The Norfolk Virginian. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 186?-189?, 1897-10-10
Human Devils at War With the Whole Of
Is Civilization,
A GREAT WASTE OF VALUABLE LIVES
The Outrage OF tho Other Day Only
nsampIe-For Twenty.Four Years
the butch Isave Been Trying to
Exterminato These Savage People.
.E' THOR Neighbors, the Cannibai
Battnks.

NfTom the st. Louis Globe-Democrat.)
Inc butchery of a ships crew and
passengers In Eastern seas by Achinese
pirates furnished a grisly item of cable
intelligence IN the newspapers the other
oay. 1t was related that q boat load
or the freebootefs boarded the vessel in
osSutSe, woman carrying concealed
under her clothes the knives with which
the victims were subsequently Dispatch
ed. Only one person escaped to tell the
1a4e. Most people who read the story
supposed, quite naturally, that the
AcnlneSe must be some sort of China
men, ihls notion, however. was q mis-
taAe. nasmuch as the pirates lin ques-
tlon are Malays, who live at the north
end Of the Island of Sumatra. Prof
David G. Fairchild, a Government
naturalist, has just returned to the
united States from that part Of the
world, and he gives a. most interesting
account of the war which IS going on at
present between the Dutch and this ma
ton of robbers.
The Dutch, 1t seems, have been waging
this war without intermission for TWEEN
y-iour years, and they are not much
iurther ahead with 1t than at the be-
ginning. The name of the province In
Iaolted by the pirates is properly spelled
tAoneen, OF Atschin. Nobody knows
now many of them there are, even ap-
proxlmotely, for the simple reason that
w WHITE man can venture into their ter
rltory without being killed. 1t It sup
posed mat they were a scourge of the
seas In that part of the world, Sweeping
the waters with their swift-saning
proas' capturing merchantmen OF all ma
lions. and customarily butcheting every
soul on BOARD. This method of proce-
aure almost destroyed the trade of Eng
lana through the straits Of Melacca,
ana hnally the British Government told
the Dutch that they must put n stop to
al
matter in hand.
ihe Dutch, of course own Sumatra
as well as all the rest of the great Ma
lay archipelago, which extends as far
EAST and West as the distance from
New York to San Francisco. It was
,hought very undesirable that the Eng
tlsn should have an excuse for landing
troops In Dutch territory, and so an
expedition was sent to wipe out the
natives Of Acheen. That was In 1872.
Inc effort was SO far unsuccessful that
II is sim being kept up, after an ex-
expenditures of 3O.0oo,0o0 guilders and
great waste of valuable lives. Unoues-
1ionably the British would have soon
put an END TO the trouble by furnishing
Whatever might be necessary In the waY
OF men and money for the purpose, but
Ine Dutch colonial policy Is frugal, and
thus nothing has been accomplished ex-
cept the destruction of all the vessels be-
longing to the Archeenese, who are now
no longer a terror on the ocean,
1hose pirau!cal people are bigger and
stronger than the other natives of Su-
matra, excepting only the Gambia;
Suouacks, who are their near neighbors.
They are tremendous fghters-long.
lean, very muscular. built like pro.
1eSsional jumpers, and correspondence,
agile. Their favorite weapon us u knife
on peculiar shape called "klawong."
wFth blade two feet long. The blade
IS not pointed, but cut off square. and
Is heavy ait the end. so MS to give great
eF weight Ito the blow struck with It, In
some Instances white men have been ac
huaily cleft from the head Through the
emttre body by a single blow of one
OF these formidable Weapons Also the
Aoheenesc have carbnes and Wdnches-
ter repeating rifles, which ltley have I'M
ported with ammunition from SnEa-
pore They even possess a few small.
cannon.
mus ut appears THAT these barlyarians
are not foes to be despsed They mr.,
fond of might ATTACKS, and nlval tho
saNageS of America in the humiliation
or The bodies of their Misunderstanding
our uhe arms. legs and ears of captiyes
Their country lis covered with pr!meyal
tropical forests peopled by orangou-
tanss. where malaria broods and i'm
penetrable rattan thckcts ha1bor le-
ShonS Oh leecheS. Whom 1.-THE Dutch
troops burn their villages and dcs;rop
hheir rice plantations. they simply re-
tire TO bhe inaccessible mountain fast.
nesses. whittier they cannot be pursued
Ihey are very dirty, beasitly in their
haMts. and are mostly afflicted with
disgusting skin diseases which cover
hhem with tblotcheS. Their homes are
square and ob!ong. containing only the
Oarest ecessa1'ies-one or two pots and
pans and few mats. Uusually n sleep
ing place is shut off by q curtain.
There Is undoubtedly q great. deal OF
gold In the plraticsl country. but no.
body dares' hunt for 1T for fear OF the
feroc'ous inhabitants. Near the north
end of 1.-The island, and not far from the
Certified town of K0ta Radja, occupied
by the Dutch, Us q hill called Gold
Mountain, which is said to be full of
Ohc yellow metal. A Dutch officer show.
ed TO Professor Falrchild e. gold coin
which was made by the Acheenese as
Tar back as the sixteenth century. Ut
was thin and covered with embossed
characters. or late the fighting with
nine natives has been particularly Sc
we're. and has resulted in the dr-invins
back of the Dutch outposts. AT the tim
OF Professor Rairohllds visit there were
800 Dutch soldiers in the hospital at
1Nota Radja out OF an army OF 5000
men. Many of the sick, however, were
Victims Of various diseases which at
tack Europeans In that clinratc-such
as berriberi. a fearful complaint which
begins with n swelling of the legs and
creeps UP until ut attacks 'tllc heart and
kills.
Amy defeat OF THE Dutch In Acheen
damages their prestige all through SUI
UnaitTa and Java and this Is one reason
why they nave been willing to devote