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Mi m.
n\ FRieMDs
THE SAVAGES
BY
Captain Q. B. CERRUTI
TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN
BY L Stonk Sanpiktro
Notes and observations of a
-»
■* Perak settler (Malay Penin-
sula). Richly illustrated with
original photographs taken by
'^
THE Author. ^ jt ^
CO MO (Italy) ^
TIPOGRAFIA COOPERATIVA COMENSE
190S
Every copy of this work not bearing the
author's signature ivill be retained by him
as an infringement of his rights.
These notes, the fruit of much
sacrifice, I dedicate to the memory
of my dear ones.
The fond embrace of parents and
a sister, which for me was a sweet
augurj- at mj- departure, greeted me
no more at my return !
Varasze, June 1^06.
AMONG THE SAKAIS
CHAPTER I.
Malacca and its contrasts — Devourers of the soul
and devourers of the body — The realization of
a poet's dream - Temptations — A call from
the forest — Auri sacra fames — Baggage —
Farewell to civilization.
From the Bay of Bengal and the Gulf of Siam the
Malay Peninsula, once known as the Golden Chersonese,
jets out into the Indian Ocean like an arm stretched
forth to unite once more within its embrace the innu-
merable isles that belt its coasts and that have probably
been severed from the mainland by the combined force
of Time and Sea.
In these surrounding islands, some as large as con-
tinents, others as narrow as reefs, over which civilization
passes in squalls of cupidity, are concealed the strangest
contrasts, for whilst around the shore human wolves
disguised as civilized men are devouring souls, or (with
due observance of the law) are usurping and stealing
their neighbour' s property and products, (the cleverest
and most respected being he who best dissembles his rapa-
citv or who knows how best to substitute unscrupulous
— 6 —
shrewdness for industrial activity) not far off towards the
centre of these scattered lands other men, in primitive
ignorance of the law, are devouring their neighbours' flesh
and skin or stealing their live bodies to serve as slaves.
But such curious contrasts are not after all so very
striking when one considers that to devour souls and
to devour flesh are both natural instincts of Man !
Around the coast of the Peninsula are many flourish-
ing towns where ever}^ modern and up-to-date accom-
modation is to be found. These seaside resorts are
thronged with a cosmopolitan population composed of
tourists, business men, nabobs and adventurers. There
life rolls on in the refined corruption of fashionable
society amidst sports and amusements, scandals and
intrigues, every race and ever}' tongue contributing its
share of good and evil. A motle}' crowd swarms their
streets, presenting to the eye of an onlooker the pictu-
resque spectacle that the contrast of costumes always
produces. They are people of different colours, dress and
education, attracted thither by the loadstone of w^ealth.
The fortunate, the clever, the unscrupulous have already
gained the victory in Life' s struggles and now ride about
in motor-cars of the newest types ; the others look at
them, most likely envy them, and work all the harder to
get rich themselves. Will they succeed? The way, here
is a short one but can onl}' be successfully trodden by
those who possess sound energ}- and blind confidence in
their own brains and in their own muscles. It must not
be thought, however, that the motor-car is a prerogative,
in these parts, of opulent Europeans and Chinese for
it is also a powerful auxiliary' for those who are striving
to make their fortunes through agricultural and mining
speculations in the wildest regions of the Peninsula.
But w^hilst near the sea the inhabitants and travellers
can enjoy all the luxuries and conveniences of the
2oth century, in the interior of the Peninsula, leading
— 1 —
a nomadic life in the thick of the jungle, which covers
the range of mountains from north to south, a primitive
people still exists. All unconscious of the violent pas-
sions and turbulent emotions that disturb the tranquil-
lity of their fellow-creatures (civilized in form if not in
fact) at some miles distant from them, they live quietly
and peaceably in their forest homes preserving intact
their original simplicity and ingenuousness.
The hot breath of our fagging life, that generates
every sort of nerve complaint, has not yet reached their
mountain haunts. On those wild heights the nerves
rest ; the affections are not tormented ; love is pure
and, for this, lasting ; ambition neither perverts the mind,
nor consumes the conscience; there are no honours or
favours to arouse envy ; no artificial boundaries to li-
berty or difficult problems about Capital and Labour ;
there are no rich and no poor, for in that blessed spot
money is an unknown article and what is more —
strange triumph of the Savage over the Civilized —
every man is a brother to the other !
Up there in the forest there are neither princes nor
subjects ; Governments nor Police ; no Tax-gatherers,
public meetings or strikes so that if Stecchetti m were
still living he might have been sent among the Sakais
to find the ideal place of which he was always seeking
the address.
The i5th of June 1891 I landed at Penang (the Prince
of Wales's Island) on my return from an exploring
tour in the Isle of Nias. I was feeling rather worn out
with the fatigues lately undergone so resolved to rest
awhile on British territory.
(i) An Italian poet who wrote manj^ humorous verses. — Tran-
slator's Note.
I had brought with me a rich and interesting ethno-
graphical collection I found no difficult}' in selling to
the Perak Government that destined it to the Museum
at Taiping, a small town where is the British Resi-
dence.
During my well-earned repose I often heard speak
of the Mai Darats, a tribe of Aborigines dwelling in
the interior of the Peninsula and who were called by
the name of Sakais by the Malays, a scornful appella-
tion which signifies a people of slaves, and this insulting
term is explained by the fact that formerly their neigh-
bours carried on an extensive slave-trade by making
them victims and also took advantage of their sim-
plicity and good faith in man}- other ways, until the
British Protectorate was established and these poor
wandering tribes were put upon a par with more civi-
lized races.
I began to gather information concerning these wild
men of the bush and learnt that they inhabited the un-
frequented parts of the Perak and Pahang States, that
they were a nomadic race and that they passed most
of their time in the abstraction and preparation of ve-
getable and animal poisons in which art they were
exceptionally expert and that they were equally skilful
in shooting poisoned arrows. Some of my informants
wanted to make me believe that they were exceedingly
ferocious by nature and so superstitious that they would
aim their deadly dart at whatever stranger ventured to
approach them, believing him to be the messenger of
some Evil Spirit and that afterwards they would make
of him a dainty meal to comfort their insatiable stomachs.
But knowing something of the previous relations bet-
ween the Sakais and the people surrounding them I was
put on my guard against certain exaggerated and pre-
judiced reports and felt strongly tempted to ti}- and
dissipate the vague mystery - that I somehow guessed
was based upon self-interest - in which they wished
to envelop the Mai Darats.
The more they told me about them the more I felt
attracted towards the Sakais, it seeming to me that a
people so foreign to every light of civilization, so bold
as the}' were described to be, so free from every regime
or authority, must needs afford an interesting study to
one who sought to know them at close quarters. Per-
haps, when once I had overcome the, not always sur-
mountable, difficulty of getting into their company, I
might find amongst them a tranquil life and settle down
in their midst as a planter or agriculturist for I was
already' convinced that I was unfitted for commercial
enterprises in which ver}- often scruples of conscience
and uprightness are encumbrances.
My brief sojourn in civilized society made me long
for the freedom and peace which, may be, awaited me
there ; I longed to know intimately these people who,
I reasoned to myself, must be exempt from corruption
as they were so much hated b}- those who lived in its
midst, and who were surrounded by so much nn-stery.
There was, I must confess, another reason that helped
to draw me towards the Sakai camps. I know not how
the germ took root, but in ni}' brain the conviction was
always growing that in the heart of the Peninsula, al-
ready proved to be rich in metals, a gold vein might
be discovered.
The Virgilian auri i^acra /'aiiics took possession of
me little by little, solved every remaining doubt, con-
quered all my hesitations and removed every obstacle.
This impetus united with the longing for new adven-
tures, for profound emotions, for a life far different in
ever}' respect to that I was then passing in a sphere
of elegant slavery, imposed by ridiculous conventiona-
lisms, decided me, and I packed up my baggage.
Just imagine : a strong piece of tarred canvas to be
TO
converted into a camp-bed by means of four wooden
pegs ; a hat, four shirts and some woollen undervests,
a few pairs of trousers and socks, some very light
canvas shoes, and one or two khaki jackets as used by
the soldiers in Africa.
I did not forget though that it was very possible to
catch some sort of illness and as in those parts a ma-
lad}' followed by death may be considered an involun-
tary suicide but never a homicide because.... there are
no doctors to cure you, I also provided myself with a
small stock of purgative lozenges, quinine, some anti-
septic preparations and a bistoury.
Thus having quickly arranged for my new journey
and having supplied myself with such elements as would
be useful to me under the circumstances, I added to
them a large quantity of tobacco and coloured beads
— two things that exercise a great power over sava-
ges — and bidding farewell to all the culinary delica-
cies adapted to weak digestions, and turning my back
upon all domestic comfort, I started forth towards the
Unknown.
K^
bJ5
<
CHAPTER II
My escort — By steamer to Telok Anson — The
other bank of the Perak — Towards the forest —
First news — Blood-letting in the swamp — Rob-
bed and forsaken — Revenge in due time — The
Malay's instigation — My little Sam Sam's fidelity
— Philosophical reflections under a heavy weight.
The kind i^eader who peruses these poor pages of
notes and memories, accustomed to hear speak of expe-
ditions organised for the purpose of peneti-ating into
inhospitable lands or into regions encompassed by all
the terrors of the unknown, will perhaps think that I
was jesting when I gave the inventory of my luggage
in the last chapter and that from sheer vaunt I did not
mention the support of some Geographical or Com-
mercial Society and neither the tons of goods which
would follow in my wake, nor the numerous waggons
and armed battalion that had to escort me.
No, nothing of all this, for to tell the truth I have
always found more harm than good done by these et-
ceteras to an explorer's equipment, and for this reason,
even in my most arduous travels, I always set out, as
it were, alone, confiding only in my own forces. And
let me explain why.
From the very beginning of my wanderings in coun-
tries populated by savages, to some of whom is attri-
buted the most sanguinary instincts, I reassured myself
by a logical conclusion which experience has shown me
to be quite right.
If the fierceness of wild beasts, I reasoned to myself,
is nothing else but a paroxysm of fear why sould we
consider the fierceness of the savages caused by other
motives ? Man, however wild may be his state, has
been endowed with intelligence although in some cases
this intellectual facult}' is possessed in the smallest
possible degree. Let us then make him understand that
he has nothing to fear from us and little by little, if
our patience does not fail, he will grow more gentle
and become a friend instead of an enemy.
Therefore to-da}', as well as in the past, I carefully
avoid warlike preparations, brigandish masquerades or
any escort of a prepotent or menacing appearance. I
go ahead like a simple wayfarer, with a smiling face
and friendly gestures, leaving my gun (which is indi-
spensable in defending oneself from the attacks of wild
beasts) slung over my shoulder.
The first welcome, I admit, is far from being cordial,
and there is alwa3^s the risk of falling into a trap dex-
terously laid for big game and strangers or of being
ably struck by a poisoned dart, but once a meetins has
been obtained without an\' serious consequences accruing,
it is not so difficult as it might be supposed to follow
it up with a parley, for the feared (and fearing) indi-
vidual is dumbfounded at the extraordinary double event
of either not having killed vou or of not having been
killed himself, according to the law of reciprocity which
;br him is inviolable.
— r3 —
Under the impression of this very strange fact he
will not oppose resistance to a peaceable understanding
and afterwards in order to ensure his friendship there
only needs a quick intuition of the poor creature's su-
perstitions, beliefs and susceptibilities and a spirit of
precaution against offending his puerile vanity or of in
any way provoking jealousy or mistrust.
When he is persuaded that the presence of his un-
desired guest brings him no evil he will give you his
full confidence and spontaneously accept you as a be-
nevolent and powerful protector.
The perils, 1 grant, are many and great, but greater
still are those that lie in wait for an armed traveller.
The savage may be terrified and overpowered by the
massacres with which civilization asserts its tyrannical
superiority but the venom of hatred has entered his
soul and he meditates and prepares an ambush which
sooner or later, without fail, will give him his revenge.
The use of brutal force (that for me is a political
error) is an enormous damage to the study of the cus-
toms, beliefs, and psychological peculiarities of the
people with whom we are in contact, for they will back
out of every enquiry or investigation, will either refuse
to respond or will tell you lies, and this accounts for
the contradictory reports that different travellers give
about the same tribe or race.
This, kind reader, is my modest conviction as, from
their method of proceeding, it is also of the English,
who are Masters in everything that concerns coloni-
zation.
My baggage being ready it only remained for me to
find some carriers \yho would be useful to me, if not
as guides to the country of the Sakais, at least as in-
terpreters between me and its inhabitants.
— 14 —
Penang is populated chiefly by Malays but numerous
other races are represented there, especially Chinese
and Indians. Without much trouble I succeeded in en-
gaging the services of five porters : a Malay, an Indian,
a Chinese, a Siamese and a Sam-Sam, quite a lad. To-
gether they formed a little Babel which I congratulated
myself would prove of great help in making overtures
with the Sakais.
All my followers, with the exception of the Sam-
Sam, had faces which would have graced the gallows
and I am sure that Lombroso (i) would have classified
them without hesitation as born-criminals. But their
forbidding countenances did not alarm me as it is well
known that the basest villain becomes timid and servile
when confronted b}^ unexpected danger, and I was well
aware that the dread of tigers, snakes, traps and poi-
soned arrows, the thousand mysteries of Death which
the wonderful forest encloses amidst its countless trees,
amongst the confusion of its thick interlaced creepers
and under its soft moss and long grass would have
converted these ugly-faced, crooked-souled individuals
into docile lambs. I knew that once they had entered
a land, to them not known, they would not forsake me,
for the Oriental has faith in the European and will
follow whither the latter leads, attributing to him rare
qualilies of courage and energy as well as a marvellous
ability in overcoming obstacles and getting out of dif-
ficult positions.
We left Penang on a coasting steamer and after going
up the River Perak for about 60 miles we reached the
little town of Telok Anson where we landed.
(i) An Italian celebrated for his ps\'chological studies. — Tran-
■-lator's note.
— i5 —
It was too early in the morning, when, we arrived for
me to present myself to the British Authority and as
the local officials did not in the slightest way interfere
with my free passage nor subject me to any sort of in-
quisitorial interrogations (which in other colonies and
under other Protectorates I had been obliged to undergo)
I gave orders for our immediate departure as I was
anxious to commence our march as soon as possible.
Having divided our load of provisions in equal parts
we crossed the Perak on a pontoon and with a " slainat
gialat „ (pleasant journey) from the man on board we
found ourselves upon the shores where my adventures
had to begin.
I was there, then, with my face turned towards a
new land, and a thrill of joyous emotion pervaded me.
What surprises were reserved for me up on the wooded
mountains towards which we were bending our steps ?
What things, what habits would be revealed to me
when I reached my goal ?
I was leaving behind me civilized companv. I was
isolating myself from educated society but 1 was not
perturbed at the thought of the hardship, the sufferings,
the dangers that lay before me. Vague and pleasant
hopes smiled upon me from the Future. Of what na-
ture were they ? I could not tell.
" Forward ! „ I said to myself and ni}- carriers. And
the march began.
The first day passed very well, in spite of the intense
heat, and nothing occurred worth mentioning. It was
growing dark and we had alread}' done about 20 miles
when we came in sight of a hut erected amongst some
cocoanut and banana trees. We soon found that it
was occupied by a Malay, with his wife and children,
who had come there for the cultivation of rice.
Mv request for hospitality, until the morning, was re-
ceived with evident distrust, but the hope of coveted
gifts in the end, got the better of Islamatic superstition
in the soul of the Mala\', and a covered corner of his
humble residence was accorded me and my men.
During the night I tried to make the Mala}- talk about
the Sakais but I could not ask him any direct questions
as it would have been a serious affair if my compa-
nions came to suspect that our way through the forest
was entirely new to me and that I was ignorant of the
place where our journey would end.
I managed, however, to find out that quite recently
some Sakais had ventured as far as there to exchange
rattan (Malacca cane) and rubber, for tobacco and rice.
They had then departed, but the Malay did not know
from whence they had come or whither they had gone.
He believed that they could not be very far off as
a few days before he had distinctly heard their call-
whistles.
For various causes 1 felt obliged to doubt the truth
of what the man related, not the least of which being
his ill-disguised desire to rid himself of our company
as soon as possible.
At day-break we started off again, following an al-
most untracked path which led us over miasmatic
marshes swarming with insects. Our poor legs w^ere
attacked by a perfect army of leeches and subjected
to a most inopportune and undesirable bleeding. From
time to time we were compelled to stop and free our-
selves from their tenacious hold. They seemed to prefer
European blood to Asiatic and made me suffer more
than my escort, perhaps because my skin being more
tender they could better succeed in their sanguinary
intent, but although my flesh smarted and my strength
failed it was necessary to keep cheerful and pretend,
every now and then, to recognize our whereabouts just
as if 1 had passed the same way other times. I even
assured my five companions that when we reached the
Sakais there would be no more difficulties, and so urged
them on the faster.
I hoped that the farther we penetrated into the vast
wilds around us the more I might depend upon the
fidelity of my carriers as they would have to rely upon
my supposed knowledge of the country we were enter-
ing and so would be less likely to beat a retreat. As
we went along, however, I leading the way which. I
did not know m3'self, I could not help noticing that
they paid particular attention to every characteristic
point we passed, cutting notches in the trees with their
parang, or knives, after we had waded through a brook
or taken a sudden turn in our course, but my mind
was too much occupied with the duties of my self-as-
sumed pilotage for me to attach any importance to the lact.
The weather was fine all day so that we were able
to go a long way before night fell. Not having come
across any sort of refuge we were obliged to improvise
one for ourselves and in about an hour we were rest-
ing from our fatigues whilst the little Sam-Sam served
us with boiled rice, dried fish and certain capsicums
which would have made cayenne pepper seem sugar
in comparison ! There being nothing better to eat I too
had to take my share of the frugal repast.
Sleep soon stole over us all, but I was somehow
uneasy, for certain strange demands my companions
made me had reminded me of the marks 1 had seen
them making on the trees a while before, and my sus-
picions were aroused without my knowing exactly
how to define them ; therefore, with the excuse of
writing, I determined to keep watch. Until about four
o'clock in the morning 1 was able to resist the som-
nolence which weighed down my eN'eUds but at last,
exhausted with so many hours' march, with the high
tension to which my nerves had been pitched and w'ea-
kened by the abundant blood-letting in the swamp, my
body triumphed over my will and I also slept.
At dawn the little wild bird, the ccp plot, broke the
silent air with its characteristic and shrill ci ti via. To
him the smaller and tamer ccp rid replied with a sweetly
modulated solfeggio of extraordinar}^ precision, and I
awoke. At the same time 1 felt myself being roughly
shaken and the voice of m}- little Sam-Sam cried into
my ear :
" Tuan lakas bangun samoa Orang suda lari „ (Wake
up quickly, sir ; the men have all run aw-ay) !
Ah, then, my misgivings had not been unfounded
and it was Slumber that had betrayed me. I jumped up
and looked around. There was nobody to be seen and
nothing to be heard. I turned anxiously towards our
heap of provisions and discovered instantly that the
four rascals had made off with a large booty of my
rice, tobacco, and matches, things that were very pre-
cious to me at that moment.
What was to be done ? Follow them ? And if we did
not find them ? It would be loss of time as well as
goods. The onl}^ thing to do was to treat the incident
with philosophy, comforting myself with the remote hope
of some da}^ meeting with the scoundrels and of mak-
ing them pay dear for their knavish trick. This hope,
I may say in parenthesis, was not a vain one, for a
year later I met my Chinese culprit at Telok Anson
and not long after, his Malay confederate at Penang, on
both of which occasions 1 had the satisfaction — with-
out troubling the legal authorit_y to intercede for or
against me — of giving them a lesson in honesty that
I dare warrant will have made them lose the gust of
treating others as they had treated me.
— 19 —
1 was glad to find that the Sam-Sam boy had not
•deserted me for 1 had taken a kind of hking to him.
He told me that the Malay who had accorded us hospi-
tality had narrated to his countryman most terrible
things about the Sakais, describing so many perils, and
such ferocious treatment, which awaited those who risked
getting into their midst, that even a man of dauntless
courage would have shuddered. Nothing was said to
me of this, but the man had informed the other three,
who understood the Malay language, and between the
four it was quickly decided to escape.
The boy had heard it all but did not give me an}'
hint, never thinking that the wicked project of robbing
and abandoning me would have been so speedil}' car-
ried into effect.
I asked the only companion left me if he was disposed
to be faithful to his engagement and to me, no matter
Avhere we went, or whom we met with, and he expressed
his readiness to accompany me. The answer put me
into better spirits and I made arrangements for conti-
nuing our journey.
0®O
We boiled enough rice and broiled enough fish to last
us for two meals and then divided both in two parts. We
each took our own share and wrapped it up in some
leaves ready to eat when we made a brief halt on the
banks of the man}' streams flowing through the forest.
With the remaining provisions we made two bundles,
as bulky as seemed possible to carry, but their weight
surpassed our strength so we were compelled to sa-
crifice a large quantity of our victuals which we put
into a sack and left in the hut, hoping that there it
would not be damaged by the rain, and afterwards,
still well-laden, we once more set off.
Under the scorching rays of the sun and the weight
of ni}^ burden I plodded on, philosophizing to myself
— like a Boetius lost in the jungle — in order to
draw some comforting conclusion out of this, my first,
unpleasant adventure. But my philosphy soon took the
form of certain meditations and comparisons that were
not all serene. My thoughts flew to the heroes of the
Bar-room and the Club to whom Sport means fatigue,,
boldness, development of the muscles, and sacrifice pro-
vided.... that every athletic exercise, however slight, be
followed up by a tepid or shower bath, massage, or the
rest prescribed by the hygienist or trainer. I thought
of those so-called explorers who enlighten the civilized
part of the world upon the habits and customs of the
uncivilized part ; those literar}^ swindlers who travel in
a Pullman's car or come other vehicle, equally conve-
nient and comfortable, to a safe place, near the land to
be explored, there to make notes of the vague reports
and yet more vague " they says „ that circulate about
the Aborigines in question, and afterwards with the
help of their fertile imagination turn these mere voices
into startling facts, add a few extraordinary occurrences
in the Robinson Crusoe and Gulliver style (in which
they themselves always play the principal part) and
then present their interesting writings to the public as
a scientific and instructive volume. I was inclined to
envy them their ability and to admire the ineffable good-
nature of Society that pays the expenses for these
triumphs of Humbug.
" Ah ! „ I went on grumbling to myself, and it seemed
to relieve me to thus apostrophize them in their ab-
sence, " if you were only here now, you gentlemen of
sportive tastes and you, illustrious explorers of won-
derful lands and mysterious islands, how I should like
to see your virtue put to the test : here in the forest
from whose black depths a poisoned dart may at any
o
moment fly towards you as a Messenger of Death or
from whence a huge wild beast may, unexpectedly,
rush furiously forth : here where one' s steps may be
suddenly arrested by the up-rising of a venomous
snake. Who knows what an assistance to your fervid
fantasv it would be to hear in the freedom of Nature's
own menagerie the sinister hissing of the serpent, the
bellowing of the elephant, the lowing of the s/adan, the
roar of the tiger, the grunt of the wild-boar, the squeal
of the monkey, and the peevish notes of the cockatoo
all blended into a formidable concert, the accompani-
ment being the rustling of reeds and climbing plants,
moved more by animal life than by the air ; the flut-
tering of leaves ; the humming and buzzing of myriads
of insects : the murmuring of the brooks : voices and
sounds that announce to the traveller a continual in-
crease of danger.
But I must apologize to my readers for this digres-
sion. The jungle and its concerts often make one commit
the sin of philosophy, and, in thus sinning, 1 had invo-
luntarilv forgotten you.
CHAPTER III.
A fearful nocturnal concert — Fire! Fire! — A
clearing in the forest — A general flight — Mas-
ters of the camp ! — Mortal weariness — A
morning greeting without any compliments — A
first meeting — In the village — ALA against
the Orang-putei.
Not having found even a trace of human habitation
either on the second day of our march we were once
more compelled to prepare a shelter for the night as
best we could. We made two little alcoves of boughs
and leaves, and having satisfied the cravings of ap-
petite we lighted a fire on each side of our miniature
encampment, piled up enough wood at hand to keep
them burning, and settled ourselves down to sleep, or
rather one of us had to sleep whilst the other watched,
as we had agreed to take turns. In our ignorance we
had calculated upon finding ourselves surrounded by a
solemn nocturnal stillness in these remote regions ; such
calm quietness as one enjoys during the night on the
Alpine and Appennine woods. We were soon made
aware of our mistake, however, for the monkeys, fright-
— 23 —
ened at the glare of the fires, raised a hubbub of protests,
their shrill cries and chattering voices reaching to the
most acute notes. Leaping up to the very highest branches
of the trees they began to shower down upon us broken
twigs, leaves, nuts and other fruits. They seemed to
be holding a meeting overhead at which each one —
and they were a multitude — tried to gabble out a
speech and to make himself heard above all the others.
Deeper and more ominous notes were not long want-
ing to complete the infernal chorus. From the dense,
dark forest came the blood-curdling roars of tigers,,
panthers, and bears mingled with the loud bellowing'--
and heavy stampede of elephants ; we could distinctly
here the cracking of boughs hurled to the ground in
their furious course, and the crashing of bamboo, which
with them is a favourite food. One might have said
that an immense legion of demons had invaded the
forest, because in its intense, impenetrable obscurity,
only dimly lighted for a yard or two by the blaze of
our fires, everything seemed to turn into life. Every
creature, every reed, every leaf had a voice of its own ;
a howl, a rustle, a sigh that filled the night air with
diabolical sounds. It was a fearful pandemonium; a
mighty strife twixt victim and victor; an insatiable lust
ibr blood; a ferocious manifestation of ferocious love.
" Fire ! Fire ! let us put on fuel ! „ and we threw log
after log upon the burning piles whilst thousands of
sparks Hew upwards and the bright flames cast a red
glow around.
But the great voice of the forest did not cease; it
still spoke on in the roars and the bellows of the strong
and in the yells and wails of the weak. It rose up
against us, as though pronouncing a malediction upon
the intruders, upon the profaners of those mysteries
that, in the inmost recesses of the jungle, great Mother
Nature celebrates during the night.
24 —
For hours we remained there, in a state it is useless
for me even to attempt to describe, and then as day-
break approached the fearful clamour began gradually
to die away. Evidently at the first streak of dawn the wild
beasts had returned to their dens. The monkeys were
the last to finish as they had been the first to begin,
but what was their chattering and gibbering compared
to that terrible chorus which, with freezing veins and
paralized brains, we had been obliged to listen to all
night ?
It has never happened to me to greet a friend with
such fervour as I did the sun that morning. At its ap-
pearance a new concert commenced, but now it was with
the pleasant harmony of the buzzing and humming of
insects, blended with the gay singing of birds.
It reanimated us and we began to stretch our poor
limbs which, besides being stiffened and benumbed by
the horrors of the past night, and the thick dew that
had fallen upon us, had also been an unconscious prey
to leech and mosquito.
Comparisons are odious. Granted. But between a tiger
and a leech, a panther and a mosquito, notwithstanding
their affinity in the liking of human blood, believe
me there is a great difference, and it was perhaps for
this reason that we had not previously noticed the
onslaught made by these lesser carnivora upon our
appalled llesh.
A few hurried mouthfuls and we were on the tramp
again. Our sleepless night, and the strong emotions
that had kept us awake, made us feel tired and listless,
but the bare idea of being exposed to the same torment
and fear another time, gave us courage and strength to
press on as far as possible in search of some nocturnal
refuge, more secure from the four-footed inhabitants of
the land, before sunset should have enticed them from
their lairs.
Weary, and mechanically^ we trudged along, anxiously
peering in front of us for some opening in the thick
foliage and closel}^ packed trees, or of some other sign
of human life.
It must have been about three o clock in the afternoon
— for my watch had stopped — ■ and it had begun to
drizzle, when we saw, at not a great distance from us,
the everlasting twilight of the wild forest dispersed by
the full light of day.
Our spirits revived at the sight, for in all probability
it meant a vast clearing for the erection of huts and,
in conseguence, the presence of fellow beings, however
savage they might be.
We advanced with alacrity and soon came out in a
large open space closed in b}- the felled trunks of enor-
mous trees and planted with Indian corn, yams and
sweet potatoes.
In the middle stood two cabins made of the strong
branches and gigantic leaves of the plants and trees
which liad been cut do\vn. We were just able to catch
a glimpse of some men lying about on the ground,
whilst some women were busily cooking monkey's, ser-
pents, and colossal rats, and several younger men were
preparing poisoned arrows.
We took in the whole scene in a rapid glance for in
an instant the dogs began to bark and their masters
w'ere thrown into a state of alarm. We stopped, and
they saw us, saw mc — a white man — and full of
fright they sprang to their feet. Like lightning they
gathered up their provisions, the women slung the
children on to their shoulders and they all disappeared,
over the stout fence they had erected round their
dwelling place, with the agility and the speed of a troop
of monkeys.
I really think that if the head of the Medusa, instead
of turning into stone those who looked at it, had given
them wings to escape they could not have flown away
faster than did those poor savages at the sight of me.
I had only time to see that they were quite naked
and that their skin was of a light brownish tint, but
this for the moment satisfied me as I knew that at last
I had come into contact with the May Darats in search
of whom I had ventured there.
But I was so thoroughly exhausted in ever\' way
that I had even lost the power of thinking about them
or an^'thing else.
1, and my faithful follower, entered the abandoned
huts where we found some hot potatoes (which were
quickly devoured) and a curious stringed instrument
that had been left behind in the hasty flight.
Having taken the usual precautions for the night, too
tired out to care for the dangers that might be mena-
cing us, dangers that might prove worse than those
we had experienced the previous night (for we knew
what we had to expect from quadruped enemies, but
were ignorant of how our biped foes would treat our
presence in their domain) unmindful and heedless of
everything, dizzy with the need of rest, I threw myself
down on the rude floor and fell heavily asleep.
o^
Towards two o' clock in the morning (as far as we
could judge) my Sam-Sam, who had been keeping watch,
awoke me. It was his turn to sleep. Nothing had hap-
pened, as yet, to excite suspicion or inquietude and
this made me hope that we should not receive any
serious hostility from the Aborigines.
By straining my gaze into the darkness of the forest
1 discerned that some fires were lighted not very far
off, a sure sign that the Sakais were still near us. Was
this a good or a bad omen ? Day would without doubt
bring the answer. And day soon came, gladly welcomed
b}^ all Creation save by those people and beasts whose
deeds are better suited to obscurity.
I was preparing a nice strong cup of tea to refresh
my stomach and cheer up my spirits (for recent events
had greatly depressed them) when something lightly
whistled above my ear and glided over my head.
I gave a violent start and taking off my hat disco-
vered that it had two little holes in it, one on each
side. At a few steps from me lay an arrow, which had
just fallen there, after having perforated nw head-cov-
ering and softly touched my thin locks. It was a hair
breadth escape, in a true sense of the saying, for the
sharp missile shot at me from the Sakais infallible
blow-pipe had first been carefully poisoned.
That unexpected and not very friendly " good morn-
ing „ called me back to the bitter reality of my posi-
tion, and warned me not to delay coming to an under-
standing with them at once.
Prudence forbade my presenting myself in their midst
because the colour of my skin, although well sunburnt,
would have drawn upon me certain death. I was con-
vinced that in their primitive superstition they would
have believed me an evil spirit and as such would have
speedily despatched me to another world. The only
thing to be done was to send hither my intelligent
Sam-Sam who willingly allowed himself to be loaded
with tobacco, coloured beads, sirih and matches and
then sallied forth to make a truce.
He was accorded an audience without any difficulty
which fact was perhaps due to the similitude of his race
with theirs but more probably to the gifts he carried
with him.
