THE BATTAS OP MANDHELING AND PERTIBE. 363 
3rd.— Burumun, having the districts of 
a. Ayernabcfa, 4 kamp. 140 families. 
b. Assahatan , 10 ,, 370 ,, 
c. Kayuara, 2 „ ]10 „ 
— or 16 
4th.— Tambusei, having the districts of 
a. Botany Sossa, 12 kamp. 775 families. 
b. Botany Lobo , 13 ,, 670 ,, 
c. Pariet , 7 >» 215 ,> 
- or 32 
5th — Paneh, almost wholly inhabited 
by the immigration of the chief 
Suthan Manedar Alam. 
6th.— Bila , at the mouth of Batang 
Paneh on the east coast, respecting 
the population of which we have 
not obtained clear information. 
Approximative^ these two districts 
have together 5 
Giving in whole 120 ,, 4,620 fam. 
Information supplied by the chiefs forms the only and 
most faulty means of guessing at the number of the popula¬ 
tion, for a regular census is not to be thought of; and it is 
difficult to conceive an idea of the uncommunicativeness of 
the Battas concerning the numbers of their families, and the 
cunning which they exhibit in answering the most indirect 
questions about this. This uncommunicativeness is instiga¬ 
ted by the chiefs from a desire to subject their communities 
to the smallest possible share of labour, and the fear, which 
they retain, notwithstanding all assurances, that the sums 
of money which they see us expending will have to be 
restored at some future time by direct imposts. Amongst 
the inferior men, who not long since saw their liberty reduced 
by mahomedan violence into an article of traffic, there 
remains in Pertibi a similar distrust of all foreign powers. 
Against such irrational prejudices neither argument nor 
persuasion prevails : we must consequently content ourselves 
with the information supplied by accident or jealousy, or 
have recourse to energetic measures, which at Pertibi would 
not compensate for the trouble. 
Let us now take the family at 5 souls, and we shall have 
for the whole division the number of 23,100, which may be 
received as the minimum. If however we take into account. 
620 fam. 
» 1 >660 fam* 
,, 300 famr 
