The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-03
ACHINESE PIRATES.
HUMAN DEVILS AT WAR WITH THE
WHOLE OF CIVILIZATION.

The Outrage of the other Day Only
SampIe-FOr Twenty-FOur Years
the Dutch Have Been TIPPING to
Their NeiEhbOrs, the Cannibnl
BattnSs.
From the ST. Louis Globe-Democrat.
Washington.-The butchery of a ship s
crew and passengars in eastern seas by
Achinese pirates furnished a grisly Item
of cable intelligence in the newspapers
the other day. It was related that boat
load of the freebooters boarded the vessel
in disguise, a woman carrying concealed
under her clothes the knives with which
the victims were subsequently dispatched.
Only one person escaped to tell the tale.
Most people who read the story supposed,
quite naturally, that the Achinese must
be some sort of Cinnamon. This notion,
however, was a mistake, inasmuch as the
pirates in question are Malays, who live
1t 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 nation of robbers.
The Dutch, it seems, have been waging
this war without intermission for twenty
four years, and they are not much fur
Their ahead with it than at the beginning
The name of the province inhabited by
the pirates is properly spelled Acheen, or
Atschin. Nobo9S knows how many of
them there are, even approximately, for
the simple reason that no white man can
venture into their territory without being
| killed 1t is supposed that they We're a
scourage Of the seas in that part of the
world sweeping the waters with their
swift-saillng proas, capturing merchant
men of all nations, and customarlly butch
ering every soul on board. This method
of procedure almost destroyed the trade
of England through the straits of Melacca,
and finally the British government told
the Dutch that they must put a stop to
the nuisance, or else it would take the
matter in hand. Q-t, .ft
The Dutch, of course, own Sumatra, as
well as all the rest of the great Malay
archipelago, which extends as far east
and west as the distance from New York
TO San Francisco 1t was thought very
undesirable that the English should have
an excuse for landing troops in Dutch ter
ritory, and 50 an expedition was sent to
wipe out the natives of Acheen. That was
in 1872. The effort was so far unsucces-
full that it is still being kept up, after an
expenditure of 100000 guilers and great
waste of valuable lives. Unquestionably
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 the Dutch
colonial policy is frugal, and thus nothing
has been accomplished except the destruc-
ton of all the vessels belonging to the
Acheenese, who are now no longer a ter
ror on the ocean. ay
Those piratlcai people are bigger and
stronger than the other natives Of Suma-
ira, excepting only the cannibal Battaks,
who are their near negnbors. They are
tremendous fighters-long, lean, very mus
cular, built like professional jumpers, and
corresD ondingly agile. Their faVorite
weapon is a knife of peculiar shape call
ed 'k.awong" with a blade two feet long.
The blade is not pointed, but cut off
square, and is heavy at the end, so as to
give greater weight to the blow struck with
it, In some instances white men have
been actually cleft, from the head through,
the entire body by a single blow of one of
these formidable weapons. Also the
Acheenese have carbines and Winchester
repeating rifles, which they have imported
with ammunition from Singapore. They
even possess a few small cannon.
Thus it appears that these barbarians
are foes not to be despised. They are
fond of night attacks and rival the saw
ages of America in the mutilation of their
victims-cutting off the legs, arms and
ears Of captives. Their country Is COW
cred with prmeval tropical forests Deo-
pied by orangoutangs, where malaria
broods and impenetrable rattan thickets
harbor legions Of leeches. When the Dutch
troops burn their villages and destroy their
rice plantations. they simply retire to the
inaccessible mountain Businesses whittier
they cannot be pursued. They are very
dirty, beastly in their habits, and are
mostly afflicted with disgusting skin dis
eases which cover them with blotches.
Their homes are square and oblong, con-
tanning only the barest necessaries-one
or two pots and pans and few mats.
Usually a sleeping place is shut off by
curtain.
There is undoubtedly a great deal OF
gold in the piratical country, but nobody
dare hunt for 1t for fear of the ferOcious
inhabitants Near the north end Of the
island. and not far from the fortified town
of Kota Radja, occupied by the Dutch, IL
a hill called Gold mountain which is said
20 be full Of the yellow metal A Dutch
officer showed TO Prof. Fairchild a colo
coin which was made by the Acheenese
as far back as the sixteenth century 1t
was thin and covered with embossed
characters. OF late the fighting with the
natives has been particularly severe, and
has resulted in the driving back of the
Dutch outposts. At the time OF Prof.
Fairchild's visit there were 800 Dutch sol
diers in hospital at, Kota Radja out Of an
army of 5000 men. Many of the sick,
however, were victims Of various diseases
which attack Europeans in that climate
such as bef-1eri a fearful complaint
which begins with swelling Of the legs
and creeps up until It attacks the heart
and kills. trnf
Any defeat Of the Dutch In Acheen dam