My ambassador was interrogated with eagerness and
curiositv about the oraiig piifci (white man), and he
told them that 1 had come laden with gifts and full of
— 28 —
good-will towards them. But the Sakais would not hear
of my approaching their new encampment and sent word
that the\- would soon favour me with a visit.
And they kept their promise without losing any time
in making a toilet or getting into a dress suit. They
were in three, two stalwart 3'ouths and a man of be-
tween forty and fifty, all armed with their suuipitans
(blow-pipes).
By means of the Malay language and the universal
one of gestures, I explained to them that I did not
mean them an^^ harm, that on the contrar}' it was my
desire to help them in whatever way I could and that
I should like to live amongst them if they would let
me, as I wanted to initiate some plantations in their
part.
They replied by first trying to dissuade me from
taking up my abode with them, and then suggested that
it would be better for me to go to a small village at a
short distance off, whither they offered to accompany me.
I thanked them and accepted the offer, telling them,
as a recompense, where we had left our sack of provi-
sions. I afterwards heard that they had succeeded in
finding it.
I felt so contented at having made the first step —
which is always the most difficult — that notwithstand-
ing the thoroughly exhausted state in which I knew
myself to be, I re-commenced ni}' journey with a light
heart, escorted by the three Sakais and my Sam-Sam.
But arrived at a certain point it was impossible for me
to proceed.
Besides the stiffiness of my joints, my flesh was tin-
gling and bleeding with the bites and stings of many
insects. In order to prove my sufferings to my compa-
nions 1 showed my livid limbs to them and I saw an
— 29 —
expression of pity pass over their countenances. It
seemed to me a good augury for one who was joining
their tribe.
We stopped, and the Sakais quicicly built up the
huts, Hghted the fires and afterwards ate some rice with
us. We then lay down to repose for the night, but if
Sleep closed our eyes I think Mistrust opened them
and none of us enjoyed much slumber in the end.
Early the next morning we continued our course and
reached the group of cabins dignified by the name of
village. Here the same thing took place as on the pre-
vious day. In spite of my being in the company of three
of their own people, which 1 thought would have reas-
sured them, at my appearance the huts were rapidly
deserted amidst cries of terror.
My three guides, however, managed to get into com-
munication with their brethren and after a while led
them to me without their making any resistance.
I got their consent to let me settle down near them
on the condition that I did not seek to enter their huts.
The reason of this interdiction I learnt later on. It had
been a prescription of the Ala, a sort of sorcerer, who
believed, or made believe that my presence would have
an evil effect upon a sick mother and her new-born
babe.
The Sakais, stimulated by my presents, built me a
solid and pretty comfortable cabin near a rivulet and
not far from them, and I installed myself there forthwith.
The first day of our acquaintance it happened that
I accidentally called them Sakais. They changed face
and some of them protested angrily :
" You are not good, because you insult as and call
us bad names ! „.
It was a dangerous slip of the tongue and I hastened
to make my peace by explaining that I had heard the
term used by the other people but that I knew they
3o
were really May Darats whose kindness and gentleness
had often been abused by their neighbours, and in the
future I meant to save them from being cheated and
deceived by their former aggressors.
This declaration calmed their resentment and 1 was
able to begin a quiet, tranquil life amongst those simple,
sincere beings, a life so calm and undisturbed that I
have never had cause, then or now, to regret the civi-
lized society from w^hich I had voluntarily withdrawn
myself, persuaded that if my character and habits in-
capacitated me for the dubious and not always straight-
forward transactions of the commercial world, the same
moral qualities which impeded me from becoming a
business man might find good ground for bringing
forth fruit in the pure hearts and minds of a primitive
people, who knew neither fraud, nor hypocrisy.
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CHAPTER IV.
New friends — Gold — An English official — The
purchase of my future treasure — Administrative
simplicity — England teaches! — The " sla pui „
— Bitter disappointment — The Sam-Sam —
The poison of the Savage and the venom of the
Civilized.
My strength and health, which had suftered in con-
sequence of those few days' strain of muscle and nerve,
soon returned to their normal state in that peaceful
retreat upon the grassy banks of the stream that is an
affluent of the Bidor.
My friendship with the Sakais increased every day
because little by little their suspicions concerning me
were allayed and the curiosity with which they watched
my every act was no longer mixed with fear. They
did not attempt to run away when I bent ni}' steps
towards their rough habitations in spite of the Ala's veto
to my passage through tiieir village and it was not a
rare thing for my gifts of tobacco and siri/i to be ex-
changed with pheasants and other game and sometimes
even with a chicken. I found it eas}^ to talk with the
— 3-2. —
men and prized these conversations as a means of stu-
dying their characters and of learning their language,
which is composed of short, strongly accented words.
It was very seldom that I could find any sort of deri-
vation from the Malay tongue in these terse syllables.
At the same time that I sought to get upon a familiar
footing with my new friends I did not forget one of
the principal motives that had induced me to wander
so far from the haunts of ordinary men, so one day I
cracked a cocoanut in half and, cleaning it well out, I
dipped the shell into the bed of the stream and drew
it out again full of water and sand.
I examined the contents with great care and found
a few grains of gold in the alluvion ! This was joy
indeed, and mentall}' I bade goodbye to the life of a
planter (although I had not yet begun it) and there on
the spot decided to dedicate my time and energy to
the gathering of gold which would be far the quickest
way of making a fortune.
All at once, however, an unpleasant thought crossed
my mind and dimmed my bright hopes.
In my chats with the Sakais they had told me that
there was another orang pntci at Tapah. I endeavoured
to discover who this person was, and what he was
doing, in the little Malay town, but I was unable to
obtain any information about him.
Now the idea suggested itself that this white man
could be no other than a British Government Officer
to whom, from a feeling of delicacy, respect of the law,
and as a means of avoiding future trouble, I was bound
to explain what I wished to do before setting myself
to work, as his permission would be necessary for the
execution of my desire.
My unfortunate experience of other colonial authorities
inspired me with very little confidence in that of the
English and nothing seemed to me more likely than to
— 33 —
find myself expelled from the Protected States instead
of having my petition granted.
But on the other hand it would be very rash to com-
mence work in earnest without legal authorization, so
one day, accompanied by some Sakais to the confines
of the forest, I betook myself to Tapah.
o^
I could not help wondering to myself what sort of a
gruff, bureaucratic functionar}' I should find to deny me
my fortune. Who knew how my Italian enterprise would
be judged on territory protected by H. B. M.?
But calling up my courage I was introduced into the
presence of a 3'oung and pleasant-mannered gentleman
who received me with much politeness.
He had already been informed that a white man was
to be found amongst the Sakais and he had been greatly
surprised, not understanding what attractions anyone
could find in the midst of a people so ignorant and
savage. He congratulated himself upon the opportunity
of meeting and knowing me, was pleased to hear that
I was an Italian and w^ound up with the stereotyped
demand :
" What can 1 have the pleasure of doing for 3'ou? „.
Encouraged by his kindness, but not without a little
secret misgiving, I told him frankh' what I proposed
doing and related all particulars.
Mr. Wise (for this was his name) listened to every-
thing attentively, now and then expressing a word of
sympathy or approval and finally, for the sum of a few
dollars, made me the owner of the tract of -^and upon
which I had fixed my mind.
Thus it was that in the short space of an hour, without
having to surmount any obstacles, and at an almost
- 34
ridiculous price 1 became the legitimate possessor of a
piece of ground that perhaps concealed a treasure in
its bosom.
As I had never before been at Tapah I took advan-
tage of the time spared in my business affairs to visit
it a little and to form an opinion upon the expedients
used in a half-desert Eastern country, scorched by the
sun, populated by different tribes, infested by poisonous
insects and terrible microbes, to say nothing of a host
of wild beasts !
Tapah is a modern little town, all villas and gardens.
It rises white and coquettishh' at the foot of green hills
and its smiling panorama, although without the magni-
ficent background of the sea, recalled to my sight the
sweet vision of my native Yarazze, one of the most
beautiful gems that adorn the Riviera Ponente.
It is the chief-town of a district counting 3o,ooo inha-
bitants amongst which about a thousand of diverse i^aces
and nationalities. It has two large streets lined with
shops where Mala3's, Indians, and Chinese offer a varied
and heterogeneous stock of goods for sale.
It is divided in the middle by the big river Batang
Padang which afterwards discharges itself into the Bidor,
that too.
As capital of the district it possesses a Post Office,
a very large room where two Indian clerks perform
their duties under the direction of an English Postmaster
who has also to overlook the branch offices of the circuit.
My attention was attracted by an unpretending edifice
in front of which some Malay and Indian soldiers were
seated. I was asking them what building it was when
an Englishman came out and courteously told me that
it was the Head Police Station of which he was the
inspector.
— 35 -
During a subsequent conversation I learnt that the
l^olice Service was everything that could he desired as
also that of all the other Public Offices and that Indi-
genes and Indians were everywhere emiiloyed under
the direction of English chiefs. The number of clerks,
as in other British col mies, was according to strict
necessity ; no extra posts were ever created for political
or personal interest but when assistance was required
there was never any difficulty in selecting local aspirant,
as long as they had a sufficient knowledge of the
official language.
So I found that Tapah, the chief-town of the district,
is under the direction of an Englishman, who is called
the District Officer, and who performs all administrative
and magisterial functions.
Not much time lost here in the labyrinths of Bureau-
cracy ! And yet I heard that both the District Officer
and the Police Inspector who are under the control of
the Authority residing in Taiping, capital of Perak but
wJK) in reality enjoy almost complete liberty of action, find
the time not only to discharge all the various dutieu of
their oftice but also to take recreation in a little football
;'.nd cricket. It is said that sometimes the menservants
too are called in to take part in these national sports
and for an hour freely compete with their masters in the
art of kiching and batting, returning serious and re-
spectful to their proper places at the end of the game.
W'hilht I was passing the time pleasantly, talking
with one and the other I saw a little party approaching
that was the object of great respect from the b}-standers.
It was Mr. Wise the District Officer who had recei\ed
me so politely a few hours before.
He was on his return from a survey made in order
to define the boundary of some land belongig to two
Malays. \\'ith()ut donning anv sort of uniform or in-
signi;!, this British delegr.te had known how to preserve
- 36 -
all the solemnity and dignity of form due to the occasion,
a virtue peculiar to the English who are alwc-tys and
everywhere the most rigorous observers of social and
official etiquette.
Mr. Wise kindly invited me to follow him the Club
where he kept me in friendly conservation, answering
all the questions I could not refrain from asking him in
my desire te become better acquainted with the colony
and its method of government.
Now Mr. Wise is no more, but in him his contry lost
a model functionary for intelligence, solicitude and
uprightness.
He died at the very moment his future seemed to
smile its brightest ; when his fondest hopes were about
to be crowned by matrimony with the young lady of
his choice.
Let me, through these pages, render to his memory
the modest, affectionate homage of admiration and de-
ferential friendship.
That day, having made my peace with the authorities,
I returned with a clear conscience to the quiet nook I
had found in the vast forest; to that domestic corner
reserved for me in Dame Nature's grand and wondrous
saloon : to that rude home so far removed from the
generality of mankind, but so close to the kings and
princes of the animal kingdom, commonly called —
wild beasts.
Keeping tight hold of the recipt which had suddenly
made me the owner of a possible gold mine, I alter-
nately made castles in the air and meditated upon the
simplicity of English administration that in a few short
instants had conceded to me an extensive zone of land
with which to do what I liked, without any need of
setting in motion the intricate machinery of the bureau-
A young Sakai with his inseparable blowpipe.
p. 40.
- 3- -
cracy ; without any stamped legal forms, surveys and
expensive reports; the presentation of birth certificate
and that of British citizenship ; without digging into
the past and the future, into the state and position of
one'.s. family, etc. etc.
And because ever3'thing that happens to one abroad
recalls one's fatherland (a natural habit that neither
distance nor time can change) I thought of my native
countrv and of the complicated organization of its many
bureaucratic depaitments that only too often clogs the
boldest Italian enterprise and raises an insurmountable
barrier before creative and inventive genius compelling
it to seek elsewhere its fortune.
l*^-om my heart 1 longed that Italy might before long
be liberated from these toils which hinder the free ex-
pansion of its young and vigorous forces.
One thing had particularly struck me during mv in-
tercourse with Mr. Wise. The fact of my being an Ita-
lian w'as no obstacle to my request being favourably
received. This surprised me, for under other govern-
ments I had seen that foreigners were considered an}'-
thing but necessary to the colon}- and after having
opposed, more or less openly, the intruder's initiative,
the Authority' seized the slightest pretext, that offered
itself under a decent aspect, to send the new-comer back
over the frontier for fear that their digestion might
sufter from his presence.
England on the contrary does not search into, nor
care lor, the origin of those who bring energy or an}-
other useful quality to her colonies. In her dominions
she only aims at reaching the highest point of prospe-
rity, she desires only the accumulation of riches, and
whoever promises well to further her interests, becomes
an appreciated collaborator, be he Italian, German,
Portuguese or Turk.
luigland never repells talent or aptitude from an
— 38 ~
absurd prejudice of Chauvinism. Considering the length
and breadth of her possessions she may well say that
the world is her tributary, no wonder then that she
avails herself of the hands and brains of every one who
knows how to use them well, instead of confining herself
exclusively to the merits of those born on British soil.
In this broad w^ay of seeing and treating things —
which proves the tranquil and perfect consciousness the
English nation has of its own strength — I believe lies
the secret of its colonial success.
The well-known satire according to W'hich it is im-
possible to find in the world a rock or strip of land,
however barren or sterile, without an owner, for the
simple reason that an Englishman is always prompt to
unfold and hoist the Union Jack there, is in reality the
highest and most just homage that can be paid to the
spirit of enterprise that characterizes this people. Where
others onh' see sand and reefs, not worth the trouble
of cultivation, the Englishman discovers some productive
germ that with his indefaticable energy brings forth a
thousand fold. Nor is Colonial work, industrial activity
and commercial thrift disturbed b}' bureaucratic sophistry
or immoderate fiscal pretentions, that so frequently suf-
focate the most promising and audacious undertakings
in other places.
Colonial success very often depends upon the ability
of its administrative body in directing all available force
to this one end : the increase of its wealth. Bureaucracy
is a cancer which paral3'zes all life and motion that it
finds within reach of its tentacles.
Old England has understood this for a long time,
ever since, from the island once fruitless and barren, she
spread her wings and flew to the conquest of the
World's markets.
When will certain other nations comprehend that an-
tiquity and past glory, instead of offering the precious
- 39 -
fruit of experience, has brought upon them a palsied
decrepitude ?
When wilt thou understand this, my Italy, risen as
thou art to the third maturity of th}' civilization and
glory ?
I set myself at once, with a good will, to the extrac-
tion of gold, and engaged the services of a few Malays
and Chinese coolies, who were expert enough, to assist
me in my work.
The method we followed was a very primitive one.
We filled some round wooden bowls with the water and
sand, then by gently stirring the mass, particles of tin
and gold were separated from the sand and went to the
bottom. This deposit carefully gathered up was passed
into other bowls full of water, into which we threw a
a well-pounded leaf of the sla pin.
The juice of these leaves possesses a chemical pro-
perty which I cannot explain but it draws up to the
surface the sand still sticking to the metals, leaving
them quite pure.
But the yellow tempter was not at all profuse in his
favours and the golden metal came in very small quan-
tities. I did not lose courage, however, and persevered
for a long time without any change of luck. I even tried
to trace out the aiuuferous bed from whence the waters
of the stream transported the metals. I made innume-
rable attempts to find it, but in vain, and the day came
when I was constrained to confess to myself that allu-
vial mining for me was a failure.
After all my hopes and dreams it was a melancholy
confession to make but it was evident that 1 must turn
in another direction if I wished for fortune, so I settled
my account with the workmen and dismissed them.
At their departure my Sam-Sam who had become in
the meantime a robust young man, begged me to let
him return to his own part, saying that there was a
3'oung Sakai willing to take his place in my service.
Although very sorry to lose the faithful companion of
that never to be forgotten journey through the forest,
I could not refuse his request and let him do as he
wished.
It was with real pleasure that I fell in with him again
some years after when I was travelling through the
interior of Kedah and he too evinced great joy at the
meeting.
He told me that what he had earned from me had
been the means of making his fortune, for with it he
had bought a piece of ground and some oxen, and now
kept himself, his wife and two children, by agricultural
work.
As I have said, the gold was very scarce. After the
coolies had left I tried to persuade the Sakais to take
their post, which would have saved expense in gathering
it, but ever}^ effort was useless for these people do not
and will not understand what works means, or the plea-
sure it gives, beyond that of preparing poisons.
Poison is the principal topic of conversation with
them and their onl}^ boast is the discovery of new or
more deadly mixtures. The children listen to these dis-
courses with liveh- interest and pay anxious attention
to the experiments made by their elders in this primi-
tive kind of chemistry, and in this way the passion is
propagated from father to son and so it will continue
until the breath of civilization reaches that far-off spot
and those good, simple men learn that, in the struggle
for life, civilized persons no longer use poisons that kill
the body, but those which are much more terrible and
4'
without an antidote, such as envy, calumny, hatred and
luxury, which destroy the mind and soul.
These are the venemous elements that my forest
friends do not yet know, those poor savages who extract
their poisons from the ipok^^^ and other, trees to defend
themselves against wild beasts and to procure them
food in their wild abode.
(i) The ipoh, known in science by the Javenese name of iipns, is
a tree that aftbrds a vcrj- baneful poison as explained in the chapter
upiin poisons.
CHAPTER V.
Great Mother Earth — A dangerous meeting — A
living statue — Here or there ? — An unrelished
supper — A dreaded immigration — A glance
into the past — A rape which was not a rape
— A noble task — Towards the mountain —
Tiger-shooting — The Sakais in town — Alloyed
sweets — Musical tastes — Hurrah for the free
forest !
M)"* gold mania was transient. My spirit was very
soon liberated iVom its thrall and I turned with alacrity
to the study of a more practical and satisfactory en-
terprise.
In that brief period of uncertainty 1 had somehow
felt convinced that fortune (if indeed fortune was re-
served for me) would have to come to me through the
ground. But in what way ?
I often accompanied the Sakais in their visits into the
thick of the forest where they were in the habit of
going in search of poisons, and sometimes I would even
go by myself. During these excursions I tortured my
43 -
brain with the everlasting question of how to initiate a
new hne of work and gain.
One day the forest itself answered my puzzling query!
There were extensive woods of rattan, and other mag-
nihcent reeds which are called in England Indian and
Malacca cane ; there was resin oozing copiously frc^m
the trunks of the trees. What more could be desired '.-'
I began gently to make my Sakais comprehend how
much 1 should like to gather these products and tran-
sport them to where I might exchange them for other
articles that we were without. It was of no use to speak
to them of money because thev had not the smallest
idea of what it meant.
At hrst they responded roughly that they did not
care anything at all about the matter, for, as 1 before
said, the Sakais from habit and an innate spirit of in-
dependence will never hear of submitting themselves to
any regular, ordinate labour. Knowing, however, with
whom I had to deal, and divining what a great amount
of patience would be necessary to bring them round to
my way of thinking, 1 began to distribute gifts, espe-
cially tobacco, freely and frequently amongst them, onl}'
mentioning my wish occasionally, as if by chance. And
my prodigalitv had its reward.
One day I saw them returning from the forest abun-
dantl}' laden with the products I wanted.
It was a good beginning and was followed up by a
constant supply. I stored up the bamboo and gum and
when 1 had accunuilated enough I went to the coast
to sell my merchandise coming back well provided with
tobacco, iron, coloured beads, matches, salt, rice padi
and maize. These things I dispensed amongst my
friends and they, seeing the good result of their fatigue
in the form of articles which excited their cupidit}-,
ended by keeping me plentifully furnished with the
goods in question.
44
O^J
The new branch of commerce, which I had started,
required a good deal of energy, but 1 let no grass grow
under my feet and went frequently to Tapah in order
to open up a sale for ray products.
It was on my return from one of these journeys that
something happened to me worth relating.
Only a few hours of daylight remained when I set
out from Tapah for ni}- forest habitation. I was carrjang
with me six nice loaves and a piece of venison that I had
bought in town and I thought with keen appreciation
of the savour}' supper I should have that night.
I hurried along as fast as possible in order to tra-
verse the 2 miles of highroad and the other of woodland
track, which lay before me, ere night fell. In spite of
the 30 miles already done that day my legs continued
to serve me well and I walked rapidl}' on with a bent
head, full of thought.
At a sudden turning of the path 1 raised ni}' eyes
to scrutinize the way. About 5o yards in front of me
1 saw a dark and confused mass slowh' moving. Think-
ing to meet with a part}^ of coolies from a neighbouring
mine, who were perhaps going for provisions, I advanced
for another 40 paces, then stopped short and was fixed
to the spot. The formless mass had taken the shape of
nothing less than an enormous tiger !
There was no fear that step or gesture of mine would
attract its attention for at the sight I had become pe-
trified, like Lot's wife I In that atom of time, which
seemed to me a centur\', I could not even think, but
across the deadened faculty of my mind flashed a warn-
ing I had recently received from the Sakais : never
make a movement in the presence of a tiger, and never
look it straiijht in the face.
- 45 -
The first part of this injunction was instinctively
obeyed for I remained there rooted to the ground,
utterly unable to stir even if such an imprudent idea had
suggested itself. My senses were so paralyzed by the
unexpected encounter that I did not entirely realize my
position and had only a vague perception that when
those fierce eyes once rested upon me the end of the
world would have come, as far as I was concerned.
Sideways I saw that the huge beast, which had been
sniffing the ground, to find out what animal had lately
passed by, now raised its head and looked slowly around
with an indolent but suspicious air.
After a painful vibration, some of my muscles became
rigid. The monster cautiously advanced ; it was certainly
preparing to pounce upon me ! 1 could hardly resist
the impulse of looking towards it. All my nerves were
quivering with anguish as if in a supreme protest against
the imminent slaughter. Already I felt the terrible
creature's hot breath as it opened wide its greedy jaws ;
already my trembling flesh felt the fatal touch of its
death-dealing claws — one instant — two.... !
With a quick, irrepressible motion my eyes turned
in its direction.
The tiger was leisurely crossing the path and disap-
peared into the forest without taking even the least no-
tice of me ! Why, it was almost a personal offence !
But although the blood began to flow once more
through heart and brain, and Life — which had been
momentarily sus])ended — again ran through all my
being, filling the veins and relaxing muscles and nerves,
I did not then think of the slight offered me by the
animal's indifference, for with renewal of life had come
an atrocious spasm of horror and of fear.
In those few seconds a drama, full of strange sensa-
tions, awful impressions, and maddening effect had been
enacted within me !
- 46 -
After the first moment of relief, and whilst I was still
stretching and rubbing my limbs, a serious problem
presented itself for solution.
On entering the forest the tiger had gone the very
way 1 had to go myself. What had I better do ? It was
impossible for me to retrace my steps, for my previous
tiredness had increased to a singular degree after m}'
fright. It was equally impossible for me to think of
stopping where I was. And to penetrate into the forest
following in the creature's wake, would it not be like
going to seek the ghastly end from which I had just so
narrowly escaped, thanks perhaps to the tiger's defective
sense of smell ?
And yet, after having carefully pondered which course
to take I was obliged to make my decision in favour
of the one that seemed the niost insensate of the three.
My cabin was not very far off. I should onl}^ have
to quicken m}^ pace, b}^ making a supreme effort, in
order to arrive before it got dark.
And the tiger ? But might I not have met a dozen of
them on my road from Tapah ? And besides, who could
sa}' that the one I had seen was really gone towards
my home ? It would indeed have proved a curious
predilection, especially after the afiiront just received I
So armed with these subtle reasonings, with which
I sought to persuade myself, I left the tragical spot
where, according to the brief agon}' of ni}' feelings and
the likelihood of procedure, I had been torn to pieces
and eaten by a wild beast, and I continued my homeward
journey.
How the faintest sound startled me ! A falling leaf;
a blade of grass moved by an insect ; a snake or a
lizard gliding out of my path ; the squeal of a monkey ;
the fluttering of a bird's wings as it flew up to its perch,
all subjected me to spasmodic thrills.
I always had in my sight that dreadful beast with
gaping mouth, and cruelly glittering eyes. The horrible
vision gave new vigour to my body, extraordinary sup-
pleness to my legs and — wings to my feet.
Kind reader, who knows how man}^ times in 3'our
sitting-room or perhaps in somebody else's even dearer
to you — honi soit qui lual y peiise ! — you have found
yourself in front of a tiger, leopard or panther whose
brindled and glossy skin you have admired ; who knows
how man}' times you have absently played with its
head, still ferocious-looking, in spite af its glass eyes
and red cloth tongue ; who knows how often you have
toyed with its fangs and claws whilst you were persuing
a pleasant thought or inebriating your spirit with the
soft tones of a certain voice !
Well, have you ever tried to imagine what emotions
3'ou would experience if quite unexpectedly those glassy
eyes should become animated ; if that ugly mouth should
open wider ; if those white fangs should gleam with
life ; if those splendid claws should be stretched out in
the act of lacerating you : if that magnificent skin should
once more be incorporated and rise up to face you ?
1 confess the truth when I say, that the dainty supper
1 had brought with me from Tapah, lost its flavour
for me that evenins;.
oQJo
A report of my flourishing trade and the news that
gold was to be found at the bottom of the little river
which flowed past my humble dwelling soon spread
outside the Sakai region. The conseguence was quite
an invasion of our tranquil village.
This immigration greatly alarmed the poor Indigenes
who cannot easily forget how they were once treated
by those not of their own race.
They still remembered with terror how the strangers
- 48 -
had plundered their villages, carrying off everything
they could la}' their hands upon, even their young men
and women to serve as slaves and concubines.
The majority of these poor victims, torn from the
unlimited freedom of the jungle, unused to any sort of
work that was not voluntar}', and faithful to their tra-
ditions and superstitions did not long survive their se-
paration from kin and tribe. The others, who managed
to adapt themselves to their new conditions, as a matter
of course, had their primitive simplicity corrupted, and
little by little learnt the vices and habits of their mas-
ters. For this they were considered by their brethren
as inferior beings and were looked upon with grave
suspicion, when, taking advantage of the first occasion
that offered itself, they fled back to the forest. Although
bv their return to their own people they foreswore
their past moral and material bondage they could not
help bringing with them some of the depravit}^ they
had seen, or endured, in their exile which clashed with
the customs and sensibilities of the pure type of May
Darats, remarkable for their sincerity and integrity.
In this way, by degrees, the original Sakai race di-
minished whilst new clans sprang up around them,
formed of those who had been, and continued to be, in
contact with comparatively civilized people, who knew
their languages and their craftiness, notwithstanding
which they frequently became their dupes under the
show of good-feeling and cordiality.
The British Protectorate came as a blessing to the
Sakais because it officially abolished slavery and shor-
tened their neighbours' talons, that had grown a little
too long.
But in spite of the vigilance exercised by their white
protectors the others still found the means of depredating
and imposing upon these good but ignorant creatures.
Instead of devastating their rude homes and arbitrarily
— 49 —
taking possession of everyone and everything they pleas-
ed, they soon established another system for achieving
their end.
They supplied tliem with goods of the very worst
quality, charging them at the highest prices, and as
these consisted principally of tobacco, salt, iron, sirili
and pieces of calico they lasted no time, and had to be
frequently replaced. As a matter of course this fraudu-
lent manner of trading made the poor Sakais' debts
amount to fabulous proportions and then their swind-
ling creditor dictated the conditions he best liked : the
man had to follow and serve him or if there was some
woman in the family he preferred, he would carry her
off either to keep for himself, or privately sell to another.
To better succeed in their roguery they depicted the
white man as an incarnate devil, never tired of doing
evil, who had come there for nothing else but to ravage
their land and disperse its inhabitants. The orang piitei
was described to the credulent Sakais as the most
terrible and cruel enemy that one could possibly ima-
gine.
Thus the real persecutors of this primitive people were
regarded by them as true friends, whilst the relation
of imaginary and fantastic perils distracted their minds
from the more practical dangers of this false friendship.
By instilling in them fear of the white man there was
less chance that the wretched individuals, whose good
faith and domestic affections had been abused and
outraged, would appeal to a British magistrate for
justice, believing him to be a worse enemy than the
actual one, and if sometimes a complaint was brought
before this functionary through a third party, a most
distressing scene ensued.
The victim, under the influence of his injurer' s glance
and presence, would acknowledge whatever misdeed,
debt, and even crime was attributed to him, responding
— DO —
to the demand if what his accuser said was true, with
the invariable and laconic words: " What he says is true „•
I may here cite a case in which I took an active part
when I was the Superintendent of Sakais under the
British Government.
One day a family of these Sakais who have dealings
with other races, rushed wildly into my hut, crying de-
sperately. The parents, sobbing, told me that a Chinese,
to whom they owed a great deal, had seized and led
away their daughter.
I set mj'self to find the blackguard and after some
difficulty succeeded. I rescued the girl and restored her
to her relations and then sent in a report of the incident
to the Magistrate. A case for abduction was made out,
and the English law* does not jest on such matters. The
Chinese declared that as his creditors could not pay
him his due he had agreed, if the girl consented, to
take her as his wife or servant, and so cancel their
debt towards him.
Whilst he spoke he never took his eyes off his ac-
cusers. The father and mother of the young woman
were interrogated and although the}' were in my pre-
sence they replied, after a momentary hesitation :
" What he says is true „.
The girl was then asked if she had followed the
Chinese of her own free will or if violence had been
used in taking possession of her and she too repeated
like an automaton :
" What he says is true „.
Nothing availed to get other words than these out
of the poor wretches' mouths, nor the magistrate's clever
cross-questioning, nor my entreaties to tell the whole
truth. I re-called to their memor}- the pitiful state they
had been in when they ran into my house, crying and
invoking justice. It was all in vain ; but fortunately for
them the legal officer himself was convinced that the
'.rb«r
' J.'. -V-v^
5[ —
Chinese -- who stood by with a sarcastic smile upon
his Hps — was guilty, and closed the process by con-
demning him to six months' imprisonment.
1 made up my mind to go to the bottom of the affair
il" only to discover why the Sakais, by nature so far
removed from falsehood, had denied the truth.
My investigations proved that the Chinese had threa-
tened to revenge himself by utterly destroying the
w hole family if they made any complaint about his way
of proceeding, and had also terrified them by stories
of the inhuman tortures to which they would be sub-
jected by the British magistrate if they spoke against him.
The confession came too late because, if they had
spoken in time the scoundrel would have had a much
heavier sentence.
From this simple episode one can understand what an
amount of energy, boldness, and resolution the English
Authorities need in order to liberate the poor Sakais
from the moral tyranny that still oppresses them. But
the British Government is quite egual to the task it has
undertaken, and there is no reason to doubt that before
long it will have reduced to impotency these dregs of
Societv who creep in amongst the Sakai tribes, that
are^ far removed from civilization and justice, there to
work out their wicked schemes and practise their
crafty wiles.
I have written the word " dregs „ on purpose, as of
course peoples in a collective sense cannot be held
responsible for the bad-doings of a small number of
their countrymen, and 1 wish it here to be distinctly
understood that when I speak of the villainous acts and
thievish propensities of these latter (who being too well-
known and despised in their own place, to be able to
succeed in their base tricks go elsewhere in search of
victims) I do not mean to offend, or cast a slight upon
Malays, Chinese, or Indians in general.
— 52
On the contrary, I have the highest esteem and respect
for all three, especially those who faithfully follow the
ways of Progress, and have certain virtues peculiai'ly
theirs.
og}o
After this rapid glance into the past it is not difficult
to understand with what inquietude and uneasiness the
Sakais saw their little settlement invaded by those
they feared.
