er directly opposite to that of the Chinese, from the bottom to
the top of the line, and that I have conveyed an erroneous idea of their
natural form by arranging the characters horizontally instead of placing
them in a perpendicular line. Not having now the opportunity of verifying
by ocular proof what I understood to be the practical order of their
writing, namely, from left to right (in the manner of the Hindus, who,
there is reason to believe, were the original instructors of all these
people), I shall only observe that I have among my papers three distinct
specimens of the Batta alphabet, written by different natives at
different periods, and all of them are horizontal. But I am at the same
time aware that as this was performed in the presence of Europeans, and
upon our paper, they might have deviated from their ordinary practice,
and that the evidence is therefore not conclusive. It might be presumed
indeed that the books themselves would be sufficient criterion; but
according to the position in which they are held they may be made to
sanction either mode, although it is easy to determine by simple
inspection the commencement of the lines. In the Batavian Transactions
(Volume 3 page 23) already so often quoted, it is expressly said that
these people write like Europeans from the left hand towards the right:
and in truth it is not easy to conceive how persons making use of ink can
conduct the hand from the bottom to the top of a page without marring
their own performance. But still a matter of fact, if such it be, cannot
give way to argument, and I have no object but to ascertain the truth.

RELIGION.

Their religion, like that of all other inhabitants of the island who are
not Mahometans, is so obscure in its principles as scarcely to afford
room to say that any exists among them. Yet they have rather more of
ceremony and observance than those of Rejang or Passummah, and there is
an order of persons by them called guru (a well-known Hindu term), who
may be denominated priests, as they are employed in administering oaths,
foretelling lucky and unlucky days, making sacrifices, and the
performance of funeral rites. For a knowledge of their theogony we are
indebted to M. Siberg, governor of the Dutch settlements on the coast of
Sumatra, by whom the following account was communicated to the late M.
Radermacher, a distinguished member of the Batavian Society, and by him
published in its Transactions.

MYTHOLOGY.

Th