140 



On the Language of the 



[July 



well as with the Malay tongue, the lingua franca of the Indian Archi- 

 pelago. The Batla language itself has several dialects ; specimens of 

 those of the Karau-karau and Perdimbanan tribes, are afforded by 

 Mr. Anderson in his mission to Sumatra. Of their books we have 

 little or no account ; Leyden, with all his research, was unable to pro- 

 cure more than the names, merely, of the following, viz. 



1. Siva Marangaja, 3. Raja Ssiri, 



2. Siva Jarang Mundopa, 4. Malamdeva. 



Baffles mentions the subjoined, as books of which the names and 

 contents, were furnished him, by a chief named Rajah Bandar a, 



1. Dha'un ; on medicine. 



2. Pelu on Balangkahan Malay ; on Astrology. 



3. Tandong ; on the art of war. 



4. Rumba ; on ditto. — This is referred to in cases of the last extre- 

 .mity. 



5. Pangram Bui : Rules for taking up proper positions, &c. in war. 

 With regard to the Battas themselves, Sir Stamford Raffles appears 



to have been misinformed, when he describes them as being one exten- 

 sive nation ; the fact is, they are a collection of tribes, under as many 

 chiefs, inhabiting, principally, the interior of that part of Sumatra, 

 which lies between Achin and the now decayed empire of Menang 

 caboioe. 



Sir Stamford states these to have a regular government, written 

 codes of laws, a religion peculiar to themselves ; acknowledging the 

 one, and only, great God, and a trinity of deities created by him. They 

 also believe in an evil deity, and a spiritual existence after death. 

 Their population is estimated between one and two millions. 



Serious, and some improbable, charges of cannibalism have been 

 brought against them by Beaulieu, Marsden, Leyden, Raffles, Ander- 

 son, Burton and Ward* ; but all agree in pronouncing them to be a 

 warlike, independent, and generally intelligent race of men. Authen- 

 tic information touching their literature, language, state of civilization, 

 laws, religion, manners and customs, still remains a great desideratum 

 in the history of Eastern Asia — a hiatus which it is to be hoped will 

 3be ere long filled up, by bur Dutch neighbours in the straits, who are 

 now actively engaged in attempts to subjugate that part of Sumatra. 



I have the honor to be, &c. 

 To the Secretary (Signed) T. J. Newbold. 



Asiatic Department, Madras Literary Society. 



* This question is set at rest by the conclusive evidence adduced by Captain Low in 

 his account of the Batta Race in Sumatra, contained in the third No. of the Journal of 

 the Royal Asiatic Society, where the fact of their cannibal propensities is stated, on 

 sufficient authority, to have been testified by several chiefs of that people.^iftfaYoT-. 