The new-comers, though, no longer found such a cre-
dulous and frightened people as they had been accus-
tomed to on other occasions. Their calumnious stories
of the white man (whose vigilant and not very lenient
control troubled them a great deal) made little or no
impression. They knew the white man b}- now, he had
been among them for some time and the}^ had even
come to look upon him as a good protector.
So by mutual agreement we let our vmwelcome visitors
choose their sites and erect their huts, allowing them
to enjoy the ecstasy of a vigorous abuse of the humble
Sakai village and everything they, could find within
reach ; then one fine morning, to their infinite wonder,-
we left them to their own devices and betook ourselves
to the heights from whence flowed down the little
river Bidor. This sudden change of localit}' did not
cause me any serious sacrifice as the spot where we
had been living was not very healthy owing to the
frequentl}' stagnant condition of the stream and, apart
from hygienic motives, I was not altogether sorry at
being thus compelled to seek new quarters as I was
anxious to get well acquainted with the whole district,
studying its products and its fitness for colonization,
hoping in the end to succeed in inducing the Sakais to
abandon their nomadic life for one of honest work, in
the field of agriculture. Besides so teaching my good
— 53 —
iVieiids the valui- and the nobten&ss of labour I should
liave a useful occasion myself for employing latent energy.
We selected a beautiful place in the forest for our
new encampment, and the men set to with a good will
to cutting down the splendid timber and luxuriant
climbers within the circle drawn out for the clearing.
The thick interlaced boughs and bushy underwood were
alive with reptiles, and our advent, with the noisy and
destructive blows with which we broke the drowsy
-Stillness of the air, brought an indescribable panic in
that little centre of animal life.
Our huts were quickly raised and we were soon able
to resume our habitual occupations.
o&Jo
Some time passed without our camp being disturbed
bv any sort of incident when one day a tiger was seen
to stealthilv approach our clearing and snatching up a
dog in its mouth, it fled back into the forest, the poor
little beast yelping pitifully as it was being carried off.
The fact was a graver one than the mere loss of the
dog would have made it seem because if the animal
had been constrained to commit such an audacious act
b}' the pangs of hunger, it would most probably return
again, and who could say that there would always be
a dog ready for its meal? It is however well known,
that this dreadful feline creature does not devour its
prey all at once but invariably leaves a part of the flesh
sticking to the carcass, reserving the picking of its bones
for the following night. Therefore there was a good
chance of speedily liberating ourselves from our ferocious
enemy, if the Sakais had not regarded the tiger with
superstitious respect, for a reason which 1 will explain
later on, a vague belief in metempsychosis that also has
the effect of makinu' them fond of their domestic animals.
- n4 —
I had the greatest difficulty in convincing my ignorant
companions that the tiger must be killed if we wished
to remain in peace and safety. It was a long time before
I could overcome their reluctance and terror at my pro-
posal.
At last they consented to let me rid them of their
dangerous friend and built me a small house up one
of the trees we considered to be in the best position.
Armed with a first class Martini I took my place there
with two or three Sakais.
What I had expected came to pass: at dead of night
the beast returned. We could see it crawling cautiously
through the high grass. I took careful aim and fired.
The sharp report was instantly answered by a fearful
roar, and the formidable creature, after giving a tre-
mendous jump into the air, once more disappeared into
the darkness of the forest.
The Sakais were awed and dismayed by the thunder
and lightning of my gun.
We could still hear the furious laments of the wounded
animal so we thought it advisable not to stir from our
posts until morning.
At the first streak of day, as the groans of the evi-
dently fallen tiger had not ceased, some of the men
went to ascertain its refuge whilst I, with my loaded
rifle, kept myself prompt to defend them in case of an
unlikely attack.
The beast was soon found, stretched out on the turf
In spite of its fury it was unable to move as one or
two of its legs had been shattered by my lead.
I finished it with another shot. Its skull now displays
its beauties at the Ethnographic Museum at Rome.
Not much later on I was obliged to repeat the same
sport.
Another tiger had stolen a dog, and we had found
its half-eaten body. Knowing that the rest would be
■ 55 —
devoured within a few hours by the same benst of prey
we made a Httle shelter of leaves and bianches up a
tree close by and remained there to await iiis majesty.
At nightfall he punctually arrived and was received,
according to his merit, by my rifle. My shot did not
miss its mark and he rushed off howling with pain and
rage. All night long the forest echoes were awakened
by his horrible cries but towards morning we managed
to trace him out and he too was finished by a second
shot.
In the year 1898 the ever increasing solicitude of the
Sakays had enabled me to accumulate a considerable
quantity of Malacca cane, rattan, resin and orchids which
I had made up my mind to take to Penang for sale.
But 1 wanted to indulge myself in the pleasure of
conducting with me some of my friends, the savages,
that they might for the first time see a modern town.
It was no easy matter to prevail upon them to follow
up my desire but finally 1 persuaded five of them to
come with me as carriers.
Keeping always along the banks of the Bidor we
descended as far as the Ferak which we crossed in order
to do a part of the journey in train and tlien board
one of the steamers that ply between Telok Ansom
and the island of Penang.
During the voyage I noticed nothing particular in my
companions beyond a great wonder, not unmixed with
fear, when they felt themselves travelling upon water.
They observed everything with grand curiosity, and
were immensely interested in the noisy movement ot
the ship's engines and its steam sirene.
Arrived at Penang, where I met with numerous friends,
they soon became the centre of attraction.
— 56 --
Dainties of every kind were pressed upon them, and
they were offered loads of the finest sweetmeats and
white sugar. They accepted it all without enthusiasm
but threw away the sweetmeats as soon as they had
tasted them. When I asked them why they did so they
replied that there was something not perfectly sweet
in their flavour and they feared that whatever it was
would do them harm.
The gifts which they seemed to appreciate the most
were cigars, tobacco and white sugar.
My five Sakais divided their presents with each other,
putting away some for the dear ones at home, and I
often noticed that in the midst of the bewilderment
which those simple souls must have experienced at
being surrounded by people and things so totally new
to them, thev never seemed to forget for a moment
the beloved persons they had left behind in the jungle.
The Town-Band gave a concert and I accompanied
mv proteges to hear it. The bass instruments with their
deep notes jarred upon the acoustic sense of the poor
fellows and visibly inspired them with terror. They
stopped their ears with their fingers and gave clear
signs of the unpleasant feelings they were suffering
from. But it was quite different when they heard the
higher-toned instruments, especially those of wood, as
the flute, the clarionet and the oboe. The pure, vibra-
ting notes gave them intense enjoyment judging from
the pleased expression of their countenances and their
singularly brilliant eyes.
I also took them to a Chinese theatre, but the skill
of the yellow artistes did not find its way to the Sakai
heart and after having witnessed the spectacle for a few
minutes they frankly declared that they were not at all
amused.
Tlieir artless natures and simple affections remained
unpolluted by the seductions of civilization. Nothing
- 57 -
was wanting to content them : they were caressed by
the English, received heaps of gifts and lived without
the sHghtest fatigue, yet they w^ere not happy. I saw
them change humour and become more melanchol}' hour
by hour. The distractions with which I tried to cure
their home-sickness tended only to increase it.
The third day of our sojourn at Penang they implored
me so earnestly to let them return to their families that,
impressed by their sickly looks and disconsolate air, I
promised at once to grant their desire.
This promise put them into better spirits and their
good humour was quite restored when the steamer left
the harbour at Penang and bore us towards the river
Perak. No one would imagine the transformation that
had taken place in my five fellow-travellers.
Four days of town-life had told upon them physically
and morally. The}- were tired and disgusted with every-
thing. Accustomed, on an average, to walk twenty miles
a day, at Penang, after strolling through a few streets,
they had been weary. Exposed to privations and hard-
ships in the Jungle (often owing to their own improvi-
dence) they were soon nauseated with the ease and
abundance offered them in the city.
Where the climate, the charms of the place and the
security from wild beasts were all calculated to captivate
their fancy and render them contented, the poor Sakais
drooped and pined for the vicissitudes of their wild life
in the woods where comfort was unknown and food
was sometimes scarce. Their thoughts, their ver}' souls
were always back in the remote forest, in that enchan-
ting wilderness whose magic spell blinded them to its
mortal perils and inconveniences. Up 3'onder there was
perfect libL-rty of action ; up yonder there were their
families !
That sudden transition from a primitive existence to
the progress of many centuries had been a severe shock
— 58 -
to them. In the same way that an abrupt change from
profound darkness to the most dazzhng Hght, or from
the temperature of the pole to that of the equator, ine-
vitabl}^ produces grave disorders in the organism if it
does not actually .prove fatal, so the turning of a savage
into a citizen at a day's notice incurs a dangerous risk.
The popular idea amongst us that anyone can quickly
habituate himself to the luxuries and commodities of
modern life finds a check when applied to primeval
people like the Sakais. They may observe, enquire, and
seek to understand — as far as their intelligence per-
mits — everj^thing the}^ see around them; they remember
well all they have heard and seen, and will mimic and
describe it in their poor, strange language to their re-
lations and friends ; they carry with them presents
which are a tangible record of their travels ; they
explain to the others how the houses were protected
from wind, sun and rain ; they will teach how to imitate
the engine whistles, the roar of the steam flowing out of
the open valves, and the hollow sound of that myste-
rious monster, the motor-car, but their enthusiasm and
affections are firmh^ fixed upon their native forest,
wondrous in its riches and allurements.
Though it may bring to its lovers death and suffering
it is always the best beloved of the savage and only a
ver}' slow, patient and — to them — imperceptible in-
troduction of civilizing elements in their midst will be
able to weaken this attachment for savage surroundings
and turn those treasures of affection and fidelity to a
more useful and loa;ical end.
ZPZ'
CHAPTER VI.
The great Sorceress — The forest seen from above
— A struggle for life — The crimes of plants —
Everlasting twlight — Births and deaths — Con-
certs by forest vocalists — The " durian „ — The
" ple-lok „ — Vastnesses unexplored by science —
Treasures intact — Para Rubber — The Sama-
ritans of the jungle — The forest and its history.
To speak of the forest without having seen it, and
after having seen it, to describe its marvellous beauties,
are equally impossible tasks.
When Art shall have re-produced faithfully the mag-
nificent harmonies of colour, voice and outline peculiar
to the jungle, it may be said that there are no more se-
crets of beauty for it to penetrate, because nowhere
else has Nature been so profuse in bestowing her mul-
tifarious tints or has manifested Life with such triumphal
glory of fecundity ; nowhere else can be found such a
prodigious variety of forms and attitudes or such inef-
fable multiplicity of sounds.
Like a paean of love the forest breaks forth from
— 6o -
the bosom of its great Mother and rises eagerly, pas-
sionately towards the sun, its Benefactor.
Were it possible to soar on high and look down upon
that wide verdant sea, its infinite gradations of green,
enlivened here and there by the audacious brightness
of a thousand wondrous flowers, wc should have
under our eyes the most complete, artistic and suggestive
representation of life and its struggles.
The gigantic trees shoot up straight towards the sun,
each one seeming to strive to outstrip the other; but a
thick and even more ambitious undergrowth of plants
twine round their trunks and enclose them in a tenacious
embrace, then twisting, and creeping, amongst the spread-
ing boughs, reach and cover the highest tops where
they at last unfold their several leaves and flowers
under the sun's most ardent gaze.
The tree, thus encircled and suffocated b}' the baneful
hold of the climbers, lacks light and breath; the sap
flows in scarce quantities throughout its organism and
it languishes under tlie shade of the close tendrils ;
.swarms of insects incease its agony by making their
food and their nests of its bark ; reptiles make love
within the hollows of its trunk and at last the da}'
comes when the lifeless giant falls with a frightful
crash bearing with it the murderous parasite that is
the victim of its own tenacity, which first raised it to
bask in the sunshine and then caused it to be crushed
under the rotten weight of its former supporter.
These are furious embraces of envy and jealousy;
phrenzies of egotism in the vegetable kingdom : strange
expressions of formidable hate and love, of oppression
and vengeance.
All these miriads of plants are invaded by the irre-
pressible mania to ascend as high as possible and to
receive the first, the most burning, perhaps the most
pernicious, but the most liberal kiss of the sun. And
— 6i —
tht.-y all hasten to arrive as though fearing to be su-
perseded in the ascent as much by the colossal tree
destined to brave centures — if its massive roots are
not ruined by its minute foes -— as by those slender
growths of a month or a day.
"Higher still! Always higher!,, the green-leafed
multitude seem to cry, " Excelsior! „
The sun never penetrates under this tangled mass
of vegetation except where an opening has been made
by the hands of the savages or by the work of lightning
and hurricane.
In the dim light of its damp atmosphere the inter-
minable rows of tall straight trunks, some stout and
some slight, assume the oddest shapes which can ap-
peal to the observer's phantasy. Now they are colonnades,
adorned with pendant festoons stretching away into the
distance ; now they are mysterious aisles of monster
temples ; now they are the unfinished design of some
giant architect whose undertaking was 'arrested by a
sudden, mystic command. However fruitful may be the
imagination of the artist he would here always find fresh
and superb inspiration from the enthralling sight of
Nature's virginal beauties.
The stagnant waters of the ponds, round which the
frogs croak and the leeches crawl, are plentifully strewn
with water-lilies, reeds and other aquatic plants.
On the hoary trunks of ancient trees whole families
of orchids have insinuated themselves into little clefts
in the bark, and flower there in the brightest of colours:
red, purple, blue and also white.
Everywhere there is a joyous exuberance of life and
vigour. Each day begins or ends the cycle of time de-
stined to the vegetable inhabitants of the jungle, because
— 62 —
as there is no regular round of seasons the plants and
flowers finish their course according to the short or
long existence prescribed them by natural laws, and one
continually sees dried and withered leaves and flowers
falling to the ground whilst others open and blossom in
their stead. Those that die to-day afford nourishment
to the new-born generation and in this manner there
is a ceaseless renovation of the various species without
any need of a gardener to prepare the soil.
The exuberance of animal life is in equal proportion,
as there is abundance of food for all.
A deep and uninterrupted buzz fills the air; it comes
from the cicadas whose monotonous note wearies the
ear, and from hornets and bees of every description
that keep up an incessant hum as they suck Juices from
the plants or dive their antennae into the ripe fruit or
perhaps into some carrion lying near. The bassoon-like
sound never ceases a single instant and tells the lis-
tener how innumerable are the populations of insects
which live and generate their sort under the shade of
their jungle retreat. Other inexplicable noises — far
off crashes, mysterious sounds that chill one' s veins,
howis that make one shiver — for a sole moment break
the noon-day silence. What is their origin? Nobody
can sa}'.
The different animal sounds to be heard in the forest
follow a rule which knows no exception.
The. day is hailed by a full concert warbled from the
throats of feathered songsters. This morning hymn rises
in all its innocent purity to the skies whilst the fierce pro-
taganists of the past night's blood}' tragedies slink off
to their dens and leave the field free to the more gentle
herbivorous animals.
The durian tree.
p. 64.
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lUit at noon, when the sun is casting down its hottest
rays upon that vast emerald palace of life, gay voices
are hushed and the forest echoes only with the drowsy
buzzing of insects.
As evening draws near the birds once more begin to
chirp and trill, they salute the setting sun and fly away
to rest. Then the monke3's commence their screeching
and chattering and soon after the owls and other night
birds take their turn, making the now dense darkness
more terrible with their harsh, sinister cries. Little by
little as the night deepens, bellows, roars and howls
resound upon every part in a slow crescendo until they
are fused into a general and appalling uproar which
could not be more awful if the gates of Hell were to
be opened on Earth.
I am not an artist and still less a scientist but as a
simple observer I like to take note of all that is worthy
of notice and that is possible for me to transmit in an
intelligible form.
Having depicted, to the best of my ability, the cha-
racteristics of forest life, 1 think it will be well — setting
aside its magic charms and manifold wonders* which
would make a poet even of one who has no tendency
for poetry — to describe, in a more practical way, some
of its products.
1 will begin with the durian, or sttmpa, the fruit of
which is unknown in our country.
It is a ver}- large tree, growing to the height of 40
or 5o metres and distends around it a huge pavilion
of rich branches, covered with little leaves.
It is to be found sometimes singly and sometimes in
clumps and is the only tree that the Sakais show any
interest in multiplying, and this cultivation, if we may
- 64
SO call it, is done by them almost unconsciously, not
from any sentimental feeling but rather from the effect of a
sentiment and a superstition*". It produces a most extra-
ordinary quantity of fruit, the exquisite flavour of which
it is difficult to match. It has been calculated that every
tree bears, on an average, about 600 durians but some
have even reached the enormous figure of 1000.
If one were treating of berries or nuts this would
not be so remarkable but each fruit of the durian weighs
about two kilograms and is as large as a child' s head.
For this reason it is a dangerous thing to stand or pass
under one of these trees when the fruit is quite ripe
as so heavy a ball falling from a height of forty or
more metres would suffice to split open one' s head
even if the long prickles with which it is covered did
not make it more to be feared.
The Sakais are quite greedy over durians and
j\r Wallace writes that its delicate flavour is so exqui-
site it would well repay the expense and disturbance
of a journey Eastward on purpose to taste it.
This assertion of the English writer may be somewhat
exaggerated but for my own part, I must say that 1
have never tasted anything more delicious. But not
everyone can enjo}^ or appreciate this strange fruit for
the disgusting smell that distinguishes it and that is
apt to cause nausea to a weak stomach.
Imagine to have under your nose a heap of rotten
onions and you will still have but a faint idea of the
(i) In another chapter, wherein I describe the superstitions and
beHefs of the .Sakais, I have spoken of the custom they have of de-
positing food, tobacco, etc., on the tombs of their dead for a week
alter they have been buried. Naturally everything, not devoured by
beast or insect, rots upon the spot and the seeds of the fruit find
their way into the ground. For this reason many new trees spring
up in groups, obtaining their first filimcntation from the dissolution
of the corpse.
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insupportable odour which emanates from these trees
and when its fruit is opened the offensive smell becomes
even stronger.
When mature, that is to say in the months of August
and September, the durians fall to the ground and are
eagerly gathered up by the natives, who at the period
of their ripening, leave the women and children, the
old and the sick in their villages and encamp themselves
in the forest around these precious trees.
The outside of the durian is ligneous and is covered
with strong prickles of nearly an inch long. The interior
consists of a great many small eggs each one being
wrapped in a fine film which, when broken, reveals a
pulp of the consistency and colour of thick custard. A
big seed is embedded in the centre of each egg, almond-
like in size and form, although not so flat.
I cannot describe in an}^ wa}' the flavour of this fruit
which the real Sakai calls siiinpa. I can but repeat that
it is exquisite and far superior to an}' sweet dainty
prepared by cook or confectioner. There is nothing to
equal it, and in eating one does not discern the least
smell as the disagreeable stench comes from the husk
alone and the worse it is, the more delicate is tl^e taste
of the pulp.
This fruit is too perishable for it to be exported to
far countries even if there was any chance of its finding
favour in European markets, in consequence of its hor-
rible smell, which does not however protect it from the
voracity of the monkeys and their rodent companions
— especially the squirrels — that manage, in spite of
its formidable prickles, to make a hole in the husk and
nibble out some of its contents leaving the rest to
rot inside.
To my knowledge the durian is not subject to any
malady which might effect the annual quantity of fruit
to be gathered, this depending entirely upon whether
— 66 —
the wind has blown violently, or not, during the time
it was in flower.
This King of Trees, as it is called b}^ the Sakai, will^
grow and prosper nearly to the height of a thousand
metres, and its fruit is preserved by pressing it into large
tubes of bamboo after the seeds have been picked out.
The Sakais frequently exchange these original pots
of jam for other articles equally prized by them, such
as tobacco and beads.
Another fruit, so delicious that it may almost be said
to rival the durian, is the pie lok.
The tree on which it grows cannot be ranked amongst
the giants of the forest. It has big and long leaves
something like those of the orange but whilst on the top
they are a glossy black in under they are of a still
glossier green.
The fruit, that ripens between September and Novem-
ber, is the size of a peach but it is covered with a very
thick husk (nearly black outside, and a rusty red inside)
after the sort of our walnuts. The pulp is divided into
a lot of quarters each one enclosed in a very thin skin.
It looks like snow-white Jelly and in fact melts in the
mouth at once, leaving only a little kernel. The flavour
is sweet and exceedingi}' pleasant.
The husk is utilized by the Sakais for producing a
dye with which to paint their faces and also for making
a decoction as a remedy against diarrhaea and pains in
the stomach.
The Sakais are immensely fond of this fruit as indeed
any European, accustomed to the finest sweets, might
be, the more so as it never does any harm or brings
about an indigestion, even when eaten in large quantities.
Besides these two grand lords of the forest I will
also mention the pic pra, a colossus that, modestly, but
without avarice, supplies the Sakai with excellent
chestnuts.
- 67 ■••
It is impossible, notwithstanding my desire, to describe
the many other trees and fruits wliich form the richness
of the forest, as it would take too long. Further on, in
a chapter dedicated to poisons, 1 have named some of
the most dangerous in this respect, but between those
that are the ministers of Death and those that are the
means of Life to the simple jungle-dweller, there are
countless species to which it would be difficult to assign
a particular class.
Many of these latter are regarded by the natives
with distrust, perhaps without any reason, but from who
knows what strange belief transmitted from father to
son ? And in the heart of the forest who is there to
study and make experiments upon such leaves and
fruits in order to ascertain if they are perfectly edible?
I, for instance, am of opinion that the fruit of the gin
I! ba a could be safety used and to a great extent.
It is like a little pumpkin, green outside and yellow-
ish-white inside. A kind of oil is extracted from its
pulp which, when cooked, is not of a disagreeable taste
and does one no harm. But the giii I'l ba a is a creeper
and it is among these parasites that poisons abound
and this is why the fruits obtained from them are used
with reluctance and if possible, avoided altogether.
o®o
Treasures not to be imagined are still hidden in the
profound recesses of the Malay forest ; priceless trea-
sures for medical science and for industry.
Could the former but discover the exact therapeutic
and venomous virtues of some of those plants, man}' of
which are quite unknown to botanists, what innume-
rable new and potent remedies might be found to en-
rich the pharmacopoeia of civilized people !
Agriculture, in all its varied branches, could here
find incalculable treasures of fertility !
Without counting the rice that gives a wonderful an-
nual product, the Indian-corn that gives two harvests a
year and the sweet potatoes that give three, there is
the yam, the sikoiM, the sugar-cane, coffee, pepper,
tea, the banana, the ananas, indigo, sago, tapioca, gam-
bier, various sorts of rubber, gigantic trees for ship-
building, and so on.
The Para Rubber, from which is extracted our gutta
percha grows marvellously well in the Malay soil and
requires very little attention or expense.
There is the ramie whose fibres will by degrees sup-
plant the silk we get from cocoons, or mixed together
will form an excellent quality of stuff. It is a herb with
long, fibrous stems which when well beaten out and
bleached become like a soft mass of wool. After being
carded it can be spun into the finest threads as shiny
and pliant as silk itself
This plant flourishes to a great extent in Perak and
its stems may be cut off twice a year. It only needs
to be cultivated, for industry to be provided with a
(I) The sikoi grows on high mountains and the women have to
take great pains in cleaning it before it is cooked. It is a grain some-
thing Hke our millet and has good nutritive qualities.
The Sakays mix it with water and make a sort of " polenta „
cooking it, as usual, in their bamboo saucepans. It is a favourite dish
with them when eaten with monkey flesh, rats, pieces of snake,
lizards, beetles and various other insects which would be of rare
entomological value to any museum that possessed them.
Ignorant of the repugnant compound, that gave such a savoury
taste to the sikoi, at the beginning of my sojourn with the Sakays,
i ate it with relish after seasoning it with a little salt, an article
not nnich used amongst my mountain friends. But when I came to
know what ingredients gave it flavour I refused it, as kindly as I
could not to offend their susceptibilities, because my stomach rebelled
against the mess.
— 6o —
new ami precious element. In tact there are few who
do not know that the greater part of Chinese silk stuffs
are woven with the ramie fibres, but its utility might
have a much larger extension if it were made an object
of study by those capable of drawing from it profitable
results.
Very few lands, I think, have been so favoured by
capricious Nature as the Malay Peninsula where she
seems to have taken delight in bestowing her treasures
of flora and fauna as v.ell as underground ones, for
several gold and tin mines are being worked, whilst
lead, copper, zinc, antimony, arsenic and many other
metals are constantly being found, besides some rich
veins of wolfram, although a real bed of the latter ore
has not yet been discovered.
If once the still lazy but honest forces of the Sakais
could be utilized b}- turning them towards agriculture,
all this natural wealth might be sent to the World's
markets and a sparse but good people, susceptible of
great progress, would be gradually civilized.
The Para Rubber, referred to above, constitutes one
of the greatest riches of the Malay agricultural industr}-.
Both soil and climate are very favourable for its
cultivation in the Peninsula, so much so that a tree
attains the maturity necessary for the production of
this valuable article in four years, if special care and
attention is given it, or in five or six if left to its na-
tural growth (as in Ceylon), whilst in other places it
takes eight and even ten 3-ears.
Not many years ago the British Government had a
limited space of ground planted, with seeds brought
from Brazil, as a simple experiment. The result was
•encouraging enough to induce the Institute of Tropical
— 70 —
Researches — initiated under the auspices of the Liver-
pool University, with the object of developing Colonial
commerce — to make plantations which in one season
yielded no less than i5o,ooo pounds of gum.
About three years ago 60,000 acres of land were
planted with Para Rubber, the Government providing
the seed at a very low rate.
It is calculated that each acre contains from i25 to
25o trees according to the quality of the ground and its
position.
These plantations continue to increase with surpris-
ing rapidity and it may be said, at the present da}',
that four million trees are to be found in an area of
200,000 acres.
When one considers that each tree renders, on an
average, from 5 to 6 pounds of gum, and that that of
Perak — chemically proved to be pure — is quoted on
the market at 6/10 per pound — whilst the best pro-
duced by other countries does not exceed 5 '7 — one
can form a pretty correct estimate of the enormous
sum derived from the Para rubber of Perak.
It was generally supposed that this valuable tree
would suffer if it surpassed a thousand metres in height
but in the Malay Peninsula it grows and nourishes
even higher than 1,600 metres, especially the so-called
ftcus elasticus and India-rubber.
The British Government is doing its best to increase
this cultivation, and " its best „ in this case reall}^
means " the very best „ because besides concession of
land, and the providing of seed at a low rate, the Go-
vernment aids this industry, in which so many millions
are invested, by the making of fine, wide high-roads
as well as by maintaining railway's for the conve3'ance
of goods, fixing a minimum tariff for the transport.
Perhaps some one will accuse me of being too partial
in my remarks upon the work done by the British
— 71 —
Government in this its remote Eastern Proctectorate, but
having assisted for many 3^ears in the ever increasing
agricultural and commercial development of the penin-
sula, and having seen the steady conquest civilization
has made by means of the most practical and surest
methods — such as the patient training of the natives
to the love of work, and the prompt and conscientious
administration of justice — I cannot but admire the
enlightened and benificent activity displayed by the Eng-
lish in those parts.
o®o
Closed this parenthesis about the plantations, which
are now spreading far and wide over the forest (the
wood-cutter's hatchet continually clearing new tracts of
land for agricultural enterprises), I want you to return
with me to the jungle which is still almost untrodden
and where Nature reigns supreme over the thick tro-
pical vegetation.
Having already spoken briefly and in a disorderly
way of the riches which are here gratuitously oftered
— not the riches of Midas and Pymalion, because mother
Nature does not refuse food to her children even if they
are profaners of that wonderful temple of her fecundity —
it is right that I should now draw 3'our attention to two
great friends of travellers in the forest. One is the
bamboo and the other a creeper called the " water vine „.
The bamboo, known to us only as one of the plants
least considered in a large, well-kept garden, or as a
polished walking stick, as the legs of a fancy table of
uncertain equilibrium or as a tobacco box ably worked
by Chinese or Japanese fingers, in the free forest be-
comes a colossal inhabitant. Its canes, at first tender
and supple, grow to such a size, and so strong as to
be used for water conduits. It is a visrorous and invasive
— 72 —
plant that covers the surrounding ground with new
shoots whilst in under its long roots spread out and suck
up all the vital nutriment to be found in the earth around.
To one who lives in the forest, the bamboo is as ne-
cessary as food itself. It provides light, solid huts ; it
makes the blowpipe, arrow and quiver ; it serves for
carrying water and preserving fruit ; it forms a safe
recipient for poisonous juices ; it is bottle and glass,
and finally supplies the native cooks with a saucepan
that only they can use because they have the knack of
cooking their food without burning the bamboo. I have
often tried to do the same but the result has always
been that pot and pottage have been burnt together.
The bamboo has also a secret virtue of incalculable
value to the thirsty wa^Tarer, overcome by the heat of
a tropical sun : it is a perfect reservoir of water.
B}' boring a hole just under the joints of each cane
more than half a litre of clear water, not very fresh,
but wholesome and good, gushes out. It is rather bitter
to the taste and serves to restore one's forces as well
as to quench one's thirst.
The water-vine also acts as a Samaritan in the jungle.
Like all the others of its sort this climbing plant closes
some giant king of the forest in its crue! embrace (thus
depriving it of its strength) and then falls in rich festoons
from its boughs, swaying and rustling with every breath
of air.
By making a cut at the extremity of one of the sprays
that hang down towards the ground, a fresh, drinkable
water flows out.
It is superfluous, perhaps, to add that this grand ne-
cessity for the traveller on foot may be obtained irom
other sources : the streams that are to be found trick-
ling along here and there, and the huge leaves that
upon drying up secrete a certain quantity of rain water
within them.
73
So the jungle gives to eat and to drink, with won-
derful abundance and variety, but woe to him who does
not know her well, for she also proffers Death in a
thousand unsuspected and seductive forms !
Dfji-C
How man}' times in the solemn, languid hour of
noontide, when bird and beast were drowsing from the
heat, I have stood in the shade and interrogated the
forest upon its first violators and their descendants !
But my demands remained unanswered ; in its superb
grandeur it does not interest itself in the tragic vicis-
situdes of animal or vegetable lives, it makes no records^
on the contrar}', it quickly cancels all traces of past
events.
I have vainly asked : from whence came those who
have found shelter and solitude in the obscure depths
of its wooded hills ? How many centuries have they
dwelt in those lone, wild parts ? I have asked if that
shy and dispersed tribe was not the remains of a once
great and strong people eclipsed by a younger, stronger,
and more savage race? Sometimes watching, with ad-
miring eyes, the strange architectural forms taken by
the massive trunks and graceful vines, fantastic but
alwaj^s majestic, I have asked the forest if it had not
arisen upon the ruins of some long ago and lost civi-
lization and if those same forms were not an inexpli-
cable evocation of the gigantic creations of vanished
genii of which I seemed in imagination to catch faint
glimpses ?
But the forest remained mute and kept its impene-
trable secret.
Only here and there, groups of trees, lower than the
surrounding ones, and between them spaces of ground,
which had evidentl}' once been clearings and were not
— 74 —
3'-et total!}' re-covered by jungle growth, gave proof of
Sakai nomadism even in other ages. No other sign of
the past, and m\' query, perhaps absurd, repeats itself.
Am I before the savage infancy of a people, or the
spent senility of a race, lost sight of in the course of
centuries ? If the latter, would there not be some relic
left of its existence ; a fragment of stone or concrete
substance inscribed with the figures of its period ? Is
it possible that everything has been buried from the
sight of modern man, under the rank luxuriance of
grass and bush ? Or is it not I who vainly dream under
the impression of the forest's mute grandeur and the
thousands of voices that to-day awake its echoes and
to-morrow leave none behind ?
K^
CHAPTER VII.
The snares of civilized life — Faust's invocation
— The dangers of the forest — Serpents — A
perilous adventure — Carnivorous and herbivo-
rous animals — The " sladan „ — The man of
the wood.
