188 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
and of the Menangkabo people corresponds with the 
mukim of the Achenese, and there are thus districts 
known as the “ XIII kotas,” and the “ IX kotas,” just 
as there are the “ XXII ” and “ XXY mukims.” 
The cannibalism of the Battaks has doubtless existed 
for centuries, and we find Barros mentioning it in his 
Decades. It appears to have been practised rather from 
enmity, or as a punishment, than from any desire for 
human flesh as an article of food. Their victims are, or 
were, either criminals, prisoners of war, or occasionally 
slaves, and the established punishment for certain crimes, 
such as adultery with the wife of a Baja, midnight 
robbery, or being taken prisoner in war, was to be cut to 
pieces and eaten alive. The Dutch have found no diffi¬ 
culty in abolishing these practices wherever they have 
sway, and when this is done the people are found to be 
no whit worse than their neighbours, among whom such 
customs did not exist’ The civilised Battaks declare 
that cannibalism has entirely died out, but there is little 
doubt that it is still existent in the more out-of-the-way 
and unexplored districts. The race is still pagan, and is 
noteworthy as being the only example in the archipelago 
of a lettered people who have not embraced Moham¬ 
medanism, whose converts surround them on all sides. 
Their faith is apparently chiefly confined to a belief in 
evil spirits; but they recognise three deities, a Creator, 
a Preserver, and a Destroyer, and carry small images, of 
the nature of amulets, about with them, like the Papuans 
of Xew Guinea. It is probable that they will in time 
become converted to Islamism, but Christian missionaries 
have not met with much success. The race is partly 
becoming absorbed in the Achenese and Malay tribes of 
the coast, and the constant wars of tribe against tribe 
have done much to lessen their numbers. The art of 
