g down the river, and
proposed his cooperating to prevent assassinations in the country,
occasioned by the anarchy the place fell into during the temporary
interruption of the Company's influence. "I cannot assent to any measures
for that purpose," replied the datu: "I reap from these murders an
advantage of twenty dollars a head when the families prosecute." A
compensation of thirty dollars per month was offered him, and to this he
scarcely submitted, observing that he should be a considerable loser, as
there fell in this manner at least three men in the month. At another
time, when the resident attempted to carry some regulation into
execution, he said, "kami tradah suka begito, orang kaya!" "We do not
choose to allow it, sir;" and bared his right arm as a signal of attack
to his dependants in case the point had been insisted on. Of late years
habit and a sense of mutual interest have rendered them more
accommodating.)

BATTA GOVERNMENTS.

The government of the Batta country, although nominally in the hands of
three or more sovereign rajas, is effectively (so far as our intercourse
with the people enables us to ascertain) divided into numberless petty
chiefships, the heads of which, also styled rajas, have no appearance of
being dependant upon any superior power, but enter into associations with
each other, particularly with those belonging to the same tribe, for
mutual defence and security against any distant enemy. They are at the
same time extremely jealous of any increase of their relative power, and
on the slightest pretext a war breaks out between them. The force of
different kampongs is notwithstanding this very unequal, and some rajas
possess a much more extensive sway than others; and it must needs be so,
where every man who can get a dozen followers and two or three muskets
sets up for independence. Inland of a place called Sokum great respect
was paid to a female chief or uti (which word I conceive to be a liquid
pronunciation of putri, a princess), whose jurisdiction comprehended many
tribes. Her grandson, who was the reigning prince, had lately been
murdered by an invader, and she had assembled an army of two or three
thousand men to take revenge. An agent of the Company went up the river
about fifteen miles in hopes of being able to accommodate a matter that
threatened materially the peace of the country; but he was told by the
uti that, unless he would land his men, and take a decided part in her
favo