Bark-book (pustaha) in Batak Language
Collection — Box: GTM Shared Box 39
Identifier: GTM-0066
Magical/medical knowledge compiled by a member of a class of magician-priests called datu, written in the Batak language of Sumatra.
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0.14 Cubic Feet
Batak languages
GTM-0066 was at some time prior to 1970 housed with the wooden map box of the Nicholas Cleary Collection, GTM-0020, and counted among its contents. Curatorial file found with the Nicholas Cleary Collection.
An undated (around 1930) autographed letter found in the curatorial file implies that the pustaha was a gift or purchase from Ernest L. Prior, of Fort Myers, Florida.
Contents of the pustaha are written on a single strip of bark removed along the length of an Aquilaria malaccensis tree. It is first soaked in rice water and folded into an accordion book, with wooden boards glued to the top and bottom of the strip. The contents of the pustaha are written on both sides of the bark. Good overall condition, although the two cover boards have detached, and one board was split into two pieces long ago, and repaired using rattan cordage. Cover boards and folded bark "pages" may be of different ages.
Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository