Illustrated bark book of the Alim tree from Indonesia Pustaha-Leporello. Foldable magic and divination book of the Batak shamans. Surat Batak script on bark of the Alim tree. 12 double-folded sheets with 48 pages. With text beginning (red letter circumference) and 13 text flow miniatures with zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures and ornaments in red and black ink. 25 x 13.6 cm. Sumatra, Indonesia around 1920. Borkenbuch "12. ==References====External links== It is a traditional foldable magic and prophecy book of the Batak shamans (Pustaha) from Sumatra, which was handwritten with black ink on folded bark in the so-called Surat Batak script. The writing basis was the bark of the Alim tree (Aquilaria malaccensis), for the ink soot was mixed with plant juice. Included are usually curative texts, magic incantations, medical recipes, divination rules and astrological calculations of the Datu, the Batak Priest. The book is particularly beautiful due to the circular awards of the letters in the sense of a rubrication of the chapter beginning - and because of the numerous, partly very large, miniatures painted in black and red colored, which show different kinds of animals, such as snakes, lizards, frogs, dragons and similar. With some imagination, one can recognize the horned, dragon-like snake Naga Padoha, which represents the ruler of the underworld and plays an important role in the creation and cosmology myths of the Batak. Lizards and Geckos represent the representations of Boraspati ni Tano, the protecting earth god. The priest-magic Datu is in turn symbolized by anthropomorphic human figures representing the shaman himself, often with traditional, distinctive headgear, while holding ritual sticks (tunggal panaluan) or performing ritual dances with special instruments. Soothsay charts, astrological and calendar diagrams, geometric markers (Bindu Matoga) and instructions for displaying favorable days, positioning for magic cords or sacrificial rituals. – Of the usually blackened or rubbed rubber lids, only the front one is present (stronger shaded, with flaws, cracks), the rear one fragmentary. The last two leaves are above with corresponding text loss. Otherwise, however, the manuscript is complete, at edges as usually more black, browned, wavy and here and there with fiber outbursts and abrasion. As usual, the format decreases slightly towards the end.