Of the various weapons used by the Malays the _kris_ seems to be the favorite. In Java this was often a remarkable object. A kris is a short sword or dagger with a fine steel blade which ends in a point, and the sides of which are wavy instead of straight. Probably they think of this as a stinging serpent; anyway the handle is frequently in the form of a serpent’s head. Sometimes this handle is finely carved and often it is set with gems. Some that belonged to the old Javan princes were a mass of precious stones. The sheath for the kris might be plain, but it might also be decorated with carvings or encrusted with jewels. Strangest of the Malays are the Dyaks of Borneo and the Battaks of Sumatra. Both are a little larger and have longer heads than the Javanese. The Dyaks are great “head-hunters.” No man is respected until he has brought in a head as a trophy. Usually only the skull is kept; sometimes this will be engraved with patterns or stained with coloring matter; sometimes designs are cut in the bone and foil is set in the patterns. The Battaks are industrious and have made progress in many ways. They have a system of writing. Inscriptions are usually carved upon staves of bamboo; they also have books made of strips of palm or other vegetable substances. The Battaks are among the most dreadful of cannibals. XXVIII. THE PEOPLES OF THE PHILIPPINES. The Philippine Islands lie northeast from the great Malay Islands. The group extends for one thousand miles and includes almost two thousand islands of sizes from barren rock masses too small for use up to the great Island of Luzon, which is about the size of Ohio. All together the islands have an area equal to that of New York and the New England States united. It is uncertain how large a population occupy the islands, but it is probably between seven and eight million. Dr. Blumentritt, an Austrian who has studied the Philippine peoples for many years, says that fifty-one different languages are spoken among them. He thinks that the peoples have come at various times to the islands from various places. He believes that the first people here were the negritos and that they once occupied the whole region. Perhaps three thousand years ago Malay tribes, a good deal like the Dyaks of Borneo, crowded in upon the unfortunate little natives, seizing their land and driving them into the mountains of the interior and to the more remote parts of the coast. Later, from eighteen hundred to fourteen hundred years ago, other Malays crowded in, but this time they were more like those of Java. Much later, only about five hundred years ago, a third lot of Malays, bold and hardy seamen, began a movement into the islands. But just then the Spaniards discovered the Philippines and checked these pirates before they had gained much of a foothold. Blumentritt speaks of these invasions of Malays as the first, second, and third Malay migrations.