The young man who incautiously ventures into the
mysterious parts of Drury Lane — where vice and crime
have a classical reputation — or strolls through the old
Latin Quarter of Paris (where some of the streets are
anything but safe to pass through), or who finds himself,
for whatsoever reason you will, in one of those question-
able labyrinths still existing in the most civilized Italian
cities, would certainly not run less risk than in facing
the dangers of the forest. The dart, the trap, the attack
of beast and reptile may be, with courage and calmness,
averted or pai-ried, but the evils which menace man,
under the hypocritical euphemisms of Society (ever ready
to vaunt its impeachableness) injure not only the body
but, what is worse, the spirit.
Those who succumb to the latter are ofttimes induced
to lament that death does not come swift enough to kill
-76-
their ilesh, after their souls and intellects have been
long since slain and consumed.
In the thick of the jungle the spirit rises and wanders
free ; there are no restraints or limits to its flight. It is
inebriated by the simple and serene joys of living; it
is pervaded by a current of new, potent energy that
makes one feel — alone, in Nature's realm — - either
immensely great or infinitely small ; exquisitely good
or miserabl}' wicked.
It is not prudent, when travelling in the forest, to
let philosophy make us linger long on the w^ay, but
there are some moments in which one's inner life is
so intense, in which thought and sentiment are so im-
petuous that that fleeting atom of time is in itself suf-
ficient to mark an indelible epoch in the existence of
men. Who knows but what if Mephistopheles had lead
Faust into the virgin forest, and there left him free to
his speculations, if the famous invocation would ever
have escaped from the fevered lips of the doctor ?
But... what is this hissing? It is not the spirit that
denies ; it is a snake I have disturbed along my path
and that has not found my philosophizing over pleasant
(like you, perhaps, kind reader) and so I will cut short
my digression.
The forest abounds in reptiles. There are innume-
rable varities of serpents, big and small, venomous and
harmless. It may almost be said (especially towards the
plain) that every bush and every tree has one of these
inhabitants.
The commonest species are the tigi rilo, the tigi pad
and the tigi dold but the most feared are the scndok
and the himad.
As a, rule none of these snakes will assail a person
unless they have been molested. They remain either rolled
Cooking in a bamboo saucepan.
p. 72.
up close to a tree or lazily swinging from one of its
branches, keeping hold of it with its powerful tail and so
it is necessary to proceed very carefully and to look atten-
tively both up and down in order not to disturb them.
The serpent, when stumbled against, hurls itself as
quick as lightning upon the unhappy' offender, encir-
cling and suftbcating him with its coils and biting him
with its sharp fangs even when the}^ are not poisoned.
Like all other animals it becomes ferocious and seeks
to kill from fear. He who disturbs it is a foe to be
vanquished.
But if you pass him without being afraid and without
hurrying, with a slow gliding" step, taking care not to
move 3^our hands or arms, it will let you go on your
wa}' and take no notice of you.
And this I can affirm from experiments I have myself
made upon the terrible sendok.
One day I was able, in this wa}^, to pass quite close,
almost touching one of these most venomous reptiles.
He never moved as I crept by but he did not lose sight
of me for a single instant. I am quite sure that if my
inward fear had betrayed itself by the slightest gesture,
1 should have been a dead man.
Sometimes I have succeeded, very, very gently, in
placing upon it a stick about two metres long. Well,
the horrid serpent just lazily unfolded its coils and
softly slipped from under it. Very different would have
been the result if I had put the stick upon its head
roughly !
From this you will see that danger from smakes is
much less than one might believe from the thrilling
adventures narrated by friends (between a roast chestnut
and a sip of wine), as they are snugly gathered round a
cosy fireside, adventures which the}^ have read in the
fabulous pages written by one of those story-tellers
who gull the respectable public with the loveliest or
- 78 -
the most terrifying descriptions of places, men and
beasts of which they scarcely know the name.
Serpents are always attacked and beaten down with
sticks, except the ver}' large ones, that are taken by
lassoes as I will explain in another chapter. It is a
quick and simple means of getting free, in a few mi-
nutes, of a venomous enemy which it never fails to do
when fear does not make the eye and the hand miss
its aim, precision in the blow being all that is needed.
Not very long since I had an adventure with one of
these reptiles which threatened to be m}^ last. I was
quietly strolling in the forest and had with me neither
weapon nor stick. My thoughts were far away but a
rustling sound and a loud hiss brought them quickly back
and arrested my steps. A large, venomous snake was
right in front of me! Erect, with open mouth and pro-
truding tongue, the embodiment of hatred, it was there,
prompt for an assault. My case was desperate and only
a miracle of sang-froid could save me. Fixing my eyes
steadily upon those of the serpent, very gradually and
with the slowest possible movement I bent my knees
and crouched down towards the ground, where, in an
equalh' slow and methodical way I groped lor some sort
of stick with which to strike my adversary. Having
found what I wanted, I drew myself up in the same
cautious manner and with a sudden, rapid gesture I hit
the beast with all my might. Fortunately for me, my
blow told and I had an addition to my collection of
jungle foes.
The traveller in Malay who is not a thorough alien
to timorous feelings would do well to never leave his
comfortable post in the railway' carriage between one
place and another or at least to keep within a safe
distance of the forest, for although its perils have been
greatl}' exaggerated there are some, all the same, that
require a stout heart and firm nerves.
79
When there is no big game to put your courage and
3'our pulse to the test there is ahvays a troop of smaller
animals that make game of you and prove your force
of resistance. A rat bites your heel whilst you are
asleep ; the leeches suck your blood ; all sorts of insects
sting you. These little annoying incidents irritate flesh
and spirit and may be the cause of feverishness, but
a dose of quinine and a compress over the wound
soon have a good effect.
c<gc
But it is not sufficient to bravely face bodily danger,
support physical pain and endure with grace the mor-
tifications inflicted upon one's flesh by the more minute
inhabitants of those regions, for the jungle also exacts
certain moral virtues which civilization does not always
appreciate or admire, nay, on the contrary, that it often
laughs at.
The great Sorceress, for whom one feels a strange
nostalgia after having once known her magnificence
and her horrors, kills the man who is not temperate
in his habits.
Moderation in eating is the first consideration for
prolonging life in the forest. The stomach must never
be overladen and no strong drinks must be used.
By following this method of living and allowing
myself ver}- rarely even a glass of wine I managed to
keep in excellent health in 1889 when an epidemic raged
violently in the island of Nias and made sad havoc
amongst the natives.
The human organism, especially that of a European,
is beset b}' numerous inconveniences which ma}' generate
illness ; the burning sun, that seems to cook one's brain ;
the cold nights and heavy dews ; the violent storms that
quite suddenly break over your head, and the food
— 8o —
that must be put up with even when it is not actually
hygienic.
For all this a strict regime, based upon moderation,
is indispensable.
It is true that in my forest cabin 1 have an assort-
ment of the best wines and whiskies, notwithstanding
the improbability of being able to offer a glass to my
friends, but those bottles remain well corked, waiting
for their legitimate owner to feel indisposed, when a
draught of their contents will restore his lost strength
.vithout resorting- to medicine.
c^^
The greatest dangers in the jungle are those which
cannot be met wath impunit}- ; those that render every
defence inefficatious when a man is taken unawares.
I speak of the tigers and panthers that are very nu-
merous and audacious ; of the bears, that do not act
so jocosely here as in our streets and menageries but
vie with other wild beasts in blood-thirstiness; of the
rhinoceros, the elephant, the terrible sladaii, the wild
dogs that, fierce as wolves, wander about in large packs.
A dissertation upon the tiger and its like does not
seem to me a sufficiently interesting subject for my
readers who will have seen, who knows how many, at
the fairs and museums and will have learnt their cha-
racter and habits from Natural History books or from
the description (not always correct) of someone who has
only set foot on the land where they live. I must,
however, make special mention of the sladaii, the only
survivor of an almost extinct fauna.
This animal belongs to the herbivorous class but is
more ferocious than any of the carnivorous species. It
does not kill from hunger or for self-defence, but for the
mere sake of killing.
It is a sort of buffalo or bison with two very solid,
strongly planted horns on its thick-set head. This animal
possesses such vigour and agility as to enable it to
attack vict(irioLisly all other wild beasts. Only the ele-
phant sometimes succeeds, with difficulty, in master-
ing it.
Its den is in the most remote and inaccessible parts
of the forest and b}' day and by night it scours the
neighbourhood, rending the air with its awful roars.
One is never sure of not meeting- it, and to meet it
either means to kill it or to be killed.
It is very fond of the tender shoots of sweet potatoes
and for this will often visit the crops cultivated by the
Sakais who, for fear of this dreaded enemy, do not
plant very much. Generall}-, though, the s/adnii devas-
tates the potato fields during the night.
The ferocity of this beast surpasses that of all others,
for whilst the lion, the bear and even the tiger and
panther have been known to show some feeling of
respect, gratitude or fear, the sladan never exhibits one
or the other. It would almost seem that in him is con-
centrated all the hatred of a race of animals, fast dying
out, against every living creature whose species is still
destined to remain in the world.
And yet quite close to the haunts of these champions
in savagery, always on the look out for blood and car-
nage, live other quiet and harmless animals. I will say
nothing of the wild boar (that in comparison with the
s/adan, might pass for a lamb) of the wild goat or of
the deer which are in great numbers, but there are
little rodent quadrupeds of every sort, size, and fur,
besides perfect crowds of monkeys of different kinds.
They belong to the herbivorous order and go about
by day in search of food, hiding themselves when the
first shades of night call forth from their dens the heroes
of nocturnal tragedies.
— 82 —
A garrulous population of birds enliven the forest ;
they are insectivorous, granivorous, and omnivorous
but all are beautiful in their rich and wonderful variety
of colour. Amongst these the pheasant for its oriental
plumage and the cockatoo for its querulous voice are
remarkable as the largest.
A gay concert is given in honour of the dawning
and the dying day but long before the birds of prey
have . unfolded their wings and soar, like phantoms,
through the darkness, the pretty carol-singers hush their
warblings and hide themselves from the horrors of the
night.
A collector of butterflies would go into ecstasies over
the splendid varieties that flutter and flit in the air,
and the covmtless multitude of different insects would
be well worth special study ; amongst the latter are
verified the most curious mimetic facts that ever the
unprejudiced mind of a man of politics could imagine!
And yet, in the midst of so many contrasts, in the
midst of so many dangers which exact exceptional pre-
sence of mind and strong nerves, life in the forest is
full of charm and allurements.
The spirit is strengthened and elevated bj- this con-
tinuous warfare, open and pronounced, so unlike those
depressing struggles against narrow minds, and tiger-
hearts, which distinguish town-life.
0®C
It is very rare that one meets a man in the Malay
forest. You may walk on for weeks without encoun-
tering a soul. I happened once, though, to fall in with
one who was a primitive being in the strictest sense
of the term.
I was trudging along one day with my Sakai servant,
when at the foot of the hill (Chentok) I saw a little cot
Trap for reptiles and rats.
p. S6.
— 83 —
and wislied to visit it. Inside I found a man. At seeing
me he cauglit up his blow-pipe — a miserable-looking
instrument — and his poisoned darts, and was about
to run away. I hastil}' made my companion ofter him
a few cooked potatoes and a little maize which he ac-
cepted without saying a word and began to devour
ravenously.
In those brief moments 1 took stock of the poor crea-
ture. He was painfully thin ; his skeleton could be
clearly seen under the unadorned skin ; his sunken
e3^es gleamed with mistrust and inquietude from out of
his fleshless face, and his long black hair lay in tangled
masses round his neck.
I had before me the true type of a wild man of the
wood, less vivacious and less loquacious than his brother,
the ape.
I gave him some tobacco, that he eagerly crammed
into his mouth and then, keeping fast hold of his weapon
he hurried off, without uttering a single syllable, al-
though I asked him many things in his own tongue.
Neither did he in any way express satisfaction, or
gratitude for what he had received but vanished mute,
contemptuous and silently into the thickest part of the
jungle.
My little Sakai was not so surprised as I at this
strange person and his way of proceeding, because he
had seen him before and could tell me something
about him.
He was known by the name of A/d Lag, or the
sorcerer. He had no wife, no children, no friends, and
lived quite alone, far from everyone, wandering about
the forest, feeding upon wild-honey and the fruit he
found upon the ground. If he happened to catch some
game he would light up a bit of fire and seem to cook
it but in reality he ate it raw. Sometimes he came
across a settlement when he would enter the first hut
- 84 -
which lay in his way, and by gesture more than by
word, would ask for food and after having obtained it,,
started off again.
The good Sakais pitied the poor vagabond and had
often tried to make him stop with them as a brother
or a guest but he always resolutely refused whatever
proposal they made him and they w-ere of opinion that
not even old age would have any effect upon the mis-
anthropy of this poor inoffensive being who isolated
himself so obstinately from all his kind.
1 thought to myself, is the poor fellow wise or mad
in thus seeking to live alone as Nature produced him,
in the unlimited liberty of his native jungle where he is
secure from delusions and sorrows?
Men, little less savage than he, feel compassion for
him as he passes by. Nobody would dare to laugh at
or injure such a harmless soul and so he is allowed to
ramble from hut to hut undisturbed, his eccentricities
and his odd behaviour being his safe-quard.
It is not always so amongst people more advanced
in civilization !
■^^-^
S
CHAPTER \'II1.
An official appointment — A tour of inspection —
Lost in the forest — I find a philosopher —
Lycurgus and his laws — A contented mind is
a continual feast — A night among the tigers —
On the Berumbum — I sleep with a serpent —
The last of many — Safe from trap and arrow
— The incoronation of King Edward VII.
Having established a regular trade in forest products
and attempted something in the way of plantations, I
felt a strong desire to explore the whole countr}' inha-
bited by the Sakai tribes to better estimate its riches
and at the same time to know more thoroughl}- the
character of this people of whom I knew only a limited
number.
From the Bidor 1 passed into Sunkei Selin and Pa-
hang, and when, in 1901, I happened to be at Tapah
I was offered the Government post of Superintendent of
the Perak Sakais.
The proposal was such as to gratisfy a little ambition
of which I had not really been conscious before. I there-
fore accepted it with great pleasure, the more so as I
— 86 —
felt flattered that the British Government should repose
so much confidence in an Italian.
My first official act was to make enquiries about a
serious quarrel that had taken place amongst the Sakais
living in the plain, and that had resulted in several
deaths.
The fact was so uncommon and extraordinary con-
sidering the good nature of the people, that it was
quite worth the while of an investigation.
Two Bretak Sakais descended from the heights which
bound Perak and Pahang, and found hospitality in a
family of those Sakais who are in constant contact with
strangers. Seeing them take some salt out of a bamboo
tube and eat it, the two guests asked to be allowed to
taste it in their turn. In whatever hut of the jungle
savages, this desire would have been anticipated but
these others had learnt selfishness, as well as other
defects, in their intercourse with their neighbours, and
simpl}' answered that salt did harm to anybody not ac-
customed to it.
This prevarication, which was equal to a refusal, of-
fended the Bretaks, as it was an infringement of the
Sakai custom of sharing like brothers all they posses-
sed. They insisted upon their right and at last obtained
a handful of salt, given them grudgingly.
After the Bretaks had departed, the other men went
to their traps and brought back with them four big
rats that were at once cooked and abundantly salted.
It so happened, that one of the women, — who had
been ill for some time — ate two of them, thereby
causing herself such a serious indigestion that in a
couple of days she was no more.
The Sakais thought direcdy that her sudden decease
must be owing to an evil spell of the Bretaks who
wished for a revenge for the reluctance shown in giving
them the salt. The\^ quickly decided that the crime
In quest of fruit and bulbs.
p. i)i.
- 87 -
should be punished by death and started off in pursuit
of the supposed culprits. As soon as they were within
reach they attacked them with a volley of poisoned
darts. The others naturally defended themselves and
the conflict ended with three dead.
In the course of time the Government came to hear
of the question and bade the penguin (Malay chief) to
make enquiries in order to establish the responsability.
But he refused to interfere.
No sooner was I appointed Superintendent than 1
received orders to interest myself" in the matter, and
an escort of armed soldiers was put at my disposition
for the arrest of" those found guilty. But this way of
proceeding was not to my opinion, as I explained in
my report. The fact was quite an exceptional one and
was the consequence of a deplorable superstition. By
imprisoning someone we should not have cured the
great evil of ignorance, but only have sown the seed
of hatred against the White Man, for the men who were
takt'n prisoners could not live long in seclusion and
their untimely death would never be pardoned.
The British Authority being favourable to this my
way of thinking 1 was able to go alone and find out
the rights of the case after which I managed to obtain
a complete pacification of all concerned.
o®o
I had been but a short time in my new oftice when
1 decided to make a tour of inspection through the
territory entrusted to my care and I really do not re-
member any other of my travels so full of incidents
and emotional adventures. Two, in particular, will never
be erased from my memory.
I was journeying quite by myself, confiding perhaps
too much in the knowledge I had gained of the jungle.
and the possibilit}' of being lost in the forest never
entered my head.
And yet this is one of the greatest perils that can befall
anybod}', for it may be a compendium of all the others.
He who is born and who grows up in the forest does
not run this risk for certain, because from a slight cut
in a tree, a broken reed, a pendant bough, the smallest
sign that would escape the keenest of European e3^es,
the native knows how to draw precise indications of
the direction to be followed. Wherever he goes, he
never forgets to leave some trace of his passage in
order to find his way back without uncertainty and loss
of time. In this way the Sakais wander about the jungle
with astounding security just as if they were walking
along a well-traced out path.
The same prodigious variety of woodland scenery
that the forest offers to the gaze gives it a certain
uniformitv in the mind of a white man. The colossal
trees that stretch away one after the other as far as
can be seen ; the twining vines and creepers which
cluster everywhere ; the huge bushes and flowering
thickets ; the dips and hollows in the ground, and the
little ponds over which the green of reed and rush
triumphs equally with bright floral colours. The Eui-o-
pean embraces all this in a sole glance, in its entirety,
but cannot discern, like the Sakai, the difference that
exists between this tree and that, this glen and the
other. And if the poor man be alone he will surely be
lost ; and if he is lost there is very little chance of his
ever getting out again.
Evening was fast approaching ; the birds were singing
their last songs for the day, and in the first hour of a
brief twilight breathed that solemn calm which espe-
- 8q -
cially belongs to the forest when its more innocent
inhabitants are beginning to conceal themselves for the
night, and the ferocious beasts of darkness are not vet
abroad in search of prey.
It was getting late and I hastened to reach mv cabin,
but hurr}' as I would it never came in sight. I could
not understand this at all until suddenly (with what
dismay I will leave my reader to imagine) I perceived
that I had been following the tracks of a bear, believing
them to have been a man's.
Alarmed, I looked about me on every side, sf:ruti-
nizing every part ; I advanced a little this way and that,
then retraced my steps, anxiousl}' endeavouring to find
out a clue to the right direction.
Alas! there was no mistaking the truth; I was lost
in the depth of the forest, and what was worse, at
nightfall !
Little by little anguish parched my throat and drops
of cold sweat stood on my brow. What could I do ?
If I remained on the ground I should be exposed to
the fatal caresses of some wild beast, on the other hand
if I climbed up a tree (no very easy matter as I should
have to find a creeper strong enough to bear mv weight)
should I not be equally exposed to the deadly clasp of
a snake ?
The darker it grew, the more my bewilderment and
anxiety increased. I began to hollo desperately, calling
fi-antically for help with such a piercing voice as I had
never dreamt of possessing before. It was my only and
last hope.
Tired, hungry, thirsty and disheartened I continued
to shout as loudly as I could and at last it seemed
to me that a human voice answered my wild cries
from a distance. Once more I bawled with all ni}' might
and then listened. Ves, there was no doubt; someone
had heard me, and with the auricular acuteness of
— go ~
despair I turned towards the direction of the sound
and hurried forward.
It was not long before I came across a solitary
hut that I found to be inhabited by a family of six-
persons,
I narrated my perilous adventure and they gave me
food (which was certainly not intended for delicate
stomachs) and water, and I, in return, handed round
some tobacco, then, tranquil as regarded the night, with
a sigh of relief 1 lighted my pipe, the ever faithful
companion of my travels, and began to chat with the
old man, the head of the family.
I intentionally introduced the Sakais' dislike for work
and asked him the reason why.
Ver}" quietly, and without the least hesitation, he
replied :
" Why should we give ourselves the pain and fatigue
of working like slaves ? Does not the earth give us, spon-
taneously, more than enough for our need without tor-
menting it witli implements .'' „.
The argument was logical, but 1 smiled and remarked:
" It does not seem to me that the earth provides
everything without working it. When you want rice or
tobacco you have to ask it from those who cultivate it „.
The old man quickly retorted :
" And what does that matter ? We have the right of
demand because both are grown upon our soil. By
cutting down our beautiful forest for plantations we are
deprived of game and fruit ; by drying up cur ponds
we have no fish to eat ; by cultivating our land we are
being continually driven farther towards the mountains,
in search of that food which satisfied our fathers, but
the stranger who comes amongst us beats the path
that we have traced with our feet. Is it not just then
that we should have some recompense, that certain of
our needs should be considered?,,.
In quest of animal food.
/'■ ';/■
— 91 —
" Povera e nuda vai, filosofia „ (i), I muttered to
myself, admiring that old man, ignorant and bare, who
in the rough, broken phrases of his poor language
solved with the greatest simplicity questions of civil
rights which a University professor would have found
complicated and even difficult. I continued however :
" But then if nobody came to you, treading your
paths ; if nobody cultivated some strips of your forest,
how would you obtain calico, and tobacco and rice? „.
With a shake of his head my humble host hastened
to answer :
" Cannot man live without these trifles ? Does not
the forest supply us with flesh, fish, and fowl ? Does
it not produce, for our use, roots, bulbs, truffles, mush-
rooms, edible leaves and exquisite fruit? Do not its
trees provide us with shelter and their bark with a
covering for our bodies, when it is necessary? What
more could one desire ? „.
I was nonplused ! But noticing that my new friend
was in the vein to chat, a fact which I inwardly attri-
buted to the effects of that same tobacco, whose ne-
cessity he had just denied, but which he was smoking
with evident pleasure, I turned the conversation by
asking why his people were not be found in other
parts of the Peninsula ?
" We love our forest and our liberty too well ever
to leave these confines of our own accord „ he replied
placidly and in tones of conviction, " and when, as some-
times happened in the past, our people were forced
to follow and serve their conquerors they brought little
or no profit to their masters because if they found a
chance of escaping back to their kindred they did so,
and if not, in a short time they died of broken hearts.
(i) " Philosophy, poor and naked thou goest „. This is a quotation
from the Itahan poet Petrarch. Translator's Note.
- 92 —
As for our children, we would rather kill them ourselves
than let them go into the hands of our neighbours. Now
that we are protected by the oraug pntci „ (he meant
the British Government) " we and our families live in
more peace than before „.
As though overcome by painful memories, he became
silent and sad. After a minute he went on in a dull
voice, seeming to speak to himself: " Once upon a time
these parts were not so deserted, and populous, pro-
sperous villages were scattered over the forest. But our
tranquillity and well-being excited the envy of other
tribes who wanted to subject us to them and to make
us work like slaves, so they came against us armed,
and pillaged, burnt and destroyed evervthing belonging
to us. We were dispersed and compelled to live in isolated
huts erected in the most inaccessible places in order not
to attract the attention of other men „.
He paused again and then added :
" We have nothing to lose now except our freedom
which is more precious to us than life itself, and for
this we are ready to fight to the very last even if our
bodies are left on the ground for beasts and birds to
feed upon „.
A fierce light kindled the old Sakai 's eyes, which
boded evil for anyone who attempted to disturb the
quietude of their present rambling life. And 1 understood
how much stronger these inoffensive people were in their
dispersion than when they were banded together in
villages. If aggressors should attack these solitary huts
they would find their owners prompt to meet the attack
with all the ferocity of wild beasts and even if nobody
was saved from the massacre to report the terrible news
in other encampments, alarm would have been given
by the sound of fire-arms and cries. In consequence the
other Sakais would immediately destro}- all signs of their
habitation, and penetrate farther into the forest which,
-93 -
for them, has no secret concealed. Towards night they
would creep among the tall grasses until they found the
enemy that would serve us a target for their poisoned
arrows. However well their foes might know the use
of gun and revolver, they would be at a disadvantage,
for these weapons reveal the position occupied by those
who shoot but the fatal dart flies out of the darkness
leaving the spot from whence it comes uncertain.
Nothing could be more disastrous in the wa}' of war-
fare than an attack with poisoned arrows, in the midst
of the forest, during the night. Your men would fall right
and left without having been able to defend themselves
in any way.
I afterwards got the old man to tell me something
about their customs regarding marriage and family or-
ganization.
" By thus living separate, " he said „ each family by
itself, without being subject to any chief or authority,
save only that of the Elder (be he father or grandfather),,
our peace is guaranteed. There are no quarrels, there
is no jealousy or bad-feeling, for all are equal, all live
in the same way and each one divides what he may
possess amongst the others, so that there is also no
injustice „.
1 raised the objection that this perfect equality could
not possibly exist because the identical rights and duties
in domestic economy could not be applied in the same
way to the hale and strong members of the family as
to the weak and sickl}'. But 1 had to repeat my idea
in various ways before the Sakai caught the meaning,
then he exclaimed :
" Ah, 1 suppose you are speaking of some sort of
deformit}', or defect. Amongst us it is so rare to find
either one or the other that it would be difficult for a
Sakai to understand when you talk of men different to
him in form or robustness. If however, the Evil Spirit
— 94 —
makes one of our children be born deformed, or with
a defect, he is treated with the care necessary to his
state but he cannot transmit his infirmity to others be-
cause, first of all our customs compel him to lead a life
of chastit}', and secondW, no woman of our tribe would
consent to a union with him „.
Oh, Lycurgus, I thought, thy wise laws have here,
among savages, a less brutal application. For one who
dies loveless (and as the Sakais are not given to strong
passions, and are chaste by nature, this is not a very
great sacrifice) many are saved from unhappiness and
a whole race preserved from degeneration.
The old man having spoken of the Evil Spirit, I
abruptly demanded who this much feared being might be.
" He possesses all things „, he answered, lowering
his voice as if afraid of being heard. " He is in the wind,
the lightning, the earthquake, he is in the trees and the
water. Sometimes he- enters our huts and makes some-
one die ; then we bury our dead ver^' deep under the
ground, leaving to them food and their own propert}',
and we fly from the spot, for it is a dangerous thing to
remain under the Spirit 's gaze „.
Finished our conversation, of which I have sought to
give you a faithful translation, although the Sakai had
expressed himself in the short, monotonous phrases pe-
culiar to his tongue, that is scarce of words and verbs,
we prepared to follow the example of the other merabei-s
of my host 's family who had gone to sleep during our
quiet chat. But before closing my eyes I repassed in
mind the theories expounded by the old forester, and
I found in them such a just expression of rectitude,
of simple but strong logic, of spirit and intelligence that
1 could not but admire and asrree.
A half-breed Sakai.
/. JOJ,
— 9:> —
I asked myself if the philosophy of the learned was
not inferior to that of this savage, who considered
existence as limited to the satisfaction of material wants,
without torturing himself about imaginary need, and
without consuming nerves, muscles, heart and brain in
a daih' struggle for what he could dispense with ? And
1 asked mvself if in that perfect inertness, in that im-
munity from all feelings of sensuality, hatred, ambition
or rivalry must he not be a thousand times happier than
we in civilized societ}- who seek fortune and satisfy our
caprices, our follies, in the midst of excitement and
strong emotions, living in a continual fever of suspicion,
jealousy and envy, accumulating perhaps riches but
w^ithering up the soul \\hich cannot enjoy even for a
day the supreme blessing of serenity?
Which is nearer the truth (I argued to myself), he
who places himself in report with Nature as one of her
offspring receiving all the necessities of life straight
from her never-failing stores and thereby lowering
himself to the state of the humblest of her creatures,
or we who wony ourselves in building up a model of
perfection, a mannikin, that every one wants to dress
up in his own wav — with his own virtues or his own
defects ?
" A contented mind is a continual feast „. This adage
was verified in the person of the old Sakai. An eneni}-
to progress of any kind he logicalh' conformed himself
to his surroundings, and limited his desires to what he
was sure of obtaining.
But we who in our civilization hunger and thirst after
progress, why do we continually preach this proverb to
our young, and illustrate it to them on every possible
occasion?
It is, perhaps, because on ever}' hand we come across
harsh contradictions presented by those who, with all
their study, try to reconcile the true with the absurd
- 96 -
in order to get the latter accepted in homage to the
former, and the}?^ make use of this maxim for their own
ends and to take advantage of others, whereas this
savage, reared in the maternal arms of Nature (that
gives and takes, produces aud causes without either
deceit or change) was in himself so satisfied with what
she provided and ordered that there would have been
no need to make him learn with his lips a precept that
sprang spontaneously from his heart.
>^So
My kind reader will perhaps give a shrug of the
shoulders at the mere idea of ni}^ having the will to
philosophize so soon after such a terrible adventure.
Well, I confess I did not feel inclined to do so after
another which was even more frightful still.
I had left my cabin in the afternoon to go and inspect
the works of a road which I was having made near a
little Sakai village, situated at the foot of a mountain.
When I reached the spot I called out loudly, as was
my habit, to give the necessary orders; but nobody
answered. Wondering what it meant I descended to the
group of huts which I found empty and half destroyed.
I supposed that Death had stricken one of the inha-
bitants and that the others, according to their custom,
had abandoned their dwellings here to erect new ones
far from the place visited by the Evil Spirit.
The discovery vexed me and made me feel rather
uneasy, for the sun would soon be setting and no good
could be expected of a several miles march through the
forest, alone, and without a light.
I ascended with all haste to my previons position in
order to find the path I had come b3^ The sky was
rapidly darkening with the frenzied dance of heav}^ black
clouds and it was not long before they opened their
C
— 97 —
flood gates and the rain fell in perfect torrents, accom-
panied by dazzling flashes of lightning.
I pushed on as best I was able but under ni}' feet
rivers of water were quickly formed, which cancelled
all traces and made me lose my bearings, whilst the
fear of being again lost began to trouble me,
Onl}'^ too soon I became aware that my inquietude
was justified because, in the meantime, night had fallen
and neither the lightning nor my matches were of any
avail in showing me the way I ought to follow.
Then I was seized with that awful angiush I had
experienced on the other occasion and which has so
direful an effect upon the spirit as to render one inca-
pable of even thinking.
I turned this way and that without any notion hardly
of what I was seeking.
I stumbled over the long grasses and more than once
rolled down a hollow full of nettles and thorns, which
stung and scratched my face and hands horribly. I scram-
bled out, however, almost directly, animated by a fiery
instinct of self preservation, and pulling out from my
flesh the thorns that hurt me most, I recommenced,
blood-stained and unnerved, to grope my way in the dark.
In one of my tumbles I felt a huge beast gallop over
ni}^ bod}'. What was it? I thought it must be a. wild-boar.
I remained there some time on the ground smarting
and exhausted. My strength and energy seemed to di-
minish every minute and the mad, desperate thought
flashed across my mind to not move any more but just
lie there under the rain to wait for death or daylight.
From the tall trees came peltering down upon me
shells, husks and fruit, the remains of a feast the monkeys
were having upon the thick boughs that sheltered them
from the bad weather, and from afar came a low, dull
sound like the deep rumbling noise that often precedes
Nature 's tragedies.
Life in the jungle had taught me what that fearful
roar meant. It was caused by the clamouring cries of
thousands of wild beasts, rushing forth from their dens
and hastening towards the bloody convention which
every night they hold.
