A Short Account of the Battas, a Race of Cannibals in the
Interior of Sumatra.
We had intended to commence the present number of
our work with some brief memoirs, in the form of an ex-
tended obituary, of a few of the most celebrated persons
who died in the course of the last
year : this intention, we
have, however, been induced to abandon, by the arrival,
just as these memoirs were going to press, of a volume of
Malayan Miscellanies,” the first book ever printed in the
island of Sumatra; and from its pages we shall fill up the
two sheets left for matter, which we should despair of rens
dering as interesting, and which, certainly, could not be
as new to our readers. The following are the contents
of this curious volume, presented by Sir TAOMAS STAM,
FORD RAFFLES, Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen, to one
of the editors of the Investigator, who, together with his
colleagues, has already been greatly indebted to his kind
ness, for some very valuable communications.
"!. Description of Malayan Plants. By William Jack.
No. 1. - 2. Notes on Bali.-3. Annals of Achim, trans-
lated from the original MS.-4. A short account of the
Battas.-5. Descriptions of Malayan Plants. By William
Jack. No. 2.-6. Annotations and Remarks, with a view
to illustrate the probable origin of the Dayaks, the Malays;
&c.-7. Short Account of the Islands of T'imor, Rotti, Savu,
Solor, &c.-8. Sketch of Borneo, or Pulo Kalamantin. By
J. Hunt.-9. Notices on Zoological subjects. By Messrs.
Diard and Devaucel.-10. Some particulars relative to Sulo,
in the Archipelago of Felicia. By J. Hunt. - 11. Proceed-
ings of the Native School Institution. — 12. Meteorological
Table, extracted from a Register kept at Bencoolen, during
the years 1818 and 1819. 13. Poem in the Malay Lan-
guage, descriptive of the Journey of the Lieut.-Governor
to Menangcabow, in 1818."
The fourth of these papers is, perhaps, the most curious ;
and as we are satisfied that the information it contains may
be implicitly relied upon,' we proceed to lay it before onir
VOL. 111, NO. 5.