1810.—"... he immediately tells master that the batta, i.e. the exchange, is altered."—Williamson, V. M. i. 203.
BATTAS, BATAKS, &c. n.p. [the latter, according to Mr. Skeat, being the standard Malay name]; a nation of Sumatra, noted especially for their singular cannibal institutions, combined with the possession of a written character of their own and some approach to literature.
c. 1430.—"In ejus insulae, quam dicunt Bathech, parte, anthropophagi habitant ... capita humana in thesauris habent, quae ex hostibus captis abscissa, esis carnibus recondunt, iisque utuntur pro nummis."—Conti, in Poggius, De Var. Fort. lib. iv.
c. 1539.—"This Embassador, that was Brother-in-law to the King of Battas ... brought him a rich Present of Wood of Aloes, Calambaa, and five quintals of Benjamon in flowers."—Cogan's Pinto, 15.
c. 1555.—"This Island of Sumatra is the first land wherein we know man's flesh to be eaten by certaine people which liue in the mountains, called Bacas (read Batas), who vse to gilde their teethe."—Galvano, Discoveries of the World, Hak. Soc. 108.
1586.—"Nel regno del Dacin sono alcuni luoghi, ne' quali si ritrouano certe genti, che mangiano le creature humane, e tali genti, si chaimano Batacchi, e quando frà loro i padri, e le madri sono vechhi, si accordano i vicinati di mangiarli, e li mangiano."—G. Balbi, f. 130.
1613.—"In the woods of the interior dwelt Anthropophagi, eaters of human flesh ... and to the present day continues that abuse and evil custom among the Battas of Sumatra."—Godinho de Eredia, f. 23v.
[The fact that the Battas are cannibals has recently been confirmed by Dr. Volz and H. von Autenrieth (Geogr. Jour., June 1898, p. 672.]
BAWUSTYE, s. Corr. of bobstay in Lascar dialect (Roebuck).
BAY, The, n.p. In the language of the old Company and its servants in the 17th century, The Bay meant the Bay of Bengal, and their factories in that quarter.