It gave me the force to make a supreme effort. I got
up and staggered forward, not knowing where I was
going and trusting purely to chance.
But in the end I was obliged to give myself up for
lost and every hope of escaping nw horrible fate forsook
me. I could no longer shout but it would have been
useless, for the ever-increasing din would have prevented
others, and me, from hearing anything else. I managed
to prop myself up against a rock and with all the strength
that was left me, I clung to it with one hand whilst
with the other I turned up the collar of my thin, linen
jacket and tried to cover my face.
Did I do this not to see the approaching danger and
inevitable fate which was fast overtaking me ? I do not
know ; I only remember the act, but not the thought
that prompted it.
Anyw^ay willing or not willing, I saw everything.
Close by, some big phosphorescent mushrooms illumi-
nated the darkness with their faint, ghastly gleams of light.
The tumult, the row, the trampling alwa3's seemed
to get louder and nearer. It was like the advance of
an endless host of demons and evil spirits.
Terrible crashes, furious roars, wild howls, and for-
midable feline cries began to reach my ear distinctly.
I could have sworn that all the fiercest inhabitants of
the forest had agreed to meet near me. Was this con-
viction the effect of the terror which had taken pos-
session of me or was it a horrible fact ?
Two burning orbs flashed through the night and an
unearthly yell made my poor body start once more,
though stiffened as it was by horror.
— 99 —
A tiger was here, perhaps 5o, perhaps 20 yards
from me !
I feebl\- endeavoured again to hide my face ; it would
be preferable for death to come upon me suddenly than
to count the instants of its coming.
I backed myself closer under the rock, clinging to it
with my -left hand, whose nerves, muscles and nails had
turned into steel under the supremac}' of terror.
A few minutes of cruel, breathless suspense
I felt dim!}' amazed at finding m3'self still alive : there
were two tigers and they were diabolically squalling
out a love-duet. Who has not felt a shiver run down
his back when, snug in a warm bed, the mid-night
stillness has been broken b}' two amorous cats on the
roof or in the court that are putting their vocal powers
and their hearer's patience to the test? Imagine then
to be frozen against a wet stone whilst a couple of tigers
express their sentiments of love in much the same lan-
guage, but in tones proportionate to their size !
In the fervour of their passion would they notice
the dainty meal prepared for them in my person ?
Not far off the implacable sladan was savagely bel-
lowing. Was he too bound for my place of martyrdom ?
My slow torture, under the pale glimmer of the pho-
sphorescent mushrooms must have lasted for hours,
but I no longer had the perception of time or peril. Only
the appalling fear of the flesh kept me grasping tightl}'
to the rock without making the slightest movement.
I did not know when the tigers went away or when
the enormous multitude of beasts of prey beat a retreat.
The first sensation I had of being alive was when
the two heralds of the morn, the ccp plot and the ccp
rid announced with their musical notes the dawn of
another day.
Then I stirred. M3' limbs were benumbed b}' that
long immobilitv, and with the cold which was all the
more intense from the rain first and the dew afterwards,
both of which had drenched me to the skin.
I was shaking with ague and, weak from m}' long
fast and the frights 1 had passed through, I scarcely knew
how to get away from that spot where I had endured
so many hours of agony, and yet it was necessar}^ for
me to move as soon as possible.
The jungle was alive with gay voices ; all the harmless,
innocent creatures, that populated its hospitable region,
hailed the new day with noisy acclamation, and their
iov found an echo in me, for its thousand-fold blessed
light would show me my road to safety.
I afterwards learnt that ni}' bad luck had guided me
to a rock, close to a spring of hot water, where the
kings, queens, princes and princesses of the forest were
accustomed to hold their soirees !
ogjo
I had to repose for some days before recovering
from the physical and moral shocks of that awful night
and for some time afterwards 1 made my faithful little
Sakai accompany me on my tours of inspection round
Perak, as with him there was no fear of being lost.
One day we got as far as the summit of the Be-
rumbum where we passed the night among some fa-
milies that had taken refuge up there. I was enchanted
with the starry sky, the quiet air and mild temperature
I found upon that height and which made my thoughts
fly across oceans and continents to the sea which re-
flects my Liguria. Up there the nocturnal silence is not
rent by the blood-thirsty cries of wild animals, and
after having been lulled to sleep for so long by their
distant clamour, and especially after the strong emotions
I had quite recently experienced, that profound calmness
was to me so full of sentimental suggestion that instead
Three tj'pes of tatooed Bretak Sakais.
p. no.
of sleeping- my spirit wandered into the past, recalling
with pleasure and sadness those evenings of sweet in-
timacy once enjoyed in the bosom of my famil}', then
a numerous one but now reduced by death and other
events.
When at last I fell asleep 1 did not awake till morning.
As soon as I had got up my young Sakai servant
took the pillow 1 always carried with me, and began
to shake it, but he shrank back \vith a frightened cry
as a little snake of about a yard long, belonging to a
very poisonous class, fell from under it.
The dear little beast had slept upon the same pillow
as I, perhaps to prove to me that his sort is very
much maligned and that if you leave them alone to do
what they like, without giving them any disturbance,
they will never think of biting you.
Ten Sakai families were encamped up there and I
exhorted them all to come down from that height of
5ooo feet and occupy themselves in agriculture, for the
cold during the night is sometimes severe and the poor
things must suffer from it, as they have no clothes to
keep them warm.
But all my persuasions were fruitless.
I resumed my journey and it must have been about
ten o'clock in the morning when in the distance an old
man who, as far as I could understand from the half
twilight of the forest, made me signs of friendship.
I went towards him and saw that where he stood
there had once been a village but its now miserable
aspect made it a strange contrast to the riches of Na-
ture with which it was surrounded.
The solitary inhabitant of that foi\saken and dilapidated
place offered us some fruit and I asked W4m the reason
of the battered huts and general desolation. He told
nic with grief in his tones that the village had been
devastated bv armed enemies. " Many of my brethren
were killed and many others were taken away as slaves
and the rest have fled to safer and more inaccessible
parts, but I could not find it in my heart to abandon
this spot where I was born; where 1 grew up — „.
This was indeed a strange sentiment for one whose
people for the most lead a roving life either from habit
or from superstition !
o#o
Armed enemies ! and who were they ? For certain
they appertained to the scum of neighbouring peoples
of which I have already spoken. Men who, though en-
compassed on all sides by civilization, still remain unciv-
ilized ; men who, shunned by their honest and laborious
countrymen, make the free forest a field for their vile
passions, and now that they can no longer give vent
to their evil desires in depredation and bloodshed, be-
cause of the severe measures taken by the Government,
continue to damage the poor Sakais in man}' odious
and insidious ways without always drawing down upon
their heads the punishment they deserve.
Who were they ? Who are they ? Delinquents by
nature, such as are to be found in most of our large
cities ; people born with savage instincts ; men who
would rather pass their days in the midst of vice and
open corruption than live a life of honour and opulence.
None of these delinquents are to be found in thorough-
bred Sakai tribes, they may however be met with amongst
the inhabitants of the plain where there is a mixture of
race, the result of those forced unions which were the
desperation of Sakai women when taken prisoners. In
the children born of these unions one can often trace
the natural impulse towards violence and robber}^ that
they have inherited from their fathers,
I myself had a proof of this.
— ro3 —
As Inspector I often used to pass from one encamp-
ment to another, sometimes on the plain and sometimes
on the mountain and I frequently took these brief jour-
neys alone as the paths were well trodden.
It so happened that one day I had stopped in the
hut of one of these half-breeds — where there were
several real Sakais who had come from their jungle
home to exchange products — and on my return I was
overtaken by one of my good friends that offered to
accompany me for a little way.
As we walked along together 1 noticed he proceeded
with great caution and kept looking about with suspicion.
All at once he caught me by the arm and pointed to a
stick stuck into the ground just in front, from which
some leaves were dangling. As I did not understand
his act he advanced a step or two and showed me a
well concealed trap, set with a poisoned dart.
It had been fixed across the path and I should have
assuredly fallen over it, if my companion had not pre-
vented me. He simply said that it must have been pre-
pared for game and soon after left me.
But later on 1 heard that he had not told me the truth
in saying this for the trap had been put there, on pur-
pose for me, by the villanous bastard in whose hut I
had halted, and whose photograph I was afterwards able
to take and here present to my readers.
This man had not the least reason for resentment
against me but he was actuated by that spirit of hatred
which induces all evil-doers to try and get rid of those
who may be an obstacle to their bad living and knowing
that 1 had the intention of passing his way again in a
few days he had placed the trap there in order to kill
me. He was so contented, however, with what he had
done that he could not keep the secret to himself, and
his wife (a pure Sakai) upon hearing it, despatched my
friend to the ambush and so saved me.
— :o4 —
If this had been discovered at the moment the wretch
would most hkely have paid for his sin with his Hfe.
From this episode it is eas}^ to see the difference
between a thorough-bred and a half-bred Sakai ; the
former will risk life itself to impede a crime that has
been coolly premeditated by the latter.
ogo
Something of the same kind befell me on another
occasion when I was returning to my cabin by myself.
At Tapah preparations were being made for celebra-
ting the coronation of King Edward VII and I, as one
of His Majesty's colonial officers, of course felt inte-
rested in the proceedings and it seemed to me a right
thing that a representation of m}^ friends the savages,
who were under my administration, should accompany
me to town for the occasion. I had therefore been round
to as many as I could to tell them to be read}' to follow
me whenever I gave them notice.
Towards evening I was going quietl}- along, rather
tired with my long march, and listening to the pretty
good-night songs of the birds, when I was suddenly
hit in the abdomen by a poisoned arrow, shot b}'- an
unknown hand. Aware of the terrible power of the forest
venoms I gave myself up for lost and so without doubt
I should have been if fortune had not sent me assis-
tance. I was energeticall}'^ squeezing the wound when
one of my faithful Sakais came up. Upon hearing what
had happened, he exclaimed :
" This is the work of a Mai-Gop, because one of our
darts would have passed righi; through you, and besides
none of us would harm you because 3'ou are good to us „.
The kind fellow sucked out m}' wound and knew by
its reddi.sh-black colour that the poison used was a mix-
ture of kgop and ipok juices, most deadl}' in its etfect.
— tOvT
Hurrying me towards the village, in a few instants
he had prepared an antidote by mixing a pinch of lime
and powdered charcoal together and then wetting it
with the urine of his little bo}'.
He washed the wound carefully with this strange lo-
tion, making it penetrate well in, and recommended me
not to touch it.
1 let him do as he would, as there was no better
remedy to my knowledge, although I had little or no
faith in the mixture.
I suffered a great deal for some days, but at last the
wound (which had all the requisites for a fatal one)
healed. Was this fact due to the merits of lime, char-
coal, or urine ?
Let the disciples of Esculapius decide !
It got to be known not long after that I had been
made the victim of one of those ill-disposed individuals
who come into the world with criminality written on
their brow.
But for one who has the compensation of devotion
and affection from the humble and good, is not the
hatred of malefactors a thing to be proud of?
ogjc
So in the 3'ear 1901, 1 was invited by the British Re-
sident (in my quality of Superintendent of the Sakais)
to take part in the festivities in honour of King Edward
the Seventh's ascension to the throne.
As I before said I had thought it would be nice to
take with me a small band of my forest friends and my
desire was so well realized that when the time came
I gathered around me about 5oo men, women and chil-
dren, belonging to different tribes, and with this troop
of followers I descended to Tapah.
— io6 —
Here the reception given to those poor inhabitants
of the Jungle was exceptionally kind, and they in their
turn gladly did their utmost to satisfy the curiosity
they excited and were highly pleased at showing the
effect of their powerful poisons upon birds which they
hit, with remarkable dexterity, whilst on the wing.
The men displayed their skill in striking the bull' s
eye with their darts, and in successfully climbing the
greasy pole, and the women gave proof of their mu-
sical talents by playing their ciniloi.
In this way they got a great many dollars and were
overwhelmed with presents and attentions by the Eng-
lish ladies and gentlemen, residing at Tapah,
The women were invited to go to the stand reserved
for the Authority and came back with necklaces and
strings of coloured beads, that they admired with childish
delight.
Not much less contented was 1 at the good impression
my simple friends made by their nice behaviour and
modest manners.
CHAPTER IX.
The origin of the Sakais — Hypothesis and legend
— Physical character — Thick tresses, gay
flowers and troublesome guests — Hereditary
antipathy — The five senses reduced to t-wo —
Food and drink — Tranquil life — Intolerance
of authority — Mother-in-law and daughter-in-
law^ — Logical laziness — A Sakai journalist —
The story of a mattress.
Paolo Mantegazza, the scientific poet writes :
" Man is eternally tormenting himself with unanswered
questions : Where did our species first come from? When
did this life first begin ?
" This is his real original sin, as it is also the source
of his true greatness. He is but a single link in an endless
chain ; he is but one imperceptible moment enclosed
by a Past which he does not know and a Future which
he will never see. But he I'eels the need of looking
back and asking: where did we begin ? And of looking
forward, asking: where shall we finish?,,.
I, two, have often made much the same demands, not
about myself, for I have no inclination for metaphysical
— io8 —
reflections, but about the Sakais who have unconsciously
giv^en me a difficult problem to solve : who are they ?
From whence did they come ?
There is absolutely nothing that speaks of them, and
in the absence of positive fact we can only fall back
upon mere In-pothesis, more or less probable, until an
accurate investigation with regard to the origin of this
primitive people may present us with a convincing
theorv.
But in order to make these studies it would be ne-
cessary to live in their midst (and not many could adapt
themselves to the various inconveniences of such a life)
because the live Sakai never abandons his native forest
and to have a dead one for the purpose would be next
to impossible, as he who attempted to carry away a
corpse would expose himself to serious danger, there
being no greater sacrilege, according to the idea of
these bushmen, than that of touching a dead body or
of digging up the ground where a skeleton lies.
Therefore there does not seem to be any near chance
of arriving at a definite conclusion upon the subject.
It is generally believed that anciently a people, called
Benuas, not willing to submit themselves to the laws
imposed upon them by the then flourishing and civil-
ized India and fearing to fall into slavery, advanced
through Indo-China till they reached the Malay Penin-
sula. Here also they found themselves pursued and
surrounded by civilization, so, instead of settling round
the rich and smiling shores, they turned towards the
forest and encamped there. This version of their im-
migration would account for the Sakais not having the
least idea of the sea which they never mention, not
even in their legends or superstitions.
- 109 —
Shunning- all contact with the other inhabitants of
the countrv they had chosen as a refuge, they concealed
themselves in the jungle, thus preserving their inde-
pendence and the purity of their race.
Some centuries later, in an era of fanaticism, invasions
were made upon them with the object of converting them
to Mohammedism but the only result was fire and blood-
shed and after each conflict the surviving Sakais fled
further into the forest (into those parts which had never
been before explored) or to the natural strongholds of
the far oft" mountains.
If this hypothesis holds good then the Sakais must
be a very ancient people. It is an accepted fact that as
far back as the S^h century Arabian merchants traded
with the inhabitants of the Peninsula and that a very
remote intercourse existed between these and Hindostan,
and although there is no substantial proof, no analogies
of language, customs or creed upon which to base such
a conjecture, neither, as yet, has anything been proved to
the contrary whilst many primeval superstitions prevalent
amongst the Sakais are still to be found in other tribes
living in proximity with believers in Buddha and Brahma.
Another legend, sustained by the Kurumbus them-
selves, would make one suppose that the Sakais belong
to that people, once grand, but now broken up and
dispersed. In fact, even at the present time, there are
many popular songs amongst the Malays in which the
Kurumbus and Sakais are mixed up together.
Dr. Short, in his ethnological studies of India, describes
certain characteristics and habits of the Kurumbus, inha-
biting the forest, which perfectly coincide with those to
be met with amongst the Sakais.
I refer to those regarding physiognomy, structure,
and stature, the primitive mode of cultivating corn, the
choice of food, and the improvidence shown in eating,
with the consequence that deficiency follows upon excess.
Naturally these points of similarity are no proof that
the two peoples are of the same origin but they give
to the question a certain argumentative value.
What seems to me sure is that the Sakais have no-
thing in common with the Malays or with the various
other races that surround them. This may perhaps be
owing to the contact the latter have with each other,
the result being a modification of customs, traditions
and purity of blood. I find, however, many traits which
connect them with the Mongolian and Caucasian races
(Indians and Semitics) and there is much in them
which resembles other peoi)les living in Indo-China
and India.
It must be understood, though, that I speak only of
of the Sakais of the hills and not those of the plains who
have in a great measure lost the characteristics which
should distinguish them through their mixing witli Kam-
pongs, Malays and Chinese Ghedes.
But let us now leave aside all the vague suppositions
that for several reasons I have felt bound to mention
(not the least of which being perhaps the need we all
feel of investicating our neighbour's past), and let us
rather examine the Sakai as he is in the 20'^ centur}-.
o^
Evidently he has not perceived the passing awa}' of
nineteen or more centuries because they have left no
inheritance for him.
The Sakai, then, is somewhat short in stature but
sufficiently hardy and well-formed, except in the lower
limbs which render him slightly bow-legged.
The cause of this trifling deformity is to be found in
the habit they have, from their earliest childhood, of
sitting upon their heels, as it were, thus leaving the
knees wide apart.
This posture, however, is not a particularit}' of the
jungle inhabitants as I have frequently seen Italians in
the same position, but the latter lean their shoulders
against a tree or wall for support so that there is less
strain upon the legs.
When they are eating or listening to something that
interests them the Sakai men and women will remain
for whole hours in this attitude without showing any
fatigue whatever.
Their feet are rather large and properly arched. The big
toe is well separated from the others and is very strong.
The muscles of their arms are not much developed
and sometimes these members are two long in propor-
tion to the rest of the body. Their hands are also very
long and slender. The chest muscles, on the contrar}^,
are very well developed owing probably to the continual
habit of climbing trees, rocks, rifts and the like in search
of food or for any other motive that their nomadic life
ma}' make necessary.
Altogether the figure of the Sakai does not reveal
any large amount of vigour perhaps becau.se he is usually
thin and is what might be termed pot-bellied, owing to
the sort of food he eats and the cold he suffers during
the night, but he is much more robust and taller (the
average height of an adult is a little past one metre
and a half)<i' than the other tribes and" races around him
who are in close reports with civilization. This fact
would almost make one believe that civilization is de-
trimental to the ph3-sical development of an individual.
These Aborigines are endowed with wonderful agilit}',
as may be seen when the}- clamber up certain clefts that
we should judge impossible of ascent and also when they
spring from one part to another with a nimbleness that
might excite the envy of our best gymnasts.
(r) A little more than five feet. Translator's Note.
They have not much muscular force, as I have said,
but they are second to none in enduring fatigue, espe-
ciallv in the case of long marches, to which they are
well accustomed as every day they walk about 20 miles,
carr^'ing upon their shoulders the by no means light
product of the chase, together with the various roots
and bulbs the}' find in the forest, as well as their in-
separable blow-pipes and well-filled quivers.
They also resist very well the privations to which
they are sometimes subjected by their own improvidence.
All that they bring back with them they will eat at
once, be it animal or vegetable food, and when they
cannot finish it up by themselves they invite people
from another village or tribe to come and help them
devour it, laughing at every idea of domestic economy
that I have vainly tried to impress upon their minds.
But are they wrong, after all ? They know for cer-
tain that the forest will not leave them to starve and
when there is no more rice, durian, mangosteen etc.,
it is never difficult to catch a pheasant, monkey, rat,
serpent or even a wild boar.
Were they acquainted with Italian operas their favou-
rite lines would certainly be :
Non curiamo 1' incerto domani
Se quest' oggi n'e dato goder. (i)
and their choice would be appropriate, for where else
could the Borgias be so well remembered as in a land
famous for its poisons ?
The Sakais' skin is of a colour between light and
burnt ochre, the tint getting darker as they grow older
(in conseguence of their long exposure to the sun), at
which period the whole body becomes rough and wrin-
(I) Let to-morrow take care of itself
If to-day is ours to eujoy.
Another.
p. IIS.
— ii3 —
kled. The children are of a much hghter colour until
they begin their life in the open air.
The woman, as a type, differs very little from the
man. She is rather shorter as is the case with all the
pure and mixed Mongolian races.
As a girl she has a rounded form and is not without
grace. As long as she is healthy and blooming she
may be considered a beauty.... in the forest, but she
soon gets faded because of the fatiguing life she leads
and also because of her early marriage, for she is al-
ready a wife when our girls are at the beginning of
their teens.
The boys are generall}^ healthy, sturdy little fellows.
The Sakai 's head is regular in form and size like
that of the Mongolian race ; the cheek-bones, however,
are less prominent than those of the Tartars and the
eyes are wider open and less oblique.
The forehead neither retreats nor protrudes and is
high and spacious enough. The nose is large and
slightly flattened at the root. The facial angle measures
pretty much the same as that of the Chinese.
The mouth, well-cut and not too large, with rather
thick lips, would be beautified by two rows of sound
regular teeth if the latter were not so blackened by
the constant chewing of tobacco, betel-nut and sirih.
The chin is sharp.
All the features, in fact, are very marked and the
jaws are a little projecting but the countenance is not
an unpleasant one and wears an expression of frankness
and goodness that soon wins sympathy.
The head is covered with a rich, crisp growth of
very black hair but few hairs are to be seen on the
face or body. Those rare ones, whose appearance would
8
— 114 —
be rapturously hailed by our youths as the forerunners
of a possible mustache or beard, are plucked out by
the Sakais in their spare time !
A great many ladies would be highly contented to
possess the beautiful tresses that the Sakai woman
generally has, but whilst amongst us an artistic arrange-
ment of the hair is an attraction which often makes us
forget the lesser charms of the face, the raven locks
of these women sometimes cause a feeling of disgust.
They do not take the least care of this splendid or-
nament bestowed upon them by Nature; when they do
not let their hair hang dirty and dishevelled upon their
shoulders they just tie it up badly with a strip of many-
coloured upas bark (a remedy against migraine) stick
in some roughly carved combs and hair-pins (amulets
against the malignant spirit of the wind) and adorn it
with fresh flowers.
But alas! under that bow of natural ribbon, under
those combs and flowers there is a tin}^ world of restless
inhabitants and the poor primitive Eve is obliged to
scratch her head furiously now and then.
And not less furiousl}^ does the man also scratch his
though he takes much more pains over his hair, combing
and smoothing it in order to divide it well in front
and display the tattoo which distinguishes the parting.
Frequently both the men and the women rub into
their heads the finely pounded root of a plant to which
they attribute the virtue of softening their rough, lux-
uriant locks and of destroying the inmates.
Even the men sometimes wear combs and hair-pins.
Cleanliness as the reader will have understood from
the example given above is not the highest quality
of the Sakai any more than it is of other primitive
A Sakai beauty.
/. 119.
- ii5 -
peoples. Hygienic practices march alongside civil pro-
gress. The bath, as a pleasure or a necessity, is quite
unknown to them, and those who dwell amongst the
mountains have the greatest fear of water. The foaming
torrents and noisy cascades that dash down the ravines
have inspired them with terror and as they have no
notion whatever of being able to keep afloat, they are
afraid to venture near a stream, however quietly it
may flow, unless it is shallow enough for them to see
the bottom.
Not only have they no idea of swimming but they
are equally ignorant of any other means ,of remaining
on the water's surface. They have no canoes of any
kind and when they want to cross from one shore to
the other they either throw a huge tree into the river
to serve as a bridge or they walk on round the bank
until they find a fordable point and can reach the op-
posite side b}' jumping from stone to stone.
I am glad to say that my lectures upon cleanliness
have not been completely fruitless for many of the
young people make their ablutions now from time to
time, especially the females, and come to me asking
for soap. Though not a great step towards progress
this is always better than nothing. The old people, of
course, do not regard the bathing innovation with
kindly eyes. They are always filthy to a repugnant
degree, begrimed with ashes and earth from l3'ing about
round the fire, day, and night; the smell that emanates
from them certainly does not invite one to approach them.
But their fathers and their grandfathers never washed
themselves and so it is their duty to follow their ques-
tionable example.
The five senses with the Sakais are practicalh' re-
duced to two for whilst they are very quick in hearing
— ii6 —
and seeing, the same cannot be said of smelling, feeling
and tasting.
The acuteness of the two first is due to the continual
need they have, in the forest, of keeping the ear and
the eye open. To be on their guard against enemies
they must either hear or see them.
The weakness of the smelling faculty may be explained
by the bad way the Sakai men and women treat their
noses, boring holes through them large enough to pass
a little bamboo stick, which they wear, partly for or-
nament, and partly as a charm, against I do not exactly
know what danger. And not only this, but they are in
the habit of playing a sort of flute with their nose,
stopping up the right nostril with leaves, so it is easy
to comprehend what little sensibility this unfortunate
appendix of the face can have.
Owing to their almost complete nudity their skin
is not very susceptible to touch for it is hardened and
toughened by the effects of sun, rain, cold and dew
which makes it as weather-beaten as that of any old
salt's ; besides this they are accustomed from childhood
to be stung by insects and nettles, to be pricked and
scratched by thorns and brambles, and to be cut by
the dry stiff blades of the long grasses of their native
place. Habit is second nature.
Their deficient sense of taste results from the prac-
tices mentioned further on.
Sakai cookery does not require much study or ex-
perience.
The vegetable food they have at their disposition
consists of: sweet potatoes, yams, maize, sikoi, different
bulbs and tubers that they firid in the forest like we
do truffles, many edible leaves and all sorts of fruit,
Another Sakai beauty.
p. up.
— [17 —
nuishroonis, iianka, gitaccicoits, giia pro (i), etc., Rice is
an imported luxury which they use when they can get it.
Here are the necessaries for a variety of dishes, but
the Sakais know no variety' in the cuHnary art and
witii the exception of the fruit, the yams and potatoes
that are cooked under the hot ashes, the whole lot is put,
with a little water, into cooking-pots made out of large
bamboo canes, and boiled up together into a kind of
paste with pieces of serpents, rats, toads, lizards, beetles
and other similar delicacies to give it flavour.
The monkey, deer, wild-boar, wild-sheep and any
other big game caught in traps they just burn at the
fire without taking the trouble to skin the animal, and
then they eat it nearly raw.
They season the meat with salt, when they have an}-,
which is not often, and with a capsicum that sets your
mouth on fire. The use of this capsicum, and the con-
tinual chewing of tobacco, and betel has ruined the
palate of the Sakais, and left them with little power
of relishing.
Fish is rarely seen at the board (I use the word in
a figurative sense as the thing it signifies does not
exist for them) of the mountain tribes for the double
motive that they have no fishing tackle and their fear
of the water makes them avoid it as much as possible.
Nevertheless when there is a dearth of other food they
will throw in some beaten plc-pra and the fish, of a
fair size, that rise to the surface to bite it are deftly hit
by a knife, the Sakai seldom failing in his mark.
To the simplicity of their cooking corresponds the
still greater simplicity of their drinks which are — of
the singular number.
(r) The latter is .t sort of acorn wliicli keeps good for a long time.
When pounded into an 6\\y paste it is not altogether disagreeable
to the taste.
ii8
The inhabitants of the forest drink nothing but water
but this they require clear and fresh. Should it not be
perfectly pure in colour and taste they will not drink
it. They always seek a spring to satisfy their thirst
and supply their families with the necessary liquid.
Sometimes, when 1 was first living amongst them, I
happened to stoop over a torrent or stream to drink
some water but my companions protested vehemently
declaring that it might do me a great deal of harm.
They are afraid of poisons in every shape and form
as they are also of contagion and would even be fright-
ened if in drinking they were to touch their bamboo
bottles and glasses with their lips. They are very elever
in pouring the contents down their throats without letting
the receptacle come in contact with their mouths, an ac-
complishment which we should not be able to achieve
until after many damp trials.
It might almost be desired that our civilization would
imitate this hygienic custom of the savages. How many
infections the less ! How much fewer the microbes that
poison the blood of our poor people !
The Sakais do not drink milk, not only from the dif-
ficulty in obtaining it but also from a strange prejudice
which I have never succeeded well in understanding.
Once they are weaned they never swallow a single
drop of milk.
Neither do they drink alcoholic beverages for the
simple reason that they have not got them and do not
know what they are.
If they should ever come to taste them and procure
them easily will they not crave for them like all other
savages '^
As soon as the Sakai's frugal meal is finished he
fills his mouth with tobacco, or if he has none, with sirih.
This is composed of a leaf or two of betel — a plant
that possesses a certain narcotic virtue — smeared
Resting from work.
/>. laj.
— irg —
with lime and rolled up round a little tobacco and a piece
of areca nut. Both men and women chew these quids with
great relish, spitting out the juice from time to time.
The old people, whose want of teeth makes masti-
cation next to impossible, put the ingredients into a
bamboo and pound them until they are reduced to, what
they consider, a delicious paste.
o®o
The young Sakai reaches the height of his vigour at
about eighteen years old, after which he has a brief
stationary period, followed by a rapid falling off that
I think must be caused by his being continually exposed
to the inclemenc}' of the weather.
The woman begins to decline soon after her first
confinement. From the age of i3 to i5 she becomes a
wife and in two 3'ears from that date she is but the
ghost of her former self Thin, and with a wrinkled
skin, not even a shadow remains of her youthful fresh-
ness and the attractive points slie had as a girl.
But what does this matter to her ? Her husband is
faithful to her, with a fidelity that knows no hypocrisy ;
she is happy and is proud of her maternity ; she can
still dance and strike chords upon her krob, modulate
a plaintive ditty on her ciniloi and sing whilst she beats
on her bamboo sticks an accompaniment that tortures
well-tuned ears. For the rest, if her beauty soon fades,
her ugliness does not create the least feeling of disgust
amongst the Sakais of the masculine gender, who have
aesthetic ideas peculiarly their own.
It is enough to say that the ugliest of the female
sex are the prettiest and the most admired.
I am speaking in earnest.
They, as well as the men, are in the habit of paint-
ing themselves in grotesque stripes and hieroglyphics,
— I20 —
in imitation of medicinal plants, the principal colours
used being red and black. Sometimes they add a little
white but very rarely yellow.
When I tell you that these strange designs are not
only the manifestation of coquetry- or vanity but that
they are also made to frighten away the Evil Spirit
you may well imagine how the}- each try to arabesque
their skin in a more horrible way than the other, in
order to look uglier and be more admired.
How man}', even in civilized places, would like to
adopt such a mode of winning the admiration which
their forbidding features cannot command !
One of these artistic creations cannot last more than
a day. It is carefully scraped off and replaced.
0®C
The Sakai's life is tranquil and serene. He does not
pass much of his time in the hut because every morn-
ing he goes off into the forest in search of game and ve-
getable food. He is accompanied b}' his boys who either
practise with their blow-pipe or with a pointed stick dig
in the ground lor roots and bulbs, or they catch insects
and reptiles to fill the baskets they carry on their backs.
When the Sakai is not out hunting, or visiting friends
and relations in other villages, he remains quietly in
his hut sleeping, smoking, chewing a nice quid or in
preparing poisons and poisoned arrows.
He is good-tempered and good-hearted, and never
quarrels with his w'ife. I have never heard of one of
these savages beating his wife or children, or off ill-
treating them in any way and neither of using violence
with any one else unless with a declared foe or one
who has offended his sentiments and superstitions.
One day 1 ordered a child to do something, I don't
remember what, and he answered me impertinentl}' with
— T2I —
a curt neay (no). I turned to his mother who was pre-
sent and told her that the boy ought to have his ears
boxed.
The woman gave me a look of mingled wonder and
irritation, then said : " You area bad man if you would
hurt my son when he did not mean any harm ! „.
