ibe  IJland  of  Sumatra.  165 
its  origin  from  a fimiiar  one,  and  not,  as  has  been  ima- 
gined, from  fnow- Water : certain  it  is,  there  is  no  fnow 
here  to  occafion  it.  In  almoft  all  the  central  parts  from 
Moco-moco  northwards,  they  find  gold  and  fome  iron ; 
but  this  diftemper  is  unknown  there.  I have  met  here 
with  a rivulet  of  a ftrong  fulphurated  water,  which  was 
fo  hot  a quarter  of  a mile  below  its  fource,  that  I could 
not  w'alk  acrofs  it. 
The  country  called  the  Caffia  country  lies  in  latitude 
i°  N.  inland  of  our  fettlement  of  Tappanooly:  it  is  well 
inhabited  by  a people  called  Battas,  who  differ  from  all 
the  other  inhabitants  of  Sumatra  in  language,  manners, 
and  cuftoms.  They  have  no  religious  worfhip,  but  have 
fome confufed  ideaof  three  fuperior  beings ; twoof  which 
are  of  a benign  nature;  and  the  third  an  evil  genius, 
whom  they  ftile  Murgifo,  and  to  whom  they  ufe  fome 
kind  of  incantation  to  prevent  his  doing  them  hurt.  They 
feem  to  think  their  anceftors  are  a kind  of  fuperior 
beings,  attendant  always  upon  them.  They  have  no 
king,  but  live  in  villages  [Compongs]  abfolutely  inde- 
pendant of  each  other,  and  perpetually  at  war  with  one 
another:  their  villages  they  fortify  very  flrongly  with 
double  fences  of  camphire  plank  pointed,  and  placed 
with  their  points  projecting  outwards,  and  between  thefe 
fences  they  put  pieces  of  bamboo,  hardened  by  fire,  and 
y 2 likewife 
