Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-03-24
TIE ISLAND OF sUMATRA.
An Almost U0kEOwm Land that
Teens with Wealth nu Wonders
A Race OF CannIbRIs.

AN AtulOsE UOkNOWn Lana tnhb
Teens with Wealth ma Wonders
A Race OF CannIbRIs.
The war which the Dutch gov
ernment has for some years carried
on against Acheen, has directed at
tention to Sumatra, and reminded
us how little is really known re-
specting the northern part of that
great island, One district, how
ever, the so-called Batta country,
has now been partially explored by
German missionaries, and we find
the results of their researches, as
well as his personal observations of
the Dutch settlements along the
coast, reported by DR.. A. Schreiber,
a German scientist who has lately
visited the Malay archipelago.
The west coast of Sumatra as
far as to port of Baros is controlled
by the prosperous Dutch colony of
Padang, which has displaced the
once famous Malay kingdom of
Menangkaban. 1t is the interior
uplands lying north of Padang,
which are occupied by the Battas,
a people until recently less known
to Europeans than many tribes Of
Central Africa, and Of whom moth
ing could be affirmed with certainty
beyond the fact that they we're can
nibals. 1t now appears from the
data collected by DR.. Schneider,
bearing on the language, origin and
customs of this race, that the Bat.
tas are a sept or offshot of the Ma
lays, both peoples, however, having
been for centuries completely sun
dered, the one accepting Mahom-
mechanism anda rude form Of civil
ization, while the other remained
heather and savage. The cradle Of
the latter nation seems to be a
densely populated region surround
ing a large inlaid basin called the
Toba lake, from which in historical
times the southern portions of the
Batta county received migrations
The appellatiye Batta appears to
have been a nickname invented by
the Malays, bnt it is willingly
adopted by the inhabitants of the
Toba district, who possess so little
national pride that when they wish
to stigmatize stupidity in a Euro,
pean they say he is a Batta. During
the present century this whole ter
ritory has been repeatedly laid waste
by expeditions undertaken by the
Malays of Bondjol and R,uw, at
the instigation Of fanatical Moham-
medan priests. On his route from
the sea-coast to the Toba lake the
traveller encounters the ruins Of
numerous villages, and especially
the strong bamboo hedge which is
the distinctive mark Of q Batta
town aud converts it into species
of fortress.
The long strip of shore from the
Padang province northward to
Siboga, and as far back as the first
coast range, is an almost uninhab.
table swamp forest. Only here
and there in the valleys of small
rivers lie a few frshing hamlets
completely cut off from the world
The soil is extremely rich and well
adapted to rice fields, but the herds
of elephants frustrate all attempts
at tillage. In these woods more
over abOunds the famous camphOl
tree of Sumatra, whose camphol
commands the highest price in Chi.
ma, but there seems to be no practi.
cal way of turning the treasure tc
account. Passing this coast traoI
and climbing the first ridge o.
mountains you come upon the So
called heavens door," the spaci,
Gus and fertile plateau Of Maudhel
ing, one of the regions best suited
to coffee growing in the East Indies
This country has not yet recovered
the teeming population of former
years, but is now reyiving since thu
Hollanders have annexed Mand
heling by treaty to their colony
Among the subject Battas, Dutcl
influence has not only put an enc
to cannibalism and the incessan
petty wars which are the scourg
Of the independent villages, bu
has nohlv stimulated production