Yet in spite of this kind of reasoning and the cle-
mency shown towards children (which would make a
pedagogue of the educational rod S3'stem commit suicide)
the Sakais are honest and respectful to their parents
and the old ; they are affectionate in their family and,
poor savages! are still a long wa}' off from such a
degree of civilization as to cut up a cross wife or a
troublesome lover into pieces and send them in a my-
sterious valise to take a sea-bath or in a butcher's
sack to take a fresh water one in a convenient river.
But the answer given me by the boy and his mother's
implicit approval were only the decisive affirmation of
that indomitable spirit of freedom that animates the
Sakai and makes him do what he likes but never what
others command.
In fact, even taking him as a guide or travelling
companion it is always wise to let him have his own
way without interfering at all. He will rest, eat, smoke,
and walk on just as he chooses and if you contradict
him in his desire he will turn his back upon 3^ou and
abandon you in the midst of the forest.
Every act of his life reveals and marks this mania
of independence. I will quote a rare case. Should a
mother-in-law and a daughter-in-law not be able to
agree in conseguence of the difference in their charac-
ters no tragic scenes or petty quarrels occur ; the young
couple merel}^ take up their scanty belongings, destroy
their own hut and march off to build another at a suf-
ficient distance to avoid troublesome contact or the
possibility of further misunderstandings and discord.
It is so : nobody will submit to the will of another
and even when settling some particular question unless
they are all of the same identical opinion the matter
has to be abandoned.
Sons-in-law and daughters-in-law love their fathers-
in-law and mothers-in-law well enough and viccvcrsa,
and they all respect each other and can live peaceably
together, but no one can impose his own will without
determining a strike.
They put into practice the same simple remed}' when
there is not very good harmony in the conjugal state.
A man and woman cannot exactly agree as husband
and wife ? They cheerfulh' divorce themselves instead
of poisoning their existence by continual altercations
and the reluctance they both feel at doing what the
other wishes.
How much regarding the human spirit civilized people
have yet to learn from savages ! Do 3'ou not think so,
kind reader ?
o^So
The Sakai is commonly believed to be lazy by na-
ture. This is an error, for their so-called laziness is
nothing but the risult of the circumstances amidst which
they live.
Once their daily food is provided and the}- have
prepared a good supply of poisons and darts what re-
mains for them to do in the depth of the forest, where
there is no thirst for riches (because unknown to them),
for honours (of which they have no idea at all), or for
power (which their individual independence repudiates) ?
There is no race for wealth, position or fame in their
parts, no struggle for life w^iich amongst us is the
inexhaustible source of progress as well as the incentive
to crime and corruption.
— 123 —
The desire expressed by Henry IV that each one of
liis subjects might boil his own fowl in his own pot is
more than realized amongst the Sakais.
They do not cook their fowls because they are only
reared as a means of barter, but it seldom happens
that they cannot enjoy a choice bit of monkey, snake,
deer or wild boar, which they like much better. If (a
very strange case) somebody should be without, he
goes to the nearest hut, enters without speaking, and
sits down without being greeted. Some food is placed
before him that he devours without being invited to do
so and then departs as he came without any one saying
a word beyond perhaps (in an excess of courtesy) a
muttered " abor „ (meaning " very good „ and used as
" good-bye „ by the Sakais), from the visitor as he
leaves.
The Sakai does not understand the reason of working
when there seems to be no need, but what he finds strictly
necessary he does with alacrity and good will. What-
ever they have to do they all work together, the head
of the family, the elder, the young men, the boys, ev-
eryone gives a hand to the best of his capacit}'. When
they have finished, the oldest of the company lie down
to doze and chew tobac;co or sirih, the other men squat
tliemselves about to chat and prepare poisons or make
blow-pipes and arrows, whilst the children play and
the women busy themselves over the cooking.
The terms of indolent and lazy as erroneously ap-
plied to these savages might be used with the same
force in speaking of many who live in the vortex of
civilized society.
We frequently see, amongst us, inexhaustible trea-
sures of energy displayed when ambition or pure need
demands it but when one or the other has been satis-
fied, or the necessity for such continual effort no longer
seems imperative, or either the desired point has been
— 124 —
altained or the future has been full}' assured, then
little by little energy gives place to a longing for repose.
As I have before said, the Sakai never provides for
the morrow. His work begins and finishes with the
day. Give him some tobacco and in his happiness he
will stay awake all the night to smoke or chew it.
He works only in proportion to the urgency of the
moment and then throws himself down to rest upon
the ground, because beds and chairs are unknown to
him, and it is not always that dried leaves and grasses
are used as a substitute for the former.
The evolution of our society has brought us on the
contrary to this curious condition : he who does not
work at all and consequently has no honest fatigue to
rest from, lies upon a soft feather bed, there to re-
store his strength wasted in fast living and dissipation,
whilst.... But I had better stop or I may be mistaken
for a dangerous class agitator !
I will only say this: that could the Sakai look into
some of our houses and palaces he would make haste
to return to his own forest and if he were obliged or
knew how to write his impressions he would certainly
commence : " The men of the West are effeminate, lazy
and indolent „.
But he would do wrong to generalize for they are
Western men who have conquered his forest.
I will conclude this chapter by confessing a remorse.
Out of pity for these poor creatures sleeping on the
cold ground, huddled together to keep each other
warm, I, one day, gave a hair mattress to a Sakai
famil}-.
All ol them took their places on it and slept soundly,
but in the morning their bones ached so much that
they gave me back my mattress in a hurry and with-
out a single word of thanks.
And 1 could not blame them for this.
Boys practising shooting.
p. J2-J.
CHAPTER X.
The Sakai woman — Conjugal fidelity — A life of
labour — Betrothals and nuptials — Love among
the Sakais — Divorcement — No kissing — Chas-
tity — Bigamy — Maternity and its excesses —
Aged before the time — Fashion and coquetry.
Woman, who has been compared to nearly every
sort of animal that flies, creeps, swims or runs by
poets and others of chivah"Ous sentiments, amongst the
Sakais is simply a woman. In speaking of her those
good sons of the East neither calumniate the dove nor
the gazelle, and they do not slander the tiger and the
snake but when they are inclined to praise her charms
they do so with affection and brevit3^ And this is not
to be wondered at when one considers that the female
sex in the jungle, although not beautiful to our taste (but
very much so according to the Sakay criterion) is good,
laborious and incorruptible. These three virtues, if they
were better known in our parts would spare poor, suf-
fering humanity a great deal of prose, as well as poetry,
without the least damage to Art.
— 126 —
It is for this reason that the savages in the Malay
States have always considered, and still consider, the
Woman as the faithful companion of their life and as the
mother of their children. They have never imputed to
her the sin committed by Eve, which in other countries,
where ever so little of Sacred History is known, has
made her the butt of every insulting, sarcastic and op-
probrious term. They have never discussed, as at the
Macon council, the probability of a woman having a
soul or not; what little is necessary to harmonize with
their own they have recognized without any argument
and the}^ have found it in the care and affection shown
towards her dear ones and in her unswerving faith-
fulness.
Amongst these uncivilized people there are no chiv-
alrous traditions, it is true, but neither have their
women been driven to seek emancipation, because, shar-
ing with perfect equality the rights of the men, none
remain for them to claim, and they have no wrongs
to revenge !
The men, for their part, never dream of what De-
mosthenes said of the corrupt Athenians of his time,
words which are repeated and acted upon by some of our
leading men in this the twentieth century : " We marr}^
a woman to have legitimate children and to possess a
faithful housekeeper; we keep concubines and pay
harlots for our convenience and for the enjoyments
of love „.
As I say, among the Sakais the one sex is not the
slave of the other. They live in perfect harmony. The
male is considered the head of the family, although
there is nothing to be administered or directed and the
female shows herself sufficientl}' deferential towards
him, but the custom does not exist among them that
— 127 —
one should passively submit to a will with which his,
or her own does not agree.
The man provides food by hunting in the forest,
fishing, gathering fruit and cultivating a little land
around ; the woman helps him in the work of agricul-
ture, sometimes follows him into the jungle, prepares
his meals and attends to other domestic duties. She
looks well after her children and is very jealous of
them. When they are too little to walk she straps them
to her back with long strips of bark, resting their legs
upon her hips.
This burden does not prevent her from moving about
and working. If they go for a long march the parents
take turns in carrying the child.
As soon as a boy reaches the age of six seasons
(6 years) he passes from his mother's to his father's
guardianship and under the latter' s guidance begins
to make trips into the forest where he catches insects,
picks up fruit and bulbs, learns, little by little, to handle
the blow-pipe and to take part in the hunting and fish-
ing as well as to distinguish poisons and assist in their
extraction.
This is the educational period of the little Sakai.
The girl, on the contrary, remains with her mother
and is taught to help in household (?) work, doing her
part with a good will and cheerful temper.
She goes with her mother to plant and pull up potatoes
and yams, to gather fire-wood, and fill the bamboo
buckets with water ; she learns to cook and take care
of the little ones.
Quite early she begins a life of great activity. Her
arms are still weak and she can scarcely lift some of
the weights allotted her, but they graduall}' become
nerved for heavier ones.
Her fatiguing duties always increase, and yet as a
little girl, a maiden, and also a woman she accepts it
— 128 —
all with a light heart and is so contented with her hard
life that I have often heard one of these good, labo-
rious creatures declare that she was completely happy.
How many ladies in civilized Europe and America
would be prepared to make a similar avowal ?
At about i5 years of age, when our girls are still
in short dresses and are not always dignified by the
term "young lady „, the female Sakai is generally a wife.
From her infancy a bab^^-girl may be betrothed by
her parents to some boy of another tribe. But if when
the time comes to unite in matrimony the two young
people engaged from babyhood, one no longer likes the
other in the quality of a life-partner, they exchange a
quiet gne (no) and the engagement is at a complete
end. (II
Neither one nor the other is offended at this refusal
for they are of full accord that it is better not to be
bound together unless the desire is mutual, as heart-
ache and suffering would be the sure result.
Wonderful philosophy, in all its simplicity, that libe-
rates the little Sakai world from an enormous number
of martyrs, and sensational crimes.
The girl is left free in the choice of a husband.
Of course advice is readily given her, favourable or
otherwise to the suitor, but nobody can compel her to
wed a man she is not inclined to.
This total absence of coercion is no marvel, however,
for in the forest there are no fortune-hunters, dowries
being unknown, and there are no Dianas to join in the
chase after a rent-roll. There is no ambition with re-
gard to title, position or lineage because all are egual.
(i) Gne would be pronounced in English as imiy. Translator's Note.
They are human creatures, made in the same form and
invested with the same right of Hving. There is no
difference of blood amongst them for it is always red.
0®C
The young Sakai that wishes to form a family, ac-
companied by some near relations (grandfather, father
or brothers) leaves his own village and goes to a more
distant encampment.
It often happens that hunger, dusk, or some other
circumstance determines this Pilgrim of Love and his
companions, to stop at one hut rather than another.
They enter, as is their custom, without saying a word;
they sit down on their heels and eat what is offered them.
In the meantime the young man looks about him
and carefully e3'es the girls, should there be any and
if there is one that pleases him he points her out to
one of his companions who immediately rises and tells
the fortunate damsel what his relative desires.
The young woman, when she does not utter a curt
gne, murmurs, " £/i ! eh ! ngot „ (Yes, I am willing), a
phrase which seems a hiccough but is not.
Then the gallant youth draws near the girl and offers
her a necklace of glass beads, and, if he has any, some
brass wire to make bracelets, receiving in exchange
from his future bride a quid or two of betel.
Without any delay the father of the girl and that of
the young man, or some one who represents them,
commence the more prosaic part of the business, that
is: they decide upon the sort of presents that the bride-
groom must give the parents and sisters of his spouse
on the wedding-day, to compensate them for the girl he
is taking away.
They discuss if the gifts must consist of only one
earthen-ware cooking-pot (an article of luxury in the
— i3o —
iungle where bamboo utensils are in common use) in-
stead of two, and if a pair of parangs (woodcutter's
knives) should be added ; then there must be some co-
loured beads, brass wire and perhaps even a piece of
bright coloured calico.
These very important matters being settled, the wed-
ding-day is fixed, after which the affianced couple part
without either tears or sighs, the young man returning
with his relations to their own habitation.
The great day comes.
The bridegroom accompanied by all the men of his
family and by some of the women, betakes himself to
the far-off hut of the bride, carrying with him the pro-
mised gifts.
There is a large gathering of Sakais from every part,
because joys and pains, plenty and famine are equally
and fraternally shared by them.
The Elder gets up and says in a loud voice :
" Hearken ! hearken, all you who are here assembled :
they who were at a distance are now together ; they
who were separate are now united „.
The bridal couple then take each other tenderly by ■
the hand, and some rice is presented to them upon a
leaf. The woman takes up a few grains and puts them
into the mouth of her husband and then they both par-
take of that light, symbolical repast from the same leaf.
The nuptial ceremony finishes here, without the inter-
vention of Aid or any sort of ecclesiastical or civil au-
thority. How they are to be envied !
A banquet immediately follows and the company
cram down everything that they find eatable. The menu
consists of every sort of edible article known in the
Sakai cuisine, and when they have stuffed themselves
to their utmost, they dance, sing and draw from their
instruments the sharpest notes that ever rent the human
ear whilst the furious beating of bamboos give out the
— i3i —
sound of wooden bells. Terminated in this nay the
wedding festival, the newly-made husband and wife re-
turn, with the relations of the former, to their own group
of huts, where a new one, a nest of love, has been pre-
pared for them.
Love among the Sakais never becomes a passion or
a delirium. It is a quiet calm sentiment, a physiological
necessity such as the good soul of Schopenhauer in-
terpreted it, to the great scandal of a certain class of
lovers.
Men and women are united from a feeling of cordial
S3'mpathy, b}- a spontaneous act of their own wills which
would never suffer the least restraint.
No personal or family interest suggests or determines
the important step. The only thing that may be said to
inspire love (and bring about a marriage) in the Jungle
is that supreme and inviolable law of nature for the
conservation of the species.
But what is to be admired in the unions of these
good, simple people is the fidelity which follows them
throughout life.
The Sakais are not, I repeat, very ardent spirits, nor
are they excessive in sacrificing to Venus perhaps be-
cause sensual satisfaction arrives when physiological
development imposes it, instead — as too often happens
in civilized society, with great damage to morality and
race — of after a long and wearisome vigil, alwa3's
waiting for economic conditions to permit the formation
of a family.
It is a fact to be noted that neither the men nor the
women feel drawn toward other than their rightful
partner, which naturally contributes a great deal In
maintaining faithfulness between the two.
l32 —
Sometimes, but very rarely, one may find a couple
whose difference of character renders cohabitation im-
possible.
There are no scenes of fury, no violent quarrels and,
still less, no reciprocal blows.
The two interested parties merely declare that his or
her heart suffers too much from a life of such perpetual
misunderstandings and they decide to part good friends,
hoping to find better luck next time.
They will then separate with the best and most sin-
cere wishes for each other's future happiness.
The woman only takes away with her the youngest
of her children who have most need of her care, leaving
those over six years of age to the father, and she
returns to her own place where she is affectionately
received.
She often finds another husband, even in the first
days of her separation ; her new companion adopts her
little ones and considers them as his, after which the
relationship with their real father is annulled.
Divorce, as is here - seen, is performed without the
intervention of others. The Sakais are as free to marry
as they are to part when they find that they cannot
live in peace and quietness. They attribute to the heart
the same impulse of union as of separation. It is then
Sentiment that takes the form of Law amongst them
and regulates their acts. How much it is to be deplored
that a similar law is not recognized in civilized coun-
tries, where that imposed by legislature creates so many
unhappy beings and provocates so many tragedies and
so much infamy.
And yet, in spite of this facility in obtaining a divorce,
there are very few who recur to it, a circumstance that
Sleeping children.
p. ijj.
— i33 —
ought to have weight with those persons who fight
furiously against a measure so conducive to the real
defence of the family, defence in the sense that its con-
dition and functions would be improved without the
crushing and suppression of those rights (by a preju-
dice that is made to pass as a religious precept) which
the soul itself asserts.
Nowadays tlie holy state of matrimony is viewed by
the majority with sceptical diffidence, almost as an abyss
that swallows up freedom, energy, scruples of honour,
morality, wull and every kindliness of sentiment that
has survived the shipwreck of many hopes and illusions.
Among the Sakais no such feeling prevails. The men
voluntarily bind their own existence to that of a woman
and sanctify their new state with the sincere virtues of
fidelity and chastity.
But — these virtues belong to savages and I am a
savage to speak of them !
Let me then, briefly finish up the argument. Divorce
cases are rare because they are almost exclusively based
upon incompatibility of temper or persistent sterility.
Neither the man nor the woman can reconcile them-
selves to stay without children ; if their union is without
fruit there is no longer need for them to live together.
In an exceptional case it sometimes happens that the
two parties do not agree over a divorce, in which cir-
cumstance the decision is left to the Elder who pro-
nounces a sentence without the possibilit}' of appeal.
llie immediate conseguence of an annulled matrimony
is the return of the presents given by the husband to
the family of the wife. The latter at once abandons the
tribe to which she belonged after her marriage and
becomes a stranger to those who, a short time before,
were her closest relations.
This is not the end of a love-dream but the calm
and reasonable decision of two beings who, finding
— i34 —
that their characters do not agree and that they no
longer feel pleasure in each other's company, are not
sufficiently cruel towards themselves and their better
or worse halves (as the case may be) as to simulate
and continue a union which renders them unhappy.
In our parts the question of divorced people's children
serves as a weighty argument to the opposers of di-
vorce and gives to its partisans a difficult problem to
study. To the Sakais the solution is easy enough. The
age of the children decides with whom they have to
remain, and those left to the father's charge are taken
care of by the womenfolk around, who from a pure
impulse of maternity and withont any hope of reward^
treat them with motherly tenderness. It is as though
their mother was dead and their natural female guar-
dians become the sisters or mother of the father. In
default of these close relations the man is free to con-
tract a second marriage at once, his term of mourning
being condoned.
Any way, the little ones always become the object
of affectionate interest to all the women of the village.
o®o
The Sakai people do not kiss each otiier. They know
neither the kiss of Judas nor that of Romeo. They ex-
press their sympathy and love by some rough fondling
or the scratching of each other's nose, neck or chin.
Yonder, in the jungle, there are no poets, novelists,
dramatists or painters ; a new (and original) field would
here be opened to the excellence of their arts. Can you
not imagine, kind reader, how irresistible the effect
would be if, at the most passionate point of their love
scenes, instead of " their trembling lips meeting in a
thrilling kiss „ the hero and heroine were to furiously
scratch each other's noses?
— i35 —
Although, now and then, in the interest of true Art, it
might be a good thing for some of our pseudo artists
to go to that distant land in search of strong inspira-
tions that would, at least, increase the glory of com-
mon sense in civilized places, 1 would certainly not
advise them to emigrate into the Malay forest for it
would be like condemning them to death by starvation
as there they would find no sort of tool or material
with which to do their work. There are no suicides,
murders, robberies, adultery, coveted legacies and sup-
pressed wills, forgeries, lost women and illegitimate chil-
dren, there are no alcohol drinkers, opium eaters etc.
It would be utterly impossible for even a " Sherlock
Holmes „ to satisfy the cravings of appetite if he had
been created in those parts.
But let us return to my good friends the savages
after this involuntary ramble.
o®c
The Sakais manifest their love and gallantry by
.scratching nose, chin or neck but when they want to
express a milder sentiment, such as sincere affection
or friendship, they do so bv a smile, at the same time
embracing each other.
I have sometimes noticed both men and women,
when far from their other halves, indulge in a few
caresses and a little nose-scratching, as also young
men not engaged, but I can affirm with the fullest cer-
tainty that these demonstrations of tenderness go no
further ; they finish where the}' begin.
It may seem strange, but it is true. Both sexes are
in continual contact. In the cold nights the}' will all
sleep close together to keep themselves warm and yet
nothing wrong results from this promiscuous proximity.
— i36 —
As I have already said, chastity is a natural virtue
among the Sakais, and even that which relates to le-
gitimate love is veiled in a coy mystery. Neither the
male or the female are given to sexual caprices.
If a young man should happen to be in love with a
girl before he can handle his blowpipe with dexterity
and profit, or is able to procure the wedding presents
prescribed by habit, he will perhaps persuade his sweet-
heart to meet him in the forest.
It is extremely seldom that any harm comes to the
girl through such an appointment, because it is not in
their character to give way to lust, but should this occur,
and the fact become known, a marriage is arranged
without any loss of time. The woman who will not
consent to a matrimony with her lover or who is known
to have been on intimate terms with more than one
young man is held in great disdain b}^ the rest of her
people.
There are very few spinsters to be found in these
tribes but those who do remain in the single state owe
it to some moral or physical defect. Such persons live
with their nearest relations.
Polygamy is never thought of by the Sakais but bi-
gamy is not an absolute exclusion although it very
rarely takes place because as soon as a woman sees
that her husband is enamoured of another she is the
first to propose a divorce and no recriminations follow
her suggestion.
" Your heart „ she saA's " suffers with me, when
with her it would be glad. Well, then, let us separate
for I feel that I could not live happily with another
wife of yours „.
Should a woman, however, be contented to share the
nuptial bed with a rival you may be quite sure that the
very best harmony would reign in that menage a trois.
i37 -
0®G
The Sakai women are born with the instinct of ma-
ternity and will never renounce nursing their own babes
unless scarcity of milk or a weak constitution compels
them to do so. These exceptions are, however extraor-
dinarily rare and they are at the height of their pride
when their little ones are drawing life and strength
from their breasts (^).
■ There are very few cases of complete sterility or
excessive fecundity amongst them. Hardly ever does a
woman have more than four or five children.
She nurses and takes care of them with great ten-
derness, delighted at seeing them grow strong and
healthy.
Children are weaned at from seven months (reckoned
roughly by the moon) to two years of age (two seasons
of fruit) but generally when they are about a year old
lone season).
The first food given to the baby is a well-cooked
pap made with a certain bulb and the tender leaves of
a little plant whose names I do not remember.
When the little fellow has become accustomed to his
new food (whether he likes it or not) or begins to
babble a word or two, he is given a name that usually
recalls the place wiiere he was born, some particular
event of the moment or the way he may have of mak-
ing use of a word often, or of pronouncing it badly.
The good-heartedness and maternal kindness of the
Sakai woman is extended even to young animals that
(r) In chapter XI V^ speaking of the superstitions of this people I
have mentioned those which refer to the birth of a child and the
strange ideas the}" have concerning this event.
i38
have been deprived of their mother. They will adopt
them and bring them up with the same care they bestow
upon their own children or human orphans.
One day a she-boar was caught in a trap, and, as a
matter of course, was cooked and eaten, but soon after
a litter, belonging to the victim, was found and the tiny
beasts, only just born, were taken and nursed by the
women of the village.
I once saw a big boar that followed a Sakai tribe with
wonderful docility even allowing the children to play
tricks upon it ; it had been brought up by the women.
I have also seen rats, that have been reared by these
foster-mothers, go backwards and forwards from the
hut at their will, and I remember that one night when
1 had taken shelter in one of these cabins and had se-
lected a particular corner for my night's rest, the dark
lady of the house, without raising any objection to my
choice, warned me that during the night a rat would
return to repose in the same spot and begged me not
to do any harm to the poor thing, as he was one of the
family, but to call her if it gave me any disturbance.
In fact I was fast asleep when some warm fur softly
caressed me, and waking up I understood that the dis-
solute rodent — almost bigger than a cat — had re-
turned home in the small hours, just as if he had been
provided with a latch-key.
I hastily called the woman who tenderly took it up
and carried it away to sleep with her.
It was an adopted child !
Is not this the acme of maternal feeling? And does it
not approach foolishness ?
ogjc
The birth, and subsequent suckling, of her first child
put an end to the grace and bloom of a Sakai woman.
A child being tattooed.
p. J40.
— iSg —
She fulfils with incomparable zeal the functions con-
fided to her by Nature, but as she has, at the same, to
attend to the heavy duties allotted her by man she be-
comes over-worked and worn-out with excessive fatigue.
When thirty years old she looks almost as old and
withered as one of our hard-worked countrywomen does
at fifty, and the poor creature cannot in any way con-
ceal this premature falling off because of — the extreme
lightness of her attire.
" The tailor tree of our great father Adam „ has no
leaves for the inhabitants of the jungle, for both male
and female onl}^ wear a strip of bark (well beaten to
render it flexible) wound round the body and fastened
on the hips.
That worn b}^ the men never exceeds four inches in
breadth, but the women use lists of from six to eight in-
ches wide. Another piece of bark-cloth is passed between
the legs and tied, in front and behind, to this belt.
The women, although daughters of the forest, are not
without a certain amount of coquetry and will often de-
corate their girdles with flowers or medicinal and sweet-
smelling herbs, but they never think of making a chaste
veil of large leaves with which to cover those parts
of their persons that ought to be kept secret from the
public gaze.
The costume that they are wearing in the photographs
was prepared by me in order to present these ochre-
coloured Eves to my readers in a more decent state,,
or rather, a little more in accordance with what civil-
izied society requires, because " to the pure all things
are pure „ and in my opinion the perfect innocence in
which these women go about naked is preferable to that
consciousness of their natural form which leads so
many of our society ladies and other females, to resort
to artificial means that they may deceive their admirers,
and gain a name for beauty.
— 140 —
The men, too, are even to be envied, for in the total
absence of nether-garments their better-halves can never
claim " to wear the trousers „ as sometimes happens
amongst us.
Necklaces are very much worn by Sakai girls and
women. They are made of beads (which are considered
the most elegant) serpents' teeth, animals' claws, shells,
berries or seeds.
The men, instead, finish off their toilet by loading
their wrists with bracelets. These are of brass-wire,
bamboo or akar batit which it is believed preserves them
from the fever.
Their faces are always disfigured by coloured stripes
or hieroglyphics.
They have not the custom of wearing rings through
their noses but only a little bamboo stick that is sup-
posed to have the virtue of keeping off I don't exactly
know what sort of malad}- or spirit.
The mother bores a hole through the nose cartilage
of her child with a porcupine quill and then takes care
that the wound heals quickly, without closing. After-
wards she passes through a light piece of this reed.
The same operation is made upon the ears, which
from being generally well-shaped, become deformed, as
the hole through the lobe has to be very large. It is
not sufficient to pierce the tissue with a quill ; a little
bamboo cane has to be at once inserted ; the day after
a larger one is substituted and so on until it is pos-
sible to hang from the ears pendants made of bamboo
and ornamented with flowers, leaves and perhaps even
cigarettes.
A strip of upas bark twisted round the head bestows
the finishing touch to the Sakais' toilet. Happy people !
They have no tailor's, dressmaker's or milliner's bills
.to pay!
CHAPTER XL
A Sakai village — The " elder „ — The family —
Degrees of relationship — Humorists disoccupied
— On the march — Tender hearts — Kindling
the fire — A hecatomb of giants — The hut —
Household goods and utensils — ^A^ork and
repose.
A real village, such as we understand it to be, does
not exist among the Sakais, but I have been obbliged
to make use of the word for want of a better one to
explain the meaning. Each hut is some hundreds of
yards distant from the other so that altogether a vil-
lage covers an area of from twenty to forty miles.
Nearly alwa3's the boudaries of village territory are
marked by secondary water-courses (the true Sakais
never encamp near a navigable river) which give their
names to the people living round the shores.
Only the width of a brook or torrent divides two of
these settlments that I have called villages, therefore
the distance is much less than that lying between the
two extremities of a single village.
— X42 —
And yet, beyond being on neighbourly and friendly
terms, they have nothing to do with each other, for
one Sakai tribe does not like mixing with another and
will not recognize any tone of authority, or receive any
word of advice unless proceeding from a close relation,
and even then it must be given in the form of fatherly
counsel or affectionate exhortation otherwise the person
to whom it is addressed would probably leave his own
people, not to have further annoyance from them, and
go to live among his wife's kinsfolk.
The inhabitants of a village are all one family, be-
longing to the first, second, third and even fourth ge-
neration for they are all descended from the same old
man, who is called the " Elder „ and who is regarded
with esteem and consideration by everybody.
It is he who acts as magistrate or arbitrator in any
dispute or quarrel (that ver}' rarely takes place) amongst
his offspring and the sentence pronounced by him is
rigorously respected. It is he, too, who selects the spot
for a clearing when, as often happens, the Sakais change
their place of encampment, forming their village in
quite another part of the forest.
Besides this he has nothing else to do, unless he is
still able to work.
The Elders of the various villages are upon a perfect
footing of cordiality and never incite to or permit the shed-
ding of blood, or even a conflict between their tribes.
If upon the death of an Elder there happens to be
two or more brothers still living the oldest one suc-
ceeds him, and should any misunderstanding eventually
arise between them, or should the number of those com-
posing the village become too great, the other emigrates
to a far off corner of the forest, followed by all the fa-
milies which are, in a direct line, closely related to him,
thus forming the nucleus of a new Sakai village which
never exceeds a few hundreds of inhabitants.
— 143 --
In the plains, Iiowever, a great many families may
be found living together in the same village, sometimes
even to three thousand persons.
But it is not here that one is able to study and ob-
serve the habits and customs of the genuine Sakais.
Notwithstanding the practice of living in groups, one
family isolated from the other, fraternity of race is very
profoundly felt and if to-morow a common danger should
be menaced they would all unite like one man to resist
and overcome it, besides being always ready to help
each other in time of need.
Not many degrees of relationship are recognized by
the Sakai.
The male and female children of the same father and
mother are considered, as with us, brothers and sisters,
but also the sons and daughters of brothers (who among
us would only be cousins) are classed the same and
call all their uncles " father „.
That established for the descendants of females is
quite different, and this is natural because the girls of
one village marry into another.
The children of a woman are supposed to bear no
relationship to those of their mother's brothers and
very little attention is paid to that which exists betwen
them and their uncles.
Sisters' children are considered brothers instead of
cousins, and the aunts are all called mothers, even when
they live in other villages.
The waves of brothers call themselves sisters and are
known by the name of " mother „ by their nephew^s
and nieces but sisters' husbands have no claim to re-
lationship, other than that of cordial friendship.
Grandchildren give the title of " father „ also to their
grandfather and great-grandfather and that of " mother „
— 144 —
to their grandmother so that these two words which
have such a sacred significance to us, to the Sakais
are but common appellations.
No tie whatever exists between the parents of the
husband and those of the wife and neither between the
latter (the father and mother of the wife) and their
sons-in-law. They are only upon simple friendly terms.
Humourists who are fond of exercising their wit upon
the eternal mother-in-law question would find no ground
for their jokes among this people.
The daughter-in-law, on the contrary, recognizes her
husband's parents as her own father and mother.
This does not, however, prevent her from still feeling
and cherishing a fond affection for those who are near-
est to her in blood and who were the authors of her
being.
She goes very often to see them and is welcomed
with great joy. At parting they give her good wishes
and advice.
" Go, follow thy husband ! „.
" Take care not to fall by the way ! „.
" Abor ! „.
" Abor ! „.
As far as 1 know there are no other relations acknow-
ledged by the Sakais who dwell on the forest heights,
beyond these I have mentioned and even these are re-
duced to four names : father, mother, sister and brother.
It is very difficult, though, to get information about the
bonds of kinship.
Judging from the youthful age at which they marry
and have children and assuming that the greatest age
which they reach is that of 60 years old (a calculation
purely by guess as it is impossible to ascertain pre-
cisely) it may be said that every village is populated by
the second, third, fourth and even fifth generation of
the same people.
A primitive method of lighting a fire.
p. I4T.
- 145 -
In fact, establishing the date of his first paternity at
i6 years old, it is evident that at 32 a Sakai may be
a grandfather, at 48 a great-grandfather and at 64 a
great-great-grandfather.
The closer and more direct the relationsliip the stronger
is their affection.
