were gathered in the dirt streets of the kempong as we entered. 
We parsed one house with some interesting colored carving - pro- 
bably a sort of club house - but the other houses were small end 
poor-looking, until we came to the Rajah's house. It was high, 
with the exaggerated pitch to the roof that is so characteristi- 
cally Batak, about thirty feet wide, and at least eighty long. 
The roof was thatched, the front gable was woven of colored palm, 
the walls were of logs and planks whitewashed. The doorway was 
reached bv six steep, cock-eyed steps, and over the entrance was 
hung the half palm leaf, similar to the one by the cmrian tree. 
Under the eaves was a mynah bird in a bamboo cage, and a string 
of wild boar jawbones. 
We climbed the steps and entered the dark, smoky interior 
of the house. The Rajah rose from the low bench on which he had 
been sitting, and came to meet us, shaking hands with each one 
and greeting us with "Moras!" He was dark and plump, rather coarse 
featured, about fifty years old, and had a bad cold. He wore a 
white shirt open at the neck, dark trousers, and a turban of 
brown batik . 
We had understood that the Rajah had a guest house which we 
were to occupy, but after some palaver our porters began to climb 
the steps to the house and bring all our belongings in, so it 
became rather obvious that we were going to live right witn the 
Rajah. Clean rattan mats had been spread on the floor, ana we 
unpacked our cots so we would have something to sit on. 
We found that we were in a room about SO x SO feet, with a 
small window on each side, and an open lattice work around the 
,,.11, a foot or so above the floor. The front door was a great 
heavy wooden affair, built in two parts that swung together and 
were closed with a wooden i . In the center of the room 
was an enormous post, carved in a small, all-over pattern, ana 
painted red, black and blue. In the reeai part of the room, on the 
right, was a small, enclosed room that was the Rajah's priv- te 
bedroom. On the left, to the reatf, was the fireplace, a slab 
of stone set in the floor, and covered with ashes. Over this 
w*®- two huge shelves supported by massive posts that came down 
from the ceiling but did not go all the way to the floor. It 
looked something like an old-fashioned four-poster bed upsiae 
down, and buffalo hides and other treasures were stored here. 
Along one wall were the various state uniforms hung on tadc^ 
poles. Overhead in the rafters were the weapons of generations - 
blow~guns, spears, blunderbuses, and fairly modern muskets. 
At the back of the room a dark and narrow doorway ^ led to the 
women's Quarters. Here one could always see a fire burning, 
and here 'the Rajah's five wives kept house for him. ^ p 
Vie asked to see the head wife, the Prl mrr i bon , and Mrs. 
Coenrapd and I presented her with a piece of silk we had brought 
as a gift. It was a two-yrrd length, enough to make the short 
jacket that the Batak women wear over their sarong, khe spoke 
no Malay, and we spoke no Batak, but she seemed pleased. 
The men settled down to explain to the Rajah what we 
wtnted in his village - namely, animals. Dr. Coenraad spoke in 
Malay to the Crown Prince of Siantar, a nice, intelligent boy, 
tremendously proud of his responsibility as interpreter for us, 
and he explained to the Rajah in Batak. The Rajah, who is a 
