Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1874-09-23
4 Race Of Educated Man.Eaters

In the ObserUer, the Rev. Charles P.
Bush, ID. D., gives an interesting ac.
count of some remarkable sayages
which have come under his notice:
The beautiful Island of Sumatra, two
and half times as large as all New
England, is inhabited by about 4, 500,
600 people, among whom hardly any
missionary effort had as yet been made
Parts of the island were in possession
of the Dutch, and other tribes were in
! habited by independent tribes of prin-
eipalities, among whom the Batta peo-
pie, or Batacks, were represented as
the most Intelligent and interesting; a
tribe or nation of about $50, 900 souls,
occupying the interior central portion
of the island, Immediately south of the
Atchenese, with whom the Dutch are
new at war.
The Bataks were generally mild and
inoffensive, though fierce and revenge
! ful In time of conflict. In one respect
they were the most remarkable people
anywhere to be found-educated can
nibals. They had a written language
and books, and most of the people
could read, and yet thsy were canni-
balls. They had an alphabet of their
own, consisting of twenty-five letters and
five vowel points. Their language was
quite original, vet simple and melodi-
Gus, much like the italian, written like
our own, from left TO right, and easily
learned, and much used in all that re-
gion.
Their books are written on the inner
bark of a species of palm tree, their pen
consisting of mere twig, or fibre OF
a leaf. their ink made of a certain gum
and the juice of the sugar cane. For
ordinary purposes they also wrote upon
smooth bamboo sticks, sometimes two
inches in diameter and two or three
feet long, making letter, it might be
big enough to knock person down
convenient for lovers delivering their
own epistle if they should not be gra-
ciously received.
Their literary works we're really nu-
merous and yet not very wise, consist
ing largely of books of divination, Jug
glery and the most absurd fables about
the origin and destiny of the great
Batta nation. II will he seen, there
fore, that they had some ambition. III
they should receive the Gospel they
were in a good position to give it to
others. Besides, much of the island
was nominally Mohammedan, and, so
far as the Dutch had sway they had
agreed to protect the Mohammedan re-
ligion from all assault and interference
from without; but the Battas were
simple heather, and beyond Dutch
control. They believed in two gods, F.
one above and one below-one good
and one bad; but their ideas were very
vague and uncertain, and they felt
bound to pay greater homage to the .
evil spirit than to the good, as they had .
most to fear from him.
And yet, strange enough. French in, /
fidelity and infidel books had found |
their way into that country. The mis- /
sionaries met one of the former, who /
denounced the Bible as 'all lie," al /
though he confessed that he had never .
read it, but boasted that he had read |
Noltaire's insane TRADE against 1t no .
less than ten times.
And, after all, this cannibalism was
of modified type. They did not seem
to feed on human flesh for mere love of |
it; nor was it their settled habit, as with /
some other people, to have regular
feasts; but portions of the flesh of their
enemies, slain in war, were tasted, as if /
in revenge, or as denoting complete
triumph. The missionaries were, how
ever, invited to one feast, for which a
boy seven years of age had been seized
and killed and roasted, to be eaten for
the sins of his father, committed six
years before the little fellow was born.
The missionaries respectfully declined
the invitation