48 ANIMAL FOOD RESOURCES OF DIFFERENT NATIONS. 



The mountains of the interior of the island of Celebes 

 were inhabited, according to Crawfurd, by savages, who, 

 like the wild races of Borneo, were professed head- 

 hunters, and some of them alleged to be cannibals. 



The Bataks, natives of part of Sumatra, he also tells 

 us, undoubtedly practised cannibalism. The victims 

 were enemies, criminals, and now and then a slave. 

 The skulls were preserved as trophies, or sold at a 

 handsome price to the friends of the victimised. ' Mr, 

 Anderson, who visited there in 1822, writes : — " I am 

 fully justified, not only from what I saw, and the proofs 

 in my possession, but from the concurring testimony of 

 the most respectable and intelligent natives whom I met, 

 in assei'ting that cannibalism prevails, even to a greater 

 extent on the east side of Sumatra, than, according to 

 the accounts received, it does on the west. For the sake 

 of humanity, however, be it mentioned that it is rapidly 

 decreasing as civilisation and commerce are advancing. 

 It is not for the sake of food that the natives devour 

 human flesh, but to gratify their malignant demon-like 

 feelings of animosity against their enemies." 



More recent Dutch wi'iters, in like manner, testify to 

 the cannibalism of the Bataks, stating at the same time, 

 that those subjected to the Dutch authority are readily 

 dissuaded from it. The cannibalism of these people 

 seems early to have been known to the Portuguese, for 

 De Barros, speaking of the natives of the interior of 

 Sumatra says : — " This was the race called Bataks, who- 

 eat human flesh, the most fierce and warlike people of 

 all the land." (Decade 3, Book V.) 



The Bataks inflicted the penalty of being eaten alive 

 on criminals who infringed their laws. Sir Stamford 

 Raffles, who was a spectator at one of these executions 

 in the commencement of the century, states that the vic- 

 tim, who was one convicted of adultery, was lashed to a 

 post, and the executioner, who was one of the principal 

 chiefs, demanded of the husband what part of the crimi- 

 nal he wished to eat. The ear being selected, it was cut 

 off" with a stroke of the sword and handed to him, and 



