, number, 

 according to Von Rosenberg, about two hundred and forty thousand souls, who, 

 however, have not all been yet brought under the Dutch, administration. Most 

 writers agree with Junghuhn in regarding them as of Batta stock. But although 

 the physical and moral resemblances are numerous, the contrasts ai^e also very 

 striking. Even the northern and southern Nias people themselves differ greatly 

 in their usages, and do not recognise themselves as of common kindred. If the 

 Ono Niha are really of Batta origin, the separation must have taken place in 

 extremely remote times. 



Both branches of the Nias group are usually cheerful, agreeable, courteous, 

 easily led by motives of self-love, always anxious to please, but extremely indolent, 

 except in some of the southern districts, where war is not carried on, as elsewhere, 

 by a system of ambuscades and nightly surprises. Hereditary hatreds are perpe- 

 tuated sometimes to the utter extinction of one or the other of the hostile factions. 

 The villages, especially in the north, attest the state of constant terror in which 

 the people pass their lives. Nowhere is an isolated hut to be seen, all being 

 grouped together on natural or artificial eminences encircled by ditches and 

 palisades. The dwellings themselves are raised on rows of piles, amid which the 

 pigs act as scavengers, thriving on the kitchen and other refuse. A ladder and 

 trap give access to the house, which affects the form of a large oval basket with a 

 high-pitched roof thatched with reeds, the projecting gables being everj^ where 

 decorated with the jawbones of hogs, attesting the wealth of the owner. To these 

 the southern village chiefs add the heads of their human victims, while the whole 

 is protected by effigies of the tutelar deity against the m;ichiuations of the foe and 

 the malevolent spirits At one end of the village stands the smith's house, to 

 which a magic virtue is also accredited, and for further security the entrance of 

 the enclosure is guarded by lofty statues of the tribal god and his wife. 



The Nias islanders are clever artisans, as shown by their well-constructed 

 houses and strongholds, their elegant and highly tempered weapons. They work 

 copper with taste, weave and dye their textile fabrics, make highly prized matting 



