Let's go!

he mystery surrounds is what makes something interesting. to do-not-know-for-sure somehow fostered some sort of respect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batak_(Indonesia) 

none of the scripts found, about the barbarous activity among native inland written by the early foreign explorers; marco polo, stamford raffles, Ida Laura Pfeiffer, Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn, Niccolò de' Conti, Zhao Rugua's, were based on first-person observation. means, they've been all having told by, or heard from, etc.
damn! i love history. 

"Marco Polo recorded stories of ritual cannibalism among the "Battas". Marco Polo'

s stay was restricted to the coastal areas, and he never ventured inland to directly verify such claims. Despite never personally witnessing these events, he was nonetheless willing to pass on descriptions which were provided to him, in which a condemned man was eaten.."

"Ida Laura Pfeiffer visited the Batak in August 1852 and although she did not observe any cannibalism, she was told that..."

somehow reminds me a quote from the film "Band of Brother":
The mystery surrounds is what makes something interesting. to do-not-know-for-sure somehow fostered some sort of respect. - FIRST LIEUTENANT RONALD C. SPEIRS, 0439 465, Parachute Infantry, US Army, E Company