SUMATRA 
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found inhabiting an immense plain country, for the most 
part covered with lalang grass and intersected with deep 
ravines. Eice was almost the only crop cultivated, and 
cattle were rarely seen. The more southern tribes have 
been long in contact with the Dutch, and are gradually 
becoming civilised. They nevertheless present, even to 
this present day, the extraordinary anomaly of a people 
who possess a written language of their own, yet are at 
the same time cannibals. 
The Battak is of Malayan stock, and has by some 
travellers been considered to resemble the Bornean Dyak. 
He is taller and darker than the true Malay and is more 
bearded, but the hair is straight, not frizzled, as in the 
Kubus, and if there be any Negrito blood in the race, 
no trace of it is now evident. Some consider that they 
are partly of Hindu origin, and it is probable that they 
must have come under the influence of that race to a 
considerable extent at the time of its immigration. In 
their customs, however, there are few T if any points of 
resemblance. The more civilised, and especially those 
around Lake Toba, are good agriculturists and stock 
farmers, and understand working in iron. They weave 
and dye cotton, make jewellery and krisses, which are often 
of beautiful workmanship, and bake pottery; but their 
skill is especially exhibited in the construction of their 
houses, many of which are two-storied and with carved 
timbers, though in this form of decoration they do not 
approach the work of the natives in some parts of the 
Palembang district. The form of government obtaining 
is not unlike that of the Achenese, as already described, 
the people being divided into clans, communes, and 
families—a system, it may be remarked, which is found 
through the greater part of Sumatra, and, with various 
modifications, in Java also. The kota of the Battaks 
