BATTAKS, blit'taks, or BATTAS, biit'taz. The natives of the northern interior of Sumatra. Physically they are somewhat darker, taller, and stronger than the coast :Malays, and are mesocephalic in head-form. One of the most individual of East Indian peoples, they present marked contrasts of culture and seeming sav agery. A well-developed village life, agricul ture (even including a plow). cattle-breeding of a notable sort, metal-working (even gold-weav ing), and the arts of reading and writing, with an alphabet modified from the characters'of the Asoka inscriptions, flourish on the one hand ; while on the other there exist debt-slavery. per missive polygamy, exocannibalism, and man-eat ing as a punitory institution, together with primitive ancestor and spirit worship, influenced, as the mythological names, etc., indicate, by Hindu sources. The Battaks proved remarkably unresponsive to the world of Islam, with which they have for centuries been in more or less •lose contact. The hou4e-architeeture of the
Battaks, solider than the general Malay type, is a modification of the pile-dwelling of a shore people, to suit the highlands, while in parts of the area the primitive tree-house still survives. Their palisaded kampongs (villages) and other war devices are of interest. A collection of 60 views of houses, landscapes, natives, etc.. from the Battak country was published in ISSO by the Penang Photographic Studio. Since the account of the Battaks by Junglruhn in 1847, thero have been several studies of this interesting people, the chief of which are: Schreiber. Die Battalander in ihrem Ferhaltniss zu den Malaien auf Sumatra (Barmen, 1847) ; and Brenner, Be sveh bci den Icannibalen Sumatras (Wiirzburg, 1893 ) .