SOME MYSTERIES OF SUMATRA

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 50, 27 August 1938, Page 27

SOME MYSTERIES OF SUMATRA

The interior of Sumatra is a region of mystery, says a writer in the "Christian Science Monitor." Tourists land from the steamer at Belawan Deli, port of the bright little city of Medan, which was literally carved out of the jungle, and take an automobile to reach the high plateau where live the Bataks, a tribe of people whose origin is undetermined. On the edge of the plateau is a comfortable Government rest-house, or small inn, where the night is spent. Next day those who feel a sufficiently keen desire to see a part of this huge island ascend on horseback to more than 7000 feet, where the weather iscool and crisp as a May morning in England. The land visible from this point is truly one of mystery. The plain stretches away as if limitless, and in the far distance the tropical, sun gleams upon a blue mountain-rimmed lake. This is the country of the: "lost sea," for once, perhaps only a few hundred years ago, the whole plain was covered with water. At some time and in some

way, of which there is neither native record nor legend, there came a breach in the mountain wall, probably as the result of earthquakes, and the inland sea emptied itself, leaving the lake. On the plateau now live Sumatra's men of mystery. None can tell their racial origin, but they are presumably the aboriginal peoples and it is certain that their ancestors were-sailors. For to this day their houses are not only known by the native word for "boat," but actually resemble boats, being long and narrow with upturned ends like Viking craft. Down the middle of each .house runs a long corridor, with apartments for a dozen families, like large staterooms, on either side. At "bow" and "stern" are little balconies, like look-out decks. Over the vast plain, sometimes in isolation, often in close-massed villages, are the "boat" houses of these Sumatran Bataks. The sea itself, or the lake that is left of it, is 100 miles away. Most of the people of mystery have never seen it and never will. Yet in their dwellings they preserve the sea-going traditions of their ancestors.