SUMATRA.

Maori Messenger : Te Karere Maori, Volume IV, Issue 105, 30 December 1852, Page 4

SUMATRA.

The Battas in general are not so tall or so dark coloured as the Malays. Their dress consists in a piece of course cotton of their own manufacture, wrapt round the waist, and nnother thrown over the shoulders. Young females have a third which covers the hosoni. On festivals they wear I gold pendants in their cars; and fasten their j hair with pins of the same, inelal. They also •■ give a fine polish to large shells which they pick up on their shores and niafce bracelets of tliein. The houses of the Hattas are built entirely of wood. They stand on posts, from sis, to twelve feet high, and they ascend to thorn by means of a notched pole which is drawn up at night. This contrivance originated in the fear of wild beast, and especially tigers 1 which arc numerous in this country. A trap door leads into the only apartment of which the habitation consists. The roof is composed of the strong fibers of the area palm, which is celebrated for the wine that it yields. Each \illagc or caiepong or balli, or town hall, where meetings arc held for the discussion of public matters, and where extraordinary ceremonies take place, and where strangers are received. The company are surrounded with ramparts, dilcltis, and a high palisade of camphor wood ; and within all is an impenetrable cage of the thorny bamboo, which grows very thick and wholly conceals the village. The ordinary diet of these people consist of maize and sweet potatoes. The rajahs and the opulent alone indulge tkemselvcs with rice. They eat fresh meal only on extraordinary occasions, and are not delicate in the choice of their food, devouring pans oT buffaloes, hogs, rats, and crocodiles which they find dead* They are very fond of the flesh of the horse anil feed that animal with corn to give it a finer flavour. They likewise fatten small black dogs with erect ears for the same purpose.— The World In .1. inalure.