Extent: 46 unnumbered pages : illustrations ; 5 x 3 cm
Note:
Page orientation: landscape. Condition: The manuscript is well preserved and generally well-readable. Due to the lack of a wooden cover the two lowest pages have become damaged. The top page (A1) is undamaged but part of the text has become erased. Physical appearance: The bark book does not contain any illustrations apart from the existence of a number of bindu metmet (subchapter marker). Description: Pustaha (bark book) made by the Batak people in North Sumatra (Indonesia) most likely in the nineteenth century. The manuscript consists of 11 chapters that each start with jaha dumatang (when ... comes, when ... happens). Paper and ink: The manuscript is made of the bast (inner bark) of the aquilaria tree. Only black ink has been used in this manuscript. BINDU GODANG (large bindu) denotes a large ornament which serves as a chapter marker. BINDU denotes a smaller ornament which may introduce a new subject matter. BM stands for bindu metmet (small bindu) which serves as a paragraph markers. Punctuations such as full stops or commas are not known in the Batak script. Collected by Frederick Starr, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, 1892-1923.
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