Thus the Battas, who next to the Malays are the most numerous people of Sumatra, have the same polite and ceremonious manner, they possess an ancient code of law, they write books, and are fond of music, they build commodious houses, which they ornament with tasteful carvings, they wear handsome tissues and know the art of smelting and amalgamating metals; they are extremely good-natured, and yet they not only eat human flesh, but eat it under circumstances of unexampled atrocity. According to their own traditions, their ancestors knew nothing of this horrid practice, which was first instigated by the demon of war about the year 1630, and from being originally an act of vengeance or fury, became at length one of their institutions in times of peace, and is now legally sanctioned as a punishment for certain heavy crimes. In some cases the delinquent is first killed and then eaten, in others he is eaten alive, an aggravated punishment which, however, is only reserved for traitors, spies, and enemies seized arms in hand. Before the day appointed for execution, messengers are sent to all friends and allies, and preparations made as for a great festival. The victim, tied to a stake, awaits his horrible fate, while the air resounds with music and the clamour of hundreds of spectators. The rajah of the village steps forward, draws his knife, addresses the assembly, relates the crimes which justify the sentence, and says that now the moment is come for punishing the doomed wretch, whom he describes as a hellish scoundrel, as a Satan in a human form. At these words the actors in the shocking drama about to be performed feel, as they say, an invincible longing to swallow a piece of the villain’s flesh, as they then feel sure that he can do them no further harm, and impatiently brandish their knives.