The rajah now showed me a spot by the wayside
where a Batta, who had been guilty of adultery,
had been killed and eaten by his fellows not long
before. All the others in the party confirmed the
story in every particular. A little farther on was a
Batta village consisting of four houses on high posts.
One was small and stood apart from the others, and
in that they stored their rice. To prevent the mice
from reaching it, large projecting pieces of planks
were placed on the tops of the posts. The walls,
floor, and gable-ends of the dwelling-houses were
made of plank, and the roof was a thatching of grass
or straw. Having- some curiosity to see the internal
arrangements of a Batta house, I climbed up a ladder
of five or six rounds at one end of the building, and
took a place assigned me on the floor. There was no
bench nor stool, nor any thing of the kind, so, according
to Batta etiquette, I rested my back against
the side of the house. The whole building was in
one room, without a shadow of any partition. From
the number of the inmates, I saw that probably four
families dwelt in this single apartment, and this suspicion
was strengthened when I noticed a rude fireplace,
without any chimney, in each corner. On
inquiry, I was informed that my conjectures were
true. I But how do you know,” I asked, “ what
part belongs to one family and what to another ?
Where is your partition % ” One of them, who could
understand a little Malay, gravely rose, and, coming
to my side in answer to my query, pointed to a crack
in the floor.
From this place the rajah had said I could obtain
an unobstructed view of the cliff, but when we arrived
there a neighboring hill completely hid it from
-view. He then excused himself by saying that he
had never been there before ; and, when I informed
him that I must go on until I could see it perfectly,
the tears actually stood in his eyes from fear, he was
so certain we should meet with the Evil Spirit. One
of the Battas, who knew the way, offered to be my
guide, and I released the rajah from the Resident’s
order to accompany me as far as I wished to go, and
continued on, for I had no fear of meeting Apollyon
in the next valley.
Two sections at right angles showed that the
strata of this cliff were nearly horizontal, and composed
of a light-colored clay, containing many coarse
crystals of quartz. These materials had recently
been formed by the decomposition of the adjoining
syenitic rocks, and had been arranged into layers by
the action of water. The height to the top of the
cliff from the bed of the brook I judge to be eight
hundred feet, and that is at least fifty feet above the
level of the sea, making the whole elevation which
this part of the island has recently undergone to be
eight hundred and fifty feet.
When we returned to the Batta village, the rajah
seemed greatly relieved, for he declared that he
believed he should never see us again. Such are
the superstitious terrors that constantly torture the
imaginations of these ignorant people. On our return,
a heavy rain set in, which completely drenched
us and swelled the brook. Again and again the
strong current came near sweeping us off the slippery