The tenderest love that a Sakai can bestow is poured
out upon his son, especially when the child is little, but
gradually, with the passing of years, and the formation
of new families around, the warmth of this attachment
somewhat cools down, perhaps because there is no longer
any need of his care.
o^
Kind reader, 1 have introduced you (as best 1 could)
to my good friends of the Malay forest ; I have made
you know their virtues and their defects, their habits
and their family ties and now I should like you to follow
with me the little tribe marching from one end of their
territory to the other in order to fix upon a new dwell-
ing-place.
The long procession moves along without any order
whatever. Everybody carries something that they did
not want to leave behind in the abandoned village. The
very little children are fastened to their mother's backs,
the others caper merrily round the women, and the old
people walk slowly on, sometimes leaning on their sticks.
All the men and the youths are armed with their
deadly cane and poisoned arrows.
Several dogs — not unlike little setters — escort the
company and give the alarm when danger threatens.
With them, in friendly intimacy, are monkeys, squirrels
and tame wild-boars, while fowls cackle in the dossers
where they have been put for fear of being lost in the
jungle.
— 146 —
This is an emigrating tribe. Are they then taking a
long journey that they are so well provided with food ?
Such a supposition would be erroneous. Those fowls,
boars, squirrels and monkeys are not a reserve stock
of provisions for the travelling Sakais but are their
friends and companions, brought up by them with kind
care and which are considered as a part of the family.
A Sakai never eats an animal that he has reared ;
it would seem to him to commit a crime. He uses the
fowls, however (which are a trifle smaller than those
in Europe) as a means of exchange for tobacco, rice and
other articles but he would never eat one himself unless
reduced to the verge of starvation.
How different to civilized persons who breed animals
and poultry on purpose to devour them, who fatten
fowls in coops, cruelly convert cockrels into appetising
capons, peg geese to the ground that their liver may
supply an extra dainty for the table and protect the
poetic love of pigeons in order to cook their little ones !
Oh, 3es ! we protect animals, even the birds that fly
wild in the woods, we surround them with attention,
we make laws in their favour, why ? for what ? That
we may have the pleasure of eating them !
o®c
A halt is called. The Elder, assisted by some of the
men inspect the site to see if in its vicinity' there are
any sort of flowers or birds of ill-omen. If an}' such
are discovered the journey is continued but if there are
none they begin at once to kindle a fire.
A little bamboo reed is taken and a hole made in it
through which is passed a towy substance found upon
palm-trees and known b}- the name of hilup among the
Malays. Round this reed is wound two or three times
a long piece of very flexible Indian cane and he who
Felling a tree.
/• 141'
— 147 -
has undertaken to light the fire now holds the two ends of
the latter, and pressing the bamboo hard with his foot,
pulls first one and then the other, sharply and rapidly.
The violent friction soon brings about combustion for
the larger reed is heated to such a point that the tow
ignites. Leaves and dry grasses are thrown on and the
Elder watches the smoke.
ll' this goes up in a straight column the position is
good, otherwise it is not a suitable one.
The decision having been made in this manner, work
commences in right earnest and a febrile activity per-
vades the spot.
The men carefully observe in what direction the trees
are inclined, and with a small axe (that cuts into the
wood wonderfully well) they begin to chop round the
roots of the smaller ones.
This done they attack one of the superb giants of the
forest. With primitive, but not for that less practical,
ladders made of bamboo, they ascend the tree they mean
to fell, and after having planted some stout poles around
it they construct an ingenious platform some yards from
the ground.
Up there they again make use of their little, but ter-
rible hatchet, which is pointed in shape and marvel-
lously resistant. It is of a moderate size, scarcely mea-
suring 8 inches in length, 4 in breadth and 2 in thickness.
Firmly fixed on a pliant bamboo cane the blows given
by it have marvellous force.
The Sakais of the mountain obtain this instrument
(which is never used by them as a weapon of offence
or defence) from their brethren of the plain who, in their
turn, get it from the Mala3's by bartering.
When the preliminary work has been finished the
huge tree is attacked (upon one side onl}') and its wood
is soon reduced to chips under the terrific strokes which
are repeated in rapid succession.
- 148 -
In the meantime nimble 3'ouths climb up the trunk
and near the top tie two stout and very long Indian
canes, letting the ends dangle to the ground. As soon
as the tree gives the slightest sign of vacillation the
men hurry down, grasp a rattan upon each side and
with all their might, rhythmically and simultaneously,
pull the vanquished colossus towards the other trees
whose roots have been already recised.
The enormous tree, for a while, seems to withstand
all their efforts, then begins to bend and sway, shaking
as though seized by a fit of trembling ; it totters for a
minute or two and at last crashes down with awful vio-
lence, in its fall hurling to the ground the nearest ones
that have been prepared on purpose, and these in their
turn knock down those which are behind.
Everybody has fled to a safe place but are deafened
for a time by the loud noise of falling trunks, broken
boughs, the crackling of leaves and the snapping asunder
of the thick masses of foliage that the creepers have
woven amongst the branches. The turmoil is indescri-
bable. Reptiles, birds, squirrels, insects frightened at
the unexpected disaster are moving wildly about in
search of shelter, filling the air with their cries and
buzz.
Through the gap made in the green roof of the forest
the sun enters triumphantly and illuminates the pros-
trate forms of the gigantic victims (lying about like Cy-
clopses fulminated by the ire of Jupiter) that ever and
anon still give convulsive starts at the breaking of some
huge bough in under that can no longer bear their tre-
mendous weight.
The opening has been made ; it must now be cleared
out. The work continues with feverish haste ; all take
part in it.
One after the other trees are stripped and maimed
and, with miracles of strength and ingenuity, are pushed
An elevated residence.
p. 149.
— 149 —
away a.s lar as possible in order to make with tiieni a
solid and reliable enclosure all round.
Before night comes, in the space thus prepared, rise
groups of temporary huts, and large bon-fires burn.
Following the method here described, the Sakais in
a few hours succeed in clearing the forest for several
miles round.
The next day they begin afresli and go on until the
clearing is big enough to contain the number of huts
necessary, separated, as is the use, two or three hun-
dred yai'ds each one from the other.
These are immense breaches which are opened in the
forest but the latter also is immense and does not suffer
from this raid upon its land, the less so because with
its amazing power of fecundity it will soon have covered
anew with vegetable life the abandoned village of the
wandering tribe.
The hut (dop) of the Elder is the centre around which
all the others are erected.
To defend themselves against wild beasts and other
animals, as well as against the humidity of marshy
ground, the Sakais of the plain often budd their huts
either up a tree or suspended between stout poles.
But on the hills there is no necessity to do this and
the rude habitation is constructed on the ground with
green branches and leaves, the roof and walls being of
such poor consistency that they do not afford the very
least protection. Wild beasts, as a rule, never venture
into open spaces and besides are kept afar by the glare
of the fires but the inclemency of the climate on those
heights would render a more substantial residence de-
sirable for comfort.
There is no furniture or other sort of household
goods in the Sakai's dop. His bed consists of dry leaves
t5o —
and the same bark they use for their waist-cloths, strewn
upon the ground. Some of them possess a coverlet,
worth only a few pence, but for which the poor creatures
have paid its weight in gold by means of articles given
in exchange. The majority have not even this.
The hearth is placed in the middle of the hut and is
made of four pieces of wood surrounding and closing
in a heap of earth.
Three stones placed upon this serve to sustain the
cooking-pot.
As I have said, they have no tables, chairs, stools
or cupboards, and also the inventary of their kitchen
utensils is ver}- short : one or two earthen-ware pots
(when they have not these they use bamboo canes for
cooking), a couple of roughly-made knives, a few basins
composed of cocoanut shells, and some bamboo recep-
tacles which officiate as bucket, bottle and glass. The
ladle with which they distribute their food is also of
cocoanut shell.
Their plates are... banana or other leaves, adapted
for the purpose, that are thrown away after they have
finished eating.
At the top of the hut are hung the blow-pipes, and
well-filled quivers. They are kept there for a little heat
to reach them, this being considered essential to the
efficacy of the poisons.
Above these, twined amongst the green, are preserved
strips of bark for a change of... dress when required,
together with the Sakais' musical instruments which are
never forgotten.
.Such total poverty of shelter and chattels I think
must be explained as cause and effect of the nomadic
life these people live (although I should not know how
to define the former from the latterl as well as the
result of their indolence and the excessive simplicity
of their wants.
AJi,tree-hut.
p. 140.
— i.Si —
If once the continual migrations, tVoni one point of
the forest to the other, could be prevented the liuts
would certainly be improved both in construction and
adornment.
Round th(> hut a piece of ground is prepared for the
cultivation of potatoes, yams and maize, but the harvest
is very scanty, and the whole is frequently destroyed
b}' the visit of a sladaii. Here, too, the good-wife de-
votes a part of her time to fowl-breeding.
She, like all the Sakais, sleeps at her pleasure in the
morning. As soon as she gets up, with the help of her
daughters she prepares the morning meal and serves
it out as she thinks proper without the slightest remark
being heard as to the quality or quantit}^ of the food
given to each.
After breakfast every one goes about their own busi-
ness ; the men shooting, searching for poisons, or
setting traps ; the women and girls gathering tubers,
bulbs and mushrooms, or catching insects, lizards and
frogs, whilst the old people no longer able to go to the
forest remain behind chewing tobacco or s/r/// and
looking after the children.
Sunrise and sunset keep each other company!
Towards noon all who can, return to the village,
those who cannot, after having eaten in the forest, squat
themselves on the ground to rest. It is the solemn hour
of silence and repose, observed by man and beast.
Only when the sun, from being right overhead, has
begun to decline westward is the interrupted work or
march resumed. At the lirst sign of twilight, which is
very brief, the Sakais may be seen hastening back to
their huts, on their return from labour or from other
villages, where an abundant meal and ineffable peace
awaits them.
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L^ilfe^
CHAPTER XII.
Intellectual development — Sakais of the plain and
Sakais of the hills — Laziness and intelligence
— Falsehood and the Evil Spirit — The Sakai
language — When the " Orang Putei ,, gets
angry — Counting time — Novel calendars —
Moral gifts.
Intellectual development amongst the Sakais of the
hills is very limited and as a consequence requires
little or no study but much more is to be met with
amongst those of the plain for two reasons which I
have alread}^ explained : one their traffic and consequent
intercourse with more civilized races ; and the other the
mixture of blood from their parents' concubinage with
strangers, thus destroying the purity of their own. After
the establishment of the British Protectorate and the
abolition of slavery in the Federated Malay States the
Sakai men and women returned to their native places,
the latter taking with them the children born of their
masters and the former entered into business relations
with their quondam owners b}' the exchange of forest
products for trifles of little or no value.
i53 -
This explains why in the tribes dwelling on the plains
we meet with certain cunning and malicious intents
which are in strange contrast with their primitive in-
genuity and sincerity. But although in comparison to
their brethren of the mountains they might and do pass
for artful, they themselves are continually cheated and
deceived by their more skilful neighbours who barter
inferior qualities of tobacco, iron, calico and other trash,
worth nothing, for real treasures in rattan, cane, rubber,
poisons, fruit and fishing gear which the Sakai of the
plain is very clever in making.
Notwithslanding this sharpening of their intellect due
to sojourn amongst their more astute neighbours or to
the inheritance of insincerity, theirs by birth when born
in exile, they are not yet capable of understanding what
profit they might make by exciting competition between
their covetous barterers, and the latter, each one for
self-interest, are ver}^ careful not to open the eyes of
those who are so ready to let themselves be cheated.
Moreover, the ill-treatment to which they were once
subjected, and the imperfect knowledge they still have
of what the British Protectorate means, renders them
timid and too much afraid of these rapacious merchants
to dare resent, in anv way, the prepotence which da-
mages them.
In spite of the corruption which has infected them
from their companionship or relationship with corrupted
people the Sakai of the plain still preserves some of
his original goodness and uprightness. Only too well it
may be said that once he has rid himself of these moral
encumbrances which leave him defenceless in the hands
of the unscrupulous he will have taken a new step to-
wards civilization but there will be two virtues the less
in his spiritual patrimony.
1 54
o®o
The Sakai who has taken refuge in the hilly part
of the forest in order to escape from the influences of
Civilization which may now be said to beset him on all
sides, still preserves and defends the original purity of
his race.
His intellectual development is inferior to that of his
brother living in the plain because he keeps himself
alien to everything that might effect his physical laziness
and the utter inertia of his brain.
He lives because the forest gives him abundant food,
and he lives idly, immersed in innumerable supersti-
tions that Ala (the sorcerer) enjoins him to always
preserve intact.
If, quite suddenl}^, a change should come in the life
and conditions of these Sakais they would never be
able to adapt themselves to a different regime until after
extreme suffering and sacrifice had strewn the new
path with many victims.
And yet, in spite of all, I believe him to be endowed
with a fair amount of intelligence, dormant for the pre-
sent, but susceptible of development when once awakened
and with great patience he has, by slow degrees (almost
imperceptibly) been taught to overcome his strange
fears and to lose those curious ideas concerning life
which the old forest philosopher revealed to me.
I say " almost imperceptibly „ — as for some 3'ears
I have been doing myself — that no suspicions may be
raised and that Ala may have no cause to rebel against
the introduction of modern sentiments by outsiders who
insinuate themselves into the tribe, persons whom he
does not view with benevolent eyes, especially if they
are white. This sort of priest obstinately opposes every
element of progress and obliges his people to do the same.
Preparing the supper.
p. isi.
— i55 —
I have my reasons for believing in the latent intel-
ligence of the mountain Sakai as I have noticed in him
a great facility in imitating sounds, movements and even
the way of doing things and also of learning and
remembering what he has been taught or has seen.
I have perceived in him, too, a pronounced rectitude of
judgment and a remarkable sharpness of observation
when his superstitious terrors do not throw a veil over
his mind.
But he is incorrigibly lazy and will not engage in any
kind of work that requires fatigue unless it be b}' his
own spontaneous will. The spirit of independence within
him is so profound and indomitable as to induce him
perhaps to renounce a benefit to himself for fear of ob-
taining it through satisf^ang the desire of another.
He is also very touchy; a harsh word or an impatient
gesture is enough to oftend him.
In compensation he is hospitable, generous, sincere
and averse to falseness and intrigue. If sometimes he
tells a lie he does so from the dread of an imaginary
or possible evil which might otherwise befall him or his,
as for instance when somebod}' he does not know asks
his name or seeks information about his place of abode.
In such a case the Sakai, with something like childish
impudence, will give a fictitious name or information
quite contrary to the truth because he is convinced that
every stranger brings with him an evil spirit to let loose
upon the person or place he seeks, and that by not saying
the truth he tricks both the man and the spirit that
cannot injure him as he is not the person declared.
As can be seen, this their way of reasoning does not
lack a certain ingenuity which leads one to think that
the poor things' brains might be educated to more agility
in thinking and understanding.
Unfortunately the means are very scarce for making
new impressions upon the grey matter enclosed in the
— i56 —
bony case of their thoughtless pates. The first difficulty
to be met with is the incredible poverty of their lan-
guage which impedes the communication and deve-
lopment of an idea.
I endeavour to remedy this deficiency by employing
English words and phrases because this is the official
language in the Protected Malay States, and the British
Government wishes to make it popular.
The Sakais catch the meaning and make use of the
terms the same as they often learn a word in Italian or
Genoese that I sometimes utter when speaking to myself.
I remember well, one day, that in a moment of irritation
about something that did not go right, I exclaimed " Sn-
crmiicnto „ (I apologize to those who know what a naughty
word it is).
My little servant boy who was present looked at me
frightened, then began to cry and darted away as if
mad, although he had nothing to do with my bad temper.
Well, what do you think ? Now it has passed amongst
the Sakai boys that when the Orang Putei gets angry
he says " Sacramento ! „. And they repeat the oath with
all the emphasis and air of a trooper, yet I had not
taught them it nor should I have wished them to learn
the exclamation.
The Sakai language is, as I have said, very poor indeed,
so much so that it is impossible to form a long phrase
or keep up the most simple conversation because there
are no means of connecting the various words one with
the other.
An idea is expressed by a single word or perhaps
by three or four together so that it requires a great
deal of practice, attention and also a .special study of the
mimicry which accompanies and explains these terse vocal
sounds, to enable one to follow out the thought.
'>^*.f
A group of Bretak boys.
p. is6.
- i57 -
Their vocabulary is soon exhausted for it is composed
only of those words which are strictly necessary to make
known their daily wants, the necessity of defence and
their superstitious feelings. They refuse to adopt any
of those expressions that their brethren of the plain have
learnt from other races, considering them as impure and
perilous as the people themselves. This is an implacable
application of the maxim " timeo daimos d dona fcrcntes „
by folks who do not understand Latin and who ignore
the existence of the Greeks but who know thoroughly
well their .stranger neighbours.
It is therefore vain to seek among the Sakais those
poetical metaphors and that flowery, figurative style of
speech which is attributed by us to all Orientals with-
out distinction.
I am not a student or professor of glottology, con-
tenting myself with being able to speak one or two lan-
guages without troubling my head over their origin, so
I dare not judge upon the affinity more or less remote
of the not too sweet Sakai idioms with others, but there
seemed to me such a marked difference between the
Malay and Sakai phraseologies that I should have de-
clared them to be absolutely distinct one from the other.
However, the recent studies of the German, W. Schmidt,
and the more profound ones of the Italian, A. Trombetti,
have proved that all the tongues spoken by the inha-
bitants of the Malay Peninsula as well as those to be
heard in the neighbouring isles are in connection with
each other.
The most part of the words used by the Sakais are
of only one syllable, polysyllables being very rare, and
the way in which these accents are shot out from the
lips would make a foreigner decide at once that the
best method of translating their talk would be by a
volley of shots.
i58 —
For the curious and the studious I have here added
a short Hst of the words commonly used amongst the
Sakais but as their language is totally exempt from
every rule of orthograph}- I have tried as well as I can
to give a phonetic interpretation of the same.
Arm
— glahk
Arrow
— grog
„ (poisoned)
— grog iitahng tshegrah'
„ (not poisoned)
— grog pe' 111 tshegrah
Bamboo
— annahd'
Banana
— tellah'e
Betelnut
— blook
Bird
— chcp
Body
— brock
Born
— ^goy (alphabetical sound of e)
Blow-pipe
— blahoo'
Brother
— tennah'
(elder)
— tennah' bop
„ (younger)
— manang se ne (e sounded as in met, men)
Child
— kennan
Cigarette
— rocko
Come soon
— ha-wl aghit (a as in father)
Cover
— • tshenkop
Day
— e eah top
Dead
— daht
Death
— daht
Dog
— chaw
Ear
— gar e took
Earth
— in noos
Evening
— danwee
Evil
— ne' ghne' e' (alpliabetical sonnd of e)
Eye
— maht
Father
— abbay' , abboo' , appah'
„ (in-law)
— tennah' amay
Fear
— • sayoo neoi
1 59 —
Female
Fish
Flute
Foe
Foot
Forest
Fowl
Fruit
Good
Good-bye
Hail
Hand
Harm
Head
Heart
Hen
Hill
Hot
Hunger
Husband
Hut
Illness
— knah
— kah
— tshiiielloi
— pay kabaad
— jehoo
— dahraht
— poo
— pla'
— bawr
— ■ abbaivr
— tayho ooiitoy
— iahk
— ne' , ghne' e'
■ — kovey
— noos
— poo
— loop
— baykahk
— chewahr
— care lore
— dop
— nish
(like evil)
Leaf
— slali
Leg
— • kayiining
Lightning
— bled
Malay
— ">y s"P«
Male
— era hi
Man
— • sing HO
Mandoline
— krob
Mangosteen
— play seiitittetah
Many
■ — jeho e
Medicine
— penglte (ie as in lie)
Moon
— ghecheck
Monkey
— dak
, (with long tail)
— raoh
Mouth
— eneoong
Morning
— pawr
Mother
— amay, kennen, keniing
„ (in-law)
— tennah abbay
Mountain
— lot, loop
i6o
Night
No
Noon
Nose
stn oar
pay neay'
da ft J is
nioli
Old
One
din i^rah
nahnaw
People
Plain
Pond
Poison
my
barroiu
fcbbahov
c/iiiiiTt all
Quiver
lock
Rage
— roh
Rain
— niahny
Rat
— hay loy
Rice
— bah
River
— inyhoo
Season
— iiioosin
Sing
— jeoolah
Sister
— kayiiah
„ (ekl
er)
— taynali kaynah
„ (younger)
— niennang kaynah
Sky
— soocy
Sleep
— bet bet
Slumber
— n tahk
Snake
— tecgee
Sorcerer
— ahlah
Spirit
— ghciiigh lice
„ (Evil)
— ahtoo
Star
— pear loy
Storm
— poss
Sun
— niahjifi
Thunder
— nghoo
Thunder-
■bolt
— nahkoo
Tiger
— mah moot, iiiah noos
Tobacco
— bahkoo
Tree
— jchoo 00
Two
— nahr
Valley
— wau'k
i6i —
Water
— tayhoo
„ t'oi-
drinking
— „ eiigot
Weddiiifj;
— ba' kaynali
Wife
— kay el
Wild boar
— loo
Will, wish,
, want
— en got
Wind
— poy
Woman
— knah, caredaivl
Yes
— aye aye (i).
This poor language that seems to be composed of
short coughs does not even lose its roughness in song,
if I may so term the musical (?) sounds that proceed
from the Sakais' mouths, because real songs they have
none. They are accustomed, however, to improvise some-
thing of the sort in which they always allude to facts of
the day but as there is nobody to collect these fragments
of extemporaneous ballads they disappear from the world
of memories as quickly as they have been put together.
It is for this that all my endeavours have been in
vain to find amongst them some song transmitted from
father to son which by referring to an event more or
less remote might serve as a clue to the legends or
history of this mysterious people. But nothing of the
kind exists and not even in talking can they narrate
(i) The author of this book has given the pronunciation of the above
words according to the sounds and rules of Italian and it has been
a difficult task to present them in a sufficiently orthoepical form for
English readers to understand, for the reason that all the vowels
and many of the consonants are so differently articulated in the two
languages.
Where a is followed by h it should be pronounced as in father ;
by :v as in all ; bj' y as in may. The consonants g k and n which
precede certain words and which would be mute in English must be
very lightly accented with the same sound they have in the alphabet.
— Translator's Notes.
— l62 —
an3'thing farther, back than three or four generations.
The}^ could not tell you if the sun and the forest were in
existence before their great-grandfather lived. One
cannot wonder much at this, though, when it is known
that these poor inhabitants of the wildest parts of the
jungle can scarcely reckon beyond three and have no
means of counting time.
With them the first three numbers are not followed
by a series of others which always increase by one
but from nccr (three) it is rare that they pass to neer
nalino (three one) jumping instead to neer neer (three
three), and by this addition they express number six.
They use the words neer neer nahno for seven and
then jump again to neer neer neer which means nine.
When a birth, a death or any other event takes place
which requires the exact period of seven days for the
accomplishment of certain ceremonies according to their
habit, the Sakai takes a strip of reed or rattan (split-
ting it into parts to make it flexible) with which he
ties two groups of three knots each and a single one
apart. Every day he undoes one of these knots and so
knows when the time prescribed is finished.
If you ask him whether it would not be better for
him to learn to count at least as far as seven, a number
that for one thing or another is frequently necessary
in his life, he answers you invariably :
" We know nothing. Our fathers did so and we too
will do the same without being too fantastical „.
Thus w'e see that the saying : " My father did so „,
ma}^ be an inveterate enemy of arithmetic whilst it
establishes a close relationship between those who in
civilized society put it into practice and the savages
dwelling on the heights of Perak.
The Sakai renounces all attemps at counting more
than nine, and his total abstention from commercial
persuits permits him to spare his brain this fatigue.
— r63 —
Returning from a day's shooting, if they have had
luck, my good friends do not trouble themselves much
over counting the heads of game they have brought
home. They will perhaps begin by placing their victims
in groups of nccr (three) until they amount to three
threes but should the number exceed nine they simply
declare them to be jclio e (many) and do not care about
knowing anything more precise as they are satisfied
at the fact that they, and any of their relations who
like to partake of the feast, can live upon game until
it is all finished.
Many times I have amused myself by asking a pro-
lific father or mother how many children they had. My
friends would get as far as three but then becoming
confused would beg me to count them for myself, and
their offspring had to pass in front of me whilst they
called each by name, for example : Roy (boy) No (boy)
Taynali (girl) Po lo (boy) Tay lep (girl) Betah (girl).
Counting them upon my fingers I would tell the pa-
rent or parents that they were six, to which they
agreed with :
" If you say they are six, they are six „.
It is more difficult still for the Sakais to count time.
They imagine pretty nearly what hour it is by the po-
sition of the sun overhead or from the various sounds
which come from the forest announcing, as I have al-
ready said, morning, noon, and evening, and during
the night the crescendo and diinimiendo of the wild
beasts' roaring proclaim the hours before and after
midnight.
The shortest measure of time that the Sakais un-
derstand is that employed in smoking a cigarette.
The}^ observe, although not with much precision, the
phases of the moon that they gladly greet at her ap-
pearance but they do not feel any curiosity in knowing
Avhere she has gone and where she remains when they
-- 164 —
do not enjo}' her soft light at night and during their
dances.
The flowering of certain plants and the ripening of
certain fruits gives the Sakai a faint idea of the longest
period of time they are capable of imagining and which
is about equal to our year. The seasons, which cannot
here be recognized by diversity of temperature, are
distinguished by the gathering and storing away of
those fruits that supply them with food at regular in-
tervals of time, such as the diirian season, that of the
bua pra, the dnkon and the gin bio lol.
1 think it would be quite impossible to find out the
right age of a Sakai. Sometimes after the birth of a.
child its parents will cut a notch in the bark of a tree
every time the season when he was born returns. But
these signs never continue very long because even if
the father or mother have not been compelled to abandon
their tree-register to follow their clan to another part
of the forest, after the third or fourth incision they
easily forget to keep up the practice.
0®C
When as often happens a Sakai has to undertake a
journey of more than three days as in the case of
seeking a wife or of making a large provision of to-
bacco for all the encampment, both he and those left
behind have recourse to a novel calendar in order to
remember how many days he is absent. They pick up
some small stones or little sticks and dividing them
into threes the traveller carries away a half with him
leaving the rest with his family. At the end of every
day those at home and the one who has departed throw
away one of these stones or sticks. When the little
stock is finished the Sakai is sure to return because
he knows ver}' well that any further delay would be
i65 —
the cause of grave apprehensions and anxiety tc his dear
ones which he is eager to spare them..
Some of" them adopt the same system on this occasion
as when counting the days of traditional ceremonies,
that is by the tying and untying of knots in a strip of
saidiscio If'.
Amongst those Oriental j^eoples not yet civilized the
Sakais are the least known, and yet 1 firmly believe
that they could surpass the others in intelligence — as
they undoubtedly excel them in solid moral qualities —
if they were to be made the object of assiduous care
and benevolent interest.
Once these poor jungle dwellers could be brought to
have full confidence in their white protectors, it seems
to me that the best thing which could be done for them
would be to induce them, by degrees, to dedicate them-
.selves to agriculture.
But their aversion to any kind of labour cannot be
overcome by coercive means or evangelical preaching.
They would rebel as much against one as the other for
tlie}' wish to be absolute masters of their own will and
their own conscience. And this liberty of thought and
action must be left them whilst very slowly and with
great patience, by force of example and gentle persuasion,
thev are made to understand that by doing what we want
the}' are giving us a pleasure which will be largely com-
])ensated with tobacco and with the numerous trifles
that are the joy and vanity of savages.
(i) The scjtdisrio is a very large fiiiigiis that grows ii|)i.>'i trees. It
is easilj' broken into strips which the Indigines use for tj'ing up
things and for putting round their necks to protect thcin from fever.
Tlie Sakais call it Icniiak hdlin'tli that means literally " the root of
a stone ,,.
— t66 —
He who would dream of redeeming them from their
present ignorant state by treating them arbitrarily and
thereby hurting their feelings and insulting their beliefs
would find his undertaking not only fruitless but also
dangerous because he would be immediately considered
an enemy and the Ala would not fail to incite vengeance
upon him in the troubled spirits of the tribe.
I think the method most promising in its results is
that which I myself have proved. I slipped in amidst
them, living the life that they live and respecting their
opinions and superstitions, at the same time seeking
indirectly to cure them of their natural laziness.
The Sakais are nomadic for two reasons : first, because
when they have exhausted, by their prodigality, the
edible treasures that the forest soil produces for them
without need of toil, in the tract of land within reach
of their settlement, they change their residence to a
fresh quarter where this uncultivated product is for a
long time in superabundance; secondly, because when
somebod}' of their number dies they believe that an evil
spirit has entered their village and that to free themselves
from its malignant influence it is necessary to fly to
another part.
Well, more than once I have made a point of sleeping
in a hut lately visited b}' death to show them how absurd
the idea is. At first they stood afar, looking at the forsaken
spot and believing that I, too, was dead, but afterwards
finding, to their immense wonder, that I was still alive
and well, the}^ began to doubt their own superstition
and to build their huts a little more solid so that they
might be of greater durability.
Overthrown in a definite manner one of the motives
of their wanderings the other would cease to exist from
the moment they were taught to work the ground. With
this scope in view, from time to time, I make a distri-
bution of padi or maize and am glad to see that little by
- i67 -
little the miserable plots once rudely sown with corn
are now becoming ample fields.
Like the old philosopher 1 found in the forest, the
other Sakais have never thought, or rather let themselves
think, what a boon it would be for them to grow the
things they like best, around their huts, instead of feeling
obliged to get it from others, and they evidently shared
his dislike to torturing the earth with iron, for before
my advent and sojourn amongst them they simply burnt
the pith of the trees and plants they felled and into the
bed formed by the ashes they cast indiscriminately bulb
and grain, covering up both with their feet or with
a piece of wood, and afterwards they took no more
care of it.
But this pretence of cultivation was nothing less than
a greedy caprice and did not in any way help their
domestic economy. The products of the planting which
had cost them so little fatigue was deemed surplus food
and they would eat up in a few days what might have
lasted them for months, inviting friends even lazier than
themselves (who had not taken the trouble so much as
to imitate this rudimental mode of agriculture) to take
part in the gorging feast.
It would be a real blessing to those Sakais who have
already begun to cultivate their fields, to work with
me in the plantations I am making, to help me in ga-
thering in jungle produce and to apply themselves to
some simple industry, if a few good-hearted, thrifty fa-
milies of European agriculturists were to come and dwell
amongst them. In this way my forest friends would
make rapid and immense progress for they have al-
ready shown their aptitude and ability and the British
Government would in a very short time have a flou-
rishing colony by thus bringing them into direct contact
with a wholesome civilization consisting of kindness,
rectitude and honest work without their losing any of
^ i68 ~
their characteristic integrity through the contaminating
influence of spurious evolutionar}^ principles.
It is true that the wide dominions of England claim
an immense amount of care and energ}^ but her rulers
display sufficient activity and wisdom for the need and
would have no cause to regret, but rather rejoice, if
they were to extend their beneficence to the far off
worthy tribes of Sakais now wandering over Perak and
Pahang.
Retui-ning to the character of m}^ no-longer new
friends I must really repeat that we should be fortu-
nate if we could find similar traits in many of the per-
sons belonging to civilized society.
Whether I am prejudiced by the sympathy I feel for
this people amongst whom I live, and who have granted
me hospitality without any limit, I will leave you to
judge, kind reader, you who have the patience to pe-
ruse these modest pages written, not from an impulse
of personal vanity, but in all sincerity, and whose only
aim is to do good to the poor Sakais, unknown to the
world in general and slandered by those who know
them and who are interested in preventing any sort of
intercourse with other outsiders besides themselves.
Nobod}' has ever been to teach the Sakai to be ho-
nest and as no kind of moral maxims are known by
them it stands to reason that this honesty which speaks
in their looks, words and acts depends upon their na-
tural sweet temper and their way of living.
The real Sakai recoils from everything approaching
violence and never assaults a fellow creature unless
he believes himself or his family seriously menaced or
badly treated.
Paolo Mantegazza has written that the nature of a
weapon indicates not only the technical ability of a race
J
I
"*.
\-ti
A young man procuring food with his blowpipe.
p. i6().
— 169 —
but also its degree of ferocity. All those arms which
serve to make sufier instead of to kill are certain signs
of cruelty.
Well, the Sakai inflicts no suffering upon his foe. The
terrible poisons with which he tinges his fatal arrows
cause almost immediate death, and his sole motive for
killing is to rid himself of one whom he thinks will do
him harm, but should his enemy run awa}^ before he
can hit him he would neither follow nor lay an am-
bush for him. He might almost take as his motto the
celebrated line by Niccolini :
Ripassi 1' Alpi e tornera fratello fi).
Even if their gentle, peaceable characters did not dis-
incline them for a deed of crime, if their indolence
and lack of passionate feelings were not safe-guards
from evil-doing the entire absence of incentive power
prevents them from committing a guilty action. Why
should the}' rob when their neighbours' goods are also
theirs ? When everything is everybody's, be it a rich
supply of meat, fruit, grain, tobacco or accomodation in
a sheltered hut ? And why should they kill anybody ?
For pure malignity? Because there is no other reason
to prompt such a wickedness. They have no excuse for
jealousy, even if they were capable of entertaining it, for
when two young people are fond of each other no pres-
sure is ever made upon them to suffocate their love or
to fix their affections upon another through ambition or
some sort of hypocritical respect for the usages of societ}'.
If the enamoured swain can manage his blowpipe ably
enough to procure animal food for his wife their amorous
desires are at once contented. And so is the custom
among more mature couples. Should it happen that a
man no longer cares for his wife or a woman for her
husband (which seldom befalls) or should they have met
(r) Go back over the Alps and we shall be brotlicrs again.
with somebody else that they like better, no demora-
lizing love-intrigue, or guilty flirtation is the conse-
quence ; they simply announce their change of feeling
to their conjugal half and if the latter still cherishes a
sincere attachment for the faithless partner in wedlock he
or she will hasten to make the other happy by giving up
all claim upon the loved one and they agree to part upon
the best of terms, as also they do when by chance they
are reciprocally tired of one another's compan3^ The fact
does not give rise to drama, tragedy or Othello-like fury.
Now tell me under what impulse can the Sakai become
a criminal?
He is honest and sincere from the kindness and indo-
lence of his character, because of the free life which is his,
and the society of people like himself, not because he fears
being punished or has any hope of a prize in Heaven.
Will not this strange fact induce some genius of the
State to meditate the subject, there being full proof
that the alliance of Prison and Hell does not succeed
in eradicating the seeds of corruption and crime in
civilized nations ?
This innate honesty of the Sakai is especially revealed
in the manner he respects whatever engagement he has,
of his own accord, assumed. Mistrustful in dealing with
others, violent and apparently overmastering from the
vivacity with which he speaks and gesticulates, as soon
as the bargain is fixed he will keep it faithfully to the
very letter.
In conformity with the custom that both the Sakai of
the hills and his brother of the plain have of not pro-
viding for the future, he will consume even beforehand
his share of the exchange agreed upon, but all the same
he will perform his duties towards the other with the
most scrupulous punctuality.
Many times I have intentionally left outside my cabin
such articles as would excite in the Sakais a desire of
— 171: —
possession, but upon my return I have always found
them intact and in their right place. My habitation is
always open, even when I am far away but I have never
missed a single object.
A little from habit, a little from the virtue I have
frequently mentioned, and a little, very likely, because
he is too lazy to be otherwise, the Sakai is a just and
upright man. He has a great respect for the old, seeks
their advice, and — what is much more — follows it;
he has a deep sense of gratitude, is unselfish, open-
hearted and open-handed, and ever ready to do a service
to those who belong to his own village. And this exclu-
siveness is one of the curious contrasts that may some-
times be noted in human nature.
Meeting upon his road a person who is evidently suf-
fering and has need of aid, if he does not recognize
in him, or her, one of his own tribe he will pass on
with indifference and grumble out cynically: " All the
worse for them „. But if the same person were to make
an appeal to his charity on the threshold of his rude
home, he or she would receive hospitality without being
known, and in the event of an accident or any other
misfortune which has occasioned grief or trouble to a
kinsman, however distant, he will share in their affliction,
and do all he can to relieve them in their distress.
After all this, that close and continual observation
permits me to affirm, may I not ask the public, or at
least those who have followed me in my rambling notes
until now : might not this type of savage be held up as
an example of perfection to many of our acquaintances
in the civilized world whose boundary line of honesty
is where it ceases to bring profit, who scorn the thought
of gratitude for a favour received as being inconsistent
with their " spirit of indipendence „ and who never lose
an occasion for exemplifying the tender brotherly love
of Cain ?
CHAPTER XIII. •
First attempts at industry — The story of a hat —
Multiplicity — Primitive arts — Sakai music —
Songs — Instruments — Dances — Ball dresses
— Serpentine gracefulness — An unpublished
Sakai song.
Primitive, like their language and their agriculture,
are also Art and Industry among the Sakais.
They make blowpipes, arrows and quivers from
bamboo, strings from twisted vegetable fibres, ear-rings
and ornamental combs for the women. Now, under my
direction, they have begun to plait mats with dried
grasses, as well as bags and even hats, using for the
latter the fibrous part of the pandanus, and copying
one of Panama which I gave them as a model. I cannot
give an estimate of the time and patience I spent over
this new branch of industry.
The first time I mentioned such a thing to the women
I had the unenviable success of making them laugh
heartily. And I laughed with them, remarking however,
that as they were so good and clever they would have
no difficulty in accomplishing the feat if they would only
set themselves to try.
- 173 -
Vanity is the great spring of a woman's soul that
cannot resist the charm of flattery. This is proved by
History from the time of Eve to our days and I myself
proved it when I again spoke on the subject of hats.
The laughter was not so loud and soon ceased altogether.
At last the women answered me, with an annoyed and
discontented air, that my insistance vexed them. Then
I knew that the fortress was about to capitulate and
re-doubled my attacks.
The day of surrender was near.
A girl, accompanied by a group of inquisitive, mocking
companions, presented herself at my hut bringing with
her something in the shape of a hat which was meant
to be an imitation of mine. It was full of knots, puckers
and other defects.
The little artist was very confused and mortified but
I praised her work a great deal and after showing
her the mistakes she had made I gave her several bead-
necklaces.
In a few days the hats multiplied. The other girls
and the women, seeing the presents I had given their
companion, felt offended and devoted themselves with
fury to the manufacture of the head-covering I desired,
improving the form so much as to obtain an exact copy
of the pattern one.
When some were finished they brought them to me
and throwing them on the ground with a gesture of
scorn cried:
" There! take your hats! „. But a generous distribution
of beads soon made their good-temper return.
Thus I was able to start this new industry by flat-
tering the vanity of the Sakai females (" oh, Vanity,
thy name is Woman „ even among the savages) and
the goods produced, after having been awarded a silver
medal and a diploma at Penang were the object of ge-
neral admiration at the Milan Exhibition of 1906.
174
It is some time now that I have got the men to work
in iron. I provide them with the raw material and it is
really a wonder to see how well they manage to make
knives without possessing an}' of the tools used in the
trade.
When they understood the necessity of a very fierce
fire for reducing the metal into such a state as to enable
them to make it take the wished-for form, they attempted
to put together a sort of bellows and at length succeeded
in the following way.
At the bottom of a very big piece of bamboo, they
cut a hole into which they inserted a smaller one,
joining and fixing them together with gum that the air
might not escape from the wrong part. Then at the
extremity of a thick stick they fastened a bunch of leaves
and grasses large enough to pass with difficulty into
the bamboo tube. By working this as a piston the air
was expelled from the lower bamboo cane and kindled
a bright fire.
After the iron has taken the form required, whilst it
is still red-hot, they throw it into a bluish-coloured mud
which smells of sulphur and leave it there to temper.
In fact the metal tempers and becomes very hard but
I could not tell anyone what properties this slimy earth
contains or how the Sakais came to know its value in
connection with iron. I only know that they have to
dig very deep in the ground before getting at it, a
thing that is not either easy or agreeable owing to the
lack of necessary implements.
Steel being a very scarce article amongst my good
friends they have learnt to make great economy with
it using it solely for the blades of the knives and for
other purposes. They mix the two metals with surpri-
sing skill.
This is the boldest and most intelligent step that the
Sakais have made as yet in the field of industry.
^ 175
DgJC
That Art which expresses elevated thought and re-
finement of spirit, in whatever form it manifests itself,
is at its lowest ebb among the Sakais and especially
representative art, although it is curious to notice how
much more they prefer (1 speak of the male sex) this
latter to that of sounds. Music may procure some mo-
ments of bliss to those who yield themselves to its
charms but it is transitory and, with them, leaves no
reminiscence for the performer or the listener; on the
contrary representative art remains and can also give
satisfaction to the self love of the artist. It is limited
to some rough designs and still more rough incisions
on the blowpipes, quivers and the women's combs and
their earrings.
Bamboo is the principal material used in making
their hunting requisites, their personal ornaments and
their domestic utensils.
The combs are large and their teeth vary from 2 to 4
in number. Across them are carved, more or less deeply
cut, various signs, some of an angular form that display
a pretty correct geometrical precision and others in
curved lines, all of w^hich are intended by the several
artists to represent birds' heads, snakes or plants. Some-
times this intention is expressed sufficient!}' clearly; at
others there is need of interpretation.
The plants reproduced in this wa}^ are always me-
dicinal or those to which superstition attributes some
virtue, so that the primitive art is in a great measure
due to the desire of possessing an amulet.
The same designs are repeated on the ear-rings,
blowpipes and quivers. The Sakais are ver}^ proud of
these incisions and he wdio has the most upon his
weapon enjo3's a certain fame. As a natural consequence
- 176 -
this makes him somewhat jealous of his finely decorated
cane, much more so than he is of his wife, that for her
part gives him no motive for cultivating the yellow
demon's acquaintance.
Up to the time 1 am writing the Sakais' artistic ge-
nius has not passed this limit, unless we reckon the
horrible paintings upon their faces and bodies, but this
branch of art — it may seem irreverent, though none
the less true, to say so — brings to the mind dainty
toilet-rooms and cosy boudoirs in other parts of the
world, in the very heart of civilization, where its devo-
tees think to beautify (but often damage) Nature.
Oh ! what a chorus of silvery voices are calling me
too, a savage !
The Sakais like music but nearly always the notes
are accompanied b}' a dancing movement, sometimes
lightl}' as if to mark the time, but at others they kick
their legs about so furiously, at the same time twisting
and writhing their bodies in such a strange series of
contortions that an uninitiated looker-on would surely
receive the impression that they were suffering from
spasmodic pains in the stomach, whereas in reality
they are only imitating the wriggling of a serpent.
The woman is particularly fond of dancing and with
it she measures the cadencies of her own songs and
gives point to the words themselves whilst her com-
panions repeat a sort of chorus which completes the
musical passage.
It must not be thought, however, that song as it is
known among the Sakais is the melodious sound we
are in the habit of considering as such. With them it
is an emission of notes, generally guttural ones which
are capriciously alternated without any variety of tune
— '77 —
and which in their integrity fail to express any musical
thought.
The women sing with greater monotony, but more
sweetly, than the men. Often they join in groups sing-
ing and dancing, and this, I believe, is the gayest
moment of their lives and to this honest pleasure they
will abandon themselves with rapture, forgetting the
fatigue of the da}'. Then feminine coquetry triumphs
before the other girls and the young men.
When night falls the air becomes cool, and even cold
later on. Having finished their evening meal the old
folk and the children stretch themselves out to sleep
round the fire which is always kept lighted. The women
sit about weaving bags, mats and hats, their work il-
luminated by flaring torches composed of sticks and
leaves covered with the resin found in the forest.
To the extent permitted by their poor language they
chat and jest among themselves, laughing noisily the
while.
The young men are scattered around preparing their
arrows for the next day's hunt, dipping them into the
poisonous decoction when it is well heated.
It is not long before work gets tedious to the girls.
They jump up and daub their faces in a grotesque
manner. With palm leaves the}^ mark out a space
of some yards square that has to be reserved for the
dancers, and then commences the women's song to
which is soon added the stronger voices of the men.
At times the chorus is accompanied by an orchestra of
those instruments that the Sakais know how to play.
They will take two bamboo canes of six, eight or
more inches in diameter, being careful to select a male
and female reed. These they beat violently one against
the other, the result being a deep note with prolonged
vibrations which awake the forest echoes but not the
old people and the children who are sleeping.
- 178 -
There is also the k)-ob a very primitive kind of lyre
that consists of a short but stout piece of bamboo on
which two vegetable fibres are tightl}' drawn. The plectrum
used by the player is equally primitive being a fish-bone,
a thorn or a bit of wood. The sound caused b}' grating
the two strings is more harmonious than one might
suppose.
But the Sakais possess besides a wind instrument that
claims more study both in the making and the playing.
It belongs to the flute family and, of course, is made
of bamboo. Like all its brothers in the world it is open
at one end, with three or four holes on the top side.
Before playing it the performer carefulty stops up one
of his nostrils with leaves and then applies the other
to the first hole into which he gently blows with his
nose. From the instrument issues a sweet, melancholy
note. B}^ leaving all the holes open a clear sol (G) is
obtained ; by shutting them all a mi beiuollc (E flat) ; the
first hole gives the note uii (E) and the second fa {¥).
The ciniloi^^) (for so it is called) is not artistic to the
e3'e and loses all its poetr}' when one sees its owner
blowing his nose into it but the notes emanating from
it breathe a vague sense of melody and sadness not
entirely unpleasant.
Some of the Sakais are quite masters of this instru-
ment and the women too prefer it to the krob. They
seem to find extreme delight in sending forth those long
sustained and plaintive sounds as though lulled by a
dream, or absorbed in some pathetic thought.
On festive occasions when the solemnit}' of the enter-
tainment increases in proportion to the noise made, there
is a full orchestra. The choruses bawl, the bamboos
deafen one with their loud noise like that of huge wooden
bells, the h'obs sob desperately at the way they are
(i) Pronounced chiiieloy — Translator's Note.
— 179 —
treated by the plectrum, the ciniloi whistles and laments,
and all without any fixed measure of time or modulation
of tones, in a confusion of sounds so discordant as to
recall a very, ver}'' faint echo of the infernal nocturnal
concerts of the forest.
=®o
The orchestra prompt and the singing begun the
female dancers advance by twos and threes into the
open space confined by palm leaves. Their features are
incognizable so disfigured are they with stripes and
daubs in red, white, black and sometimes yellow.
Their ball costume is exceedingly simple. They just
la}^ aside the girdle of beauty or chastity which they
ordinarily wear and present themselves to the public
as Eve did to Adam ; or like so man}' brown-skinned
Venuses with variegated masks.
They are however, profusely adorned with flowers.
The first time I saw a similar sight I was struck
with surprise but then remembering the cut of some
of the evening dresses worn by our Society ladies I
came to the conclusion that comparing the clothes with
which the latter and the Sakai women are habitually
covered there was nothing to be said about the difte-
rence made in the toilet on grand and festive occasions.
But to return to the dancers. They hold in their right
hands a bunch of palm leaves and begin their perfor-
mance with curtsies, skips and the contortions I have
spoken of ; then follows an undulating movement of the
flanks as they hurry forward, something in the same
position as " cake-walk „ dancers, lightly beating the
leaves in their hand against others of the same kind
they have fastened on their right hip.
The dance is a continual exercise of the joints and
muscles, but its swaying motion is not without grace
and displa3^s all the seductive beauty of the girls whose
freshness has not been destroyed by love and maternity.
A little innocent vanit}' may be found in this Ter-
pichorean competition because every movement, every
jump and contorsion receive the greatest attention
and are followed b}' admiration and applause, when
worthy of the demonstration, from those who have
danced before or have to do so afterwards.
The men sometimes take an active part in the dance
but their steps and their movements are always the same
as the women's.
The strange thing is that they take the serpent as
their model of gracefulness and elegance and seek to
copy as closely as possible the flexibility of its body
and the gliding motion peculiar to that reptile.
A malignant person would perhaps find here the
subject of a witty sarcasm thinking that in the forest
serpents in the guise of women dance alone but with
us, if we wish to dance at all, we are obliged to em-
brace them !
These dances will often last until dawn, just as it is
at our own evening parties.
0®O
Neither song, nor dance, nor the sound of those pri-
mitive instruments ever take the character of a religious
demonstration.
Only on the nights enlivened by bright moonlight^
whilst dancing in the open air, their impromptu songs
contain a greeting to the shining orb that presides over
their festivity and with its silvery rays enhances its
enjoyment. But in this there is nothing to suggest a
special cult.
Over yonder they do not dance with any intention
of intrigue in their minds, or with the pretext and
- i8i —
hope of meeting \oung persons of opposite sexes in order
to kindle the fatal spark that will lead them to matri-
mony ; there they dance for the pure pleasure of dancing,
for sincere, hearty enjoyment without any other scope
or desire, because, as I mention in another place, the
young men and maidens of the same village being all
relations, marriage is not permitted between them ; the
wives must be chosen from a different tribe. This wise
custom was evidentlv established to exclude consangui-
neous unions (with their degenerating consequences)
and perhaps also to consolidate the brotherly ties be-
tween people of the same race.
I think if Mantegazza had ever been present at one
of these dances of the Sakai girls, he would have added
another beautiful page to his esfasi umane (" Human
ICcstasies „) because at these little festivals, whether the}^
are held in the hut or outside, one never sees pouting
faces, frowning brows or any other indication of preoc-
cupation or passion. Ever^-body is merr}' and their
delight can be read upon their countenances (notwith-
standing the frightful way they are besmeared with
paint), and shines in their eyes ; happy are the women
who blow into the flute or grate the krob or beat the
bamboo sticks ; happy are the girls that dance ; happy
are the youths who join in the chorus. It is an innocent
amusement for innocent souls.
ogjo
To finish off this chapter I here give a very free
translation of a song, whose words I was able to catch
and remember, which came from the lips of my dear
friends upon my returning among them after a long ab-
sence :
" O'er mountains and rivers you have passed to come
amongst us as a friend, as a friend who will not hurt
— l82 —
us, and behold we are here to meet you bearing with
us all that the forest has yielded us to-day.
" The clear and beautiful mountain announced the
good news and now you have returned to us who re-
joice at seeing you again „.
The form was not so but I have given the thought
exactly, a thought, as you see, full of affection and with
a very faint perfume of poetry about it. You will not
accuse me, therefore, of being too optimistic when 1
affirm that the Sakai, in spite of his semblance to a
wild man of the bush, savage, suspicious and supersti-
tious as he is, is susceptible of rapid intellectual progress
whenever the right means are used in his favour, and
towards that end.
K^
CHAPTER XIV.
The beliefs and superstitions of the Sakais — Me-
tempsychosis — The Evil Spirit — Superstition
among savages and ignorance among civilized
people — The two sources of life — The wind
— The ALA priest and physician — The scien-
tific vigil — Venerable imposture ! — TENAC and
CINTOK"^ — Therapeutic torture — Contagion
— A Sakai' s death — The deserted village —
Mourning — Births — Fire — Intellectual dark-
ness — The Sakais and Islamism.
The good notary Chirichillo, born in the fervid fancy
of Ippolito Nievo firmly believed that the many tribu-
lations of his modest life would be compensated one
day by God, and that this recompense would be a
second birth, when he would relive in another person,
under another name and under a luckier star.
Although less learned and although they have but
a vague intuition of the idea relating to the soul im-
(i) Pronounced iav nak and cliintok. — Translator's Xotc
— i84 —
mortality, the Sakais de not refuse the theory of
reward or punishment hereafter. According. to them
the spirit freed from tlie body wanders about in the
air and often, in a transitory way, retakes a corporal
form in the shape of certain animals (more especialh'
the tiger, for which reason the terrible bests is re-
spected as almost sacred by them) or it takes refuge
in certain herbs which thus acquist healing properties.
In no case will a Sakai willingly kill, wound or lay
a trap for the animals he thinks consecrated by the
indwelling of a spirit, this is so true tliat even whilst
preparing one of the usual traps for catching big game
he will turn himself towards the thickest part of the
forest and murmur, « this is not for thee » to warn the
tiger to be on his guard. And should one happen to
be caught it causes real grief to the Sakai who you may
be sure would give it back its liberty at once if he had
not found it dead or did not fear to be killed himself
as soon as it was free. The Sakai does not believe in the
natural death of a person but attributes the decease to
the spell of the Evil Spirt who is continually on the
watch to play his wcked tricks. So ready is he to do
harm that he even slips into the little holes made in
their darts thus carrying death where they strike, other-
wise the poison would not have the force to kill.
This is the superstition that inspires every sort ot
terror in the inhabitants of the jungle and which renders
it so difficult to approach them and so dangerous to
disturb the serinity of their simple minds. The wind,
the thunder-storms, the violent hurricanes that frequenty
invade the forest, bringing destruction and fear in their
course are the vehicles used by this Evil Spirit to de-
clare open vvarfare against the frightened savages.
When the clouds begin to gather thick and ominously,
and first with a distant roar and then with the fury and
the voice of a hurricane, the wind sweeps fiercely on.
- iS5 -
howling" and whistlinj^ over the o^reat green sea tliat is
quickly strewn with wreckage; when the colossal chani-
j)ions of the forest are struck by liglitning and the fall
of their huge branches and gigantic trunks increase the
general uproar, whilst the boom of Heaven's artillery
thunders around their huts, then the trembling Sakais
throng together. Tiiey paint themselves in a manner to
scare the de\'il himself (which is however their intention)
and shoot out from their blow-pipes a volley of poisoned
arrows, directed against the tumultuous messengers of
the awful Being tiiey fear; the women, keeping their
children close at their side as if to defend them, throw
pieces of burning wood into the air, and beat their big
bamboo sticks till the noise is insupportable, at the same
time screaming to the wind :
« Cio away and leave us alone! We have not harmed
thee, so do not harm us ! ».
So they implore and imprecate, turning themselves into
the ugliest and fiercest creatures they can, to frighten
tlie evil spirits that thay believe ha\e come against
them on the outspread wings of the storm.
To the wild cries, arrow shots and loud noise of llu-
bami')Oos, the mothers add an exorcism. They burn locks
of their little ones' hair and disperse the ashes to the
wind whilst the A /a energetically spits.
And in civilized Italy is there not a superstition very
like this of the poor savages .- I refer to the odd custom
still observed in the country, or at least in some of the
villages (and which not so \ery long ago was put into
practice also in towns) of trying to arrest a heavy thunder
storm, by the tocsin, the deep noted ringing increasing
the general alarm amongst the timid of the place. The
women too. will go to the door and rattle together the
sho\el and tongs just as their Sakai sisters beat their
bamboos, and olive branches (that prexiously have re-
ceived the priest's benediction) are burnt with incense
that the smoke may rise up to appease the fury of the
elements just as over there locks of the children's hair
are burnt for the same purpose.
These are superstitions that vary a little in form but
are exactly equivalent in the substance and show how
much remains in us of primitive ignorance and how our
boasted civilization is still bound to the antique customs
and childish beliefs of the uncivilized, over whom we
sing the glory of our own triumph.
The Sakais also admit the esixtcnce of a Good Spirit
but precisely because he is good, so much so os never
to reveal himself, they do not deem it necessary to bother
him. To the Good Spirit the Sakais oppose in their
mind, the Evil Spirit exercising his empire upon the
souls of their ancestors. To him they make many and
different exorcisms and supplications, with the hope not
to be molested by him after death if they keep good. Such
a belief may be considered as a kind of demonclatry.
To learn thoroughly the beliefs of a people still in a
savage state, and who are totally without any written
guide to their faith, would be indeed a difficult under-
taking. First of all they always fear that a stranger,
particularly if white, brings with him a whole legion
of bad spirits, and secondly because they are extremely
jealous of their superstitions and are afraid of incurring
evil by revealing them to others.
II must also be considered that the .Sakais (like all
the other peoples to be found on the same level of in-
tellectual development) have ideas so fragmentary and
undetermined about religious matters that they are quite
incapable of giving an explicit description of their spi-
ritual feelings and convictions. It is only by living
amonest them for a long time in confidence and fami-
liarity that one can obtain any correct knowledge, and
even then only by intent observation of facts which
pass under one's eyes, as it is useless to attempt to get
an explanation or ask questions, for the Sakais, truthful
as the}^ are by nature, would most certainly tell you a
falshood for the reasons alluded to in another chapter.
Superstition always prevails over veracity when treating
with persons not belonging to their race.
Wilken so writes in his book Aiiimisiii : " With all
the peoples in a primitive natural state nearly every
daily event, every illness, every misfortune, every phe-
nomenon, when not attributed to the souls of their dead,
has a special spirit as the author. Lakes, seas, rivers,
springs, mountains, caverns, trees, bushes, villages,
towns, houses, roads, air, sky, the ground m under, in
short all nature and the principal things they see, are,
in their opinion, populated by supernatural beings. I
need hardly say that not all the innumerable spirits in
whom they believe have the same importance in their
minds and therefore are not all venerated to the same
extent. In the animist's cult fear reigns over every other
sentiment, such as gratitude, trust, devotion, etc., and
the spirits that inspire the most fear are those invo-
cated with the most fervour; in this way the bad spirits
are installed in the place of the good ones „.
We see then that the Sakais form no exception to
this summary description of M."^ Wilken's.
They believe that only their sorcerers have the fa-
culty of beholding spirits which satisfactorily explains
to them the strange fact that they are always invisible
to other eyes. For the rest, though, the Sakais, like all
those on the same par in intellectual capacity, do not
trouble their heads at all over whatever natural phe-
nomena.
He feels deep veneration for the sun and water as
being the two great sources of Life; he venerates also
the moon a: id the stars without however applying any
sacred rites to this sentiment but they do not care in
the least to know of what these luminaries are composed,
where they come from or where they go when they are
not in sight. When the day arrives for the Sakai to
put such questions to his brain he too will enter trium-
phantly into the vortex of civilization, impatient to find out
the reason of everything he sees around and above him.
From force of habit he does not wonder at the change
of day into night and the different phases of the moon
but he is siezed with great terror when an eclipse of
the sun or moon takes place. He weeps and despairs,
making horrible noises to put to flight the accursed
spirit that is devouring one or other of the heavenly
bodies, and as soon as the eclipse in over, he seems
mad with joy that the mahgis (sun) and getcheck (moon)
have got the better of their enemy.
He is equally overcome with fright at the appearance
of a rainbow, or at a shock of earthquake.
c®c
The Sakais have no idols of any kind, but they have
great faith in the amulets which they make themselves
by incising upon their combs and hair-pins (as before
written) the form of certain plants, fruits, leaves and
roots that they are fully persuaded are possessed of
prodigious virtue.
In fact when a storm is approaching and the wind
begins to agitate the forest, before commencing their
usual invocations, both men and women hasten to stick
in their hair all their combs and hairpins with the firm
conviction that the wind, blowing upon these miraculous
carvings will lose its power to do them harm.
Here it must be observed that, apart from the su-
perstitious character of the fear the Sakais (especially
a,
u
— i89 —
those ot' tlie hills) have of the wind, this terror may be
said to be almost justified.
The imdetuoLis currents of air coming- from below
often bring amongst them the germs of various infec-
tions and in particular malarial fevers.
The poor natives in their ignorance of this, when
they see tlieir dear ones fall ill and often die after the
wind's raging believe that it has brought into their
village and left there, an invisible enemy.
s^
The A/d, sorcerer, physician, and magician of the local
superstitions does all he can to keep unshaken the belief
in spirits and exorcism. He fulfils the functions of his
twoo-fold office with all the ignorance and the deception
which is possible to him ; ignorance, because he shares
with the others a sincere terror of the Evil Spirit, and
deception because he makes the others think that he
can see the breaded Being and has a certain power over
him by means of words and gestures.
He is, upon a close and vigorous analysis, nothing
but a vulgar swindler who obtains some sort ot advan-
tage by his artefices and scceeds in over-ruling his
own people by giving advice which is often sought and
always followed.
The A/d is generally the son of an A/d, a circum-
stance that might lead someone, who is fond of similar
studies, to make accurate researches in order t6 ascer-
tain if imposture should be considered as a hereditary
disease.
When the Evil Spirit, notwithstending the cabalistic
signs and mysterious words that j)roclaim the A/d's
prerogative in sesisting and defeating him, has overcome
and ktlled him, the corpse is not buried but is placed
in an upringht position between the roots oi a tree not
— 190 —
very far from his late residence. For seven dayu con-
tinual watch is kept over it and it is provider with
food, tobacco and betel.
An old tradition, wihich I have managed with diffi-
culty to piece together from fragments unconsciously
dropped now and then, pretends that ab antiq^co a co-
venant was made between the tigers and sorcerers that
after one of the latter had been dead a week his soul
should enter a feline body.
If a son of the deceased Ala wishes to succeed to
his fother's dignity, he must, at the end of the seven
days established, go alone to keed watch over the corpse,
taking with him a sort of incense-pan ir which he
burns a great quantity of perfumed resin in honour of
the dead (an honour that is most opportune for his own
nostrils !). He passes the night in this way, or it is
believed that he does, for nobody sets himself the task
of spyng his actions or of learning something about
the ningt's proceedings fearing that evil would overtake
him in consequence.
Whilst still engaged in this sanitary act, the tiger,
animated by the soul of the defunct sorcerer, ]^resents
itself to the man who is engrossed in his scientific vigil
and feigns to spring upon him to tear him to pieces.
But he continues to keep alght the sweet-smelling resin
and does not betray his inward perturbation or give
the slinghtest movement of fear, which would, without
emission, cost him his life. Then the terrible scene
changes ; the wild beast suddenly disappears and en-
circled by a soft light two beautiful fairies come for-
ward to teach the new Ala the occult sciene of his
chosen ministry including cabalistic words and medical
art. The two elves then become the familiar spirits of
the sorcerer who is in this manner consecrated.
No witness is allowed to be present. No profane eye
may see those two good spirits.
— 191 —
If it happens that the aspirant never makes liis return
it is immediately decided that he showed he was afraid
and liad l)een eaten up by the not too fatherly tiger.
It would be, at least, a sure proof that the had watchad
that night in the forest!
The succession of a son to his father in the office of
Ala is not obligatory but all the Sakais wish it to be
so as otherwise the suol of the dead man would abvays
remain in the body of a tiger and treasures of wisdom
and pzwer would be lost to the tribe he had belonged to.
Not all the villages have the fortune to possess an
Ala of their own who — by the way — does not differ
in his domestic life from any of the poor moltals around
him. He has a wife, and children, makes poisons, chews
tobacco and sirilt, sleeps and goes out shooting- Those
settlements that have no Ala in their midst go in search
of one in tlie nearest encampment and the physician-
priest responds quickly to the invitation by hastening
to the spot indicated.
There being no ritual in the Sakai ceremonies, the
simple functions of the Ala are very lim'ted.
He has to mumble in an unintelligible manner mys-
terious words (the meaning of which he does not know
himself) when a poisonous mixture is being boiled in
order to render its venomous virtue more efficatious.
He makes exorcisms against the evil spirits w^hen the
wind arises or a heavy storm breaks or he is called to
visit a sick person.
In the latter case duties are merged in those of the
physician's for whilst pre{)aring some remedies with
lurbs possessing medicinal properties (of which he
knows very few out of the multitude that grows in
the Malai forests) he proceeds to exercise the authorit\-
— 192 —