Man, Past and Present

by A. H. Keane

Grouped chiefly round about Lake Toba, the Battas occupy a very wide domain, stretching south to about the parallel of Mount Ophir, and bordering northwards on the territory of the Achin people. These valiant natives, who have till recently stoutly maintained their political independence against the Dutch, were also at one time Hinduized, as is evident from many of their traditions, their Malayan language largely charged with Sanskrit terms, and even their physical appearance, suggesting a considerable admixture of Hindu as well as of Arab blood. With the Arab traders and settlers came the Koran, and the Achinese people have been not over-zealous followers of the Prophet since the close of the twelfth century. The Muhammadan State, founded in 1205, acquired a dominant position in the Archipelago early in the sixteenth century, when it ruled over about half of Sumatra, exacted tribute from many vassal princes, maintained powerful armaments by land and sea, and entered into political and commercial relations with Egypt, Japan, and several European States.

Islam and Hindu Reminiscences.

There are two somewhat distinct ethnical groups, the Orang-Tunong of the uplands, a comparatively homogeneous Malayan people, and the mixed Orang-Baruh of the lowlands, who are described by A. Lubbers[535] as taller than the average Malay (5 feet 5 or 6 in.), also less round-headed (index 80.5), with prominent nose, rather regular features, and muscular frames; but the complexion is darker than that of the Orang-Maláyu, a trait which has been attributed to a larger infusion of Dravidian blood (Klings and Tamuls) from southern India. The charge of cruelty and treachery brought against them by the Dutch may be received with some reserve, such terms as "patriot" and "rebel" being interchangeable according to the standpoints from which they are considered. In any case no one denies them the virtues of valour and love of freedom, with which are associated industrious habits and a remarkable aptitude for such handicrafts as metal work, jewellery, weaving, and ship-building. The Achinese do not appear to be very strict Muhammadans; polygamy is little practised, their women are free to go abroad unveiled, nor are they condemned to the seclusion of the harem, and a pleasing survival from Buddhist times is the Kanduri, a solemn feast, in which the poor are permitted to share. Another reminiscence of Hindu philosophy may perhaps have been an outburst of religious fervour, which took the form of a pantheistic creed, and was so zealously preached, that it had to be stamped out with fire and sword by the dominant Moslem monotheists[536].

Ethnical Relations in Madagascar.

Since the French occupation of Madagascar, the Malagasy problem has naturally been revived. But it may be regretted that so much time and talent have been spent on a somewhat thrashed-out question by a number of writers, who did not first take the trouble to read up the literature of the subject.

Prehistoric Peoples.

By what race Madagascar was first peopled it is no longer possible to say. The local reports or traditions of primitive peoples, either extinct or still surviving in the interior, belong rather to the sphere of Malagasy folklore than to that of ethnological research. In these reports mention is frequently made of the Kimos, said to be now or formerly living in the Bara country, and of the Vazimbas, who are by some supposed to have been Gallas (Ba-Simba)—though they had no knowledge of iron—whose graves are supposed to be certain monolithic monuments which take the form of menhirs disposed in circles, and are believed by the present inhabitants of the land to be still haunted by evil spirits, that is, the ghosts of the long extinct Vazimbas.

Oceanic Immigrants.

Negroid Element.

Much of the confusion prevalent regarding the present ethnical relations may be avoided if certain points (ably summarised by T. A. Joyce[537]) are borne in mind. The greater part of the population is negroid; the language spoken over the whole of the island and many institutions and customs are Malayo-Polynesian. A small section (Antimerina commonly called Hovas)—forming the dominant people in the nineteenth century—is of fairly pure Malay (or Javanese) blood, but is composed of sixteenth-century immigrants, whereas the language belongs to a very early branch of the Malayo-Polynesian (Austronesian) family. It would be natural to suppose that the negroid element was African[538], for in later times large numbers of Africans have been brought over by Arabs and other slavers; but there are several objections to this view. In the first place, the natives of the neighbouring coast are not seamen, and the voyage to Madagascar offers peculiar difficulties owing to the strong currents. In the second place, it seems impossible that the first inhabitants, supposing them to be African, should have abandoned their own language in favour of one introduced by a small minority of immigrants; the few Bantu words found in Madagascar may well have been adopted from the slaves. In the third place, the culture exhibits no distinctively African features, but is far more akin to that of south-east Asia. There is much to be said, therefore, for the view that the earliest and negroid inhabitants of Madagascar were Oceanic negroids, who have always been known as expert seamen.