1904 W. A. Reed in Ethnol. Survey Pubns. Manila II. i. 22 The Taghanua and Batak of Paragua... The Taghanua..can not be classed with the Negritos... The Batak who inhabit the territory from the Bay of Ulugan north to Caruray and Barbacan may be so classed, although they are by no means of pure blood.

1905 E. Y. Miller in Ethnol. Survey Pubns. Manila II. iii. 183 The peculiar primitive people known as Bataks are to be found in the mountains in the interior of Palawan.

1957 Encycl. Brit. III. 198/2 Batak..Short statured and brown to dark skinned they appear to be a composite of Negrito and Malayan type elements.

1811 W. Marsden Hist. Sumatra (ed. 3) 365 By many regarded as having the strongest claims to originality, is the nation of the Battas (properly Batak), whose remarkable dissimilitude to the other inhabitants..renders it necessary that..attention should be paid to their description.

1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 442/2 (heading) Batta or Batak language.

1875 Encycl. Brit. III. 443/1 The Batak literature consists chiefly in books on witchcraft, [etc.].

1933 L. Bloomfield Lang. xviii. 310 The eight normal types of correspondence will appear sufficiently if we consider three languages: Tagalog.., Javanese, and Batak (on the island of Sumatra).

1957 Encycl. Brit. XXI. 550/2 The Batak inhabit the mountainous region about Lake Toba and a part of the east coast [of Sumatra].

1958 A. Toynbee East to West xviii. 54 I was told..that the Batak Church has more theological students in training than are to be found in all the Anglican theological colleges in Britain.