The Batak Tuba — called by the Achehnese Bata’ Tuba — are one of the four Batak sub-groups enumerated in Vol. I of The Achehnese by C. Snouck Hurgronje. They are listed with the Bata’ Kar’ee (Karo), the Bata’ Pakpak and the Bata’ Maloyeng (Mandailing) in the note which records how the Achehnese classify the Batak race.
The Achehnese regard the Karo as “the wildest and most vicious” of the Bataks, and “hence they apply this as a nickname of evil import to all Bata’s, including the Bata’ Pakpak, the Bata’ Tuba and the Bata’ Maloyeng.” The Tuba thus share in the generic Achehnese contempt for the Batak, though they are not singled out, like the Karo, for especial reprobation.
The Batak slaves imported into Acheh came “mostly from Singkel and Trumon,” that is, from the West-Coast Batak country. The mention of Tuba in the Achehnese taxonomy of the Bataks is one of the few glimpses in Vol. I of the subdivision of the Batak country as seen from Acheh. Although the Tuba themselves are not further described, their inclusion in the list shows that the Achehnese had a working ethnographic knowledge of the peoples to their south-east.
The character given to the Bataks by the Achehnese — “unwilling, lazy and revengeful,” prone to treacherous violence against their masters — was applied to all four sub-groups alike in everyday Achehnese talk, and the household stories of Batak atrocities which Snouck reports were apparently told without distinction of Batak origin.
See Also
Source
The Achehnese, Vol. I, by Dr. C. Snouck Hurgronje, translated by A.W.S. O’Sullivan, indexed by R.J. Wilkinson. Leyden: E.J. Brill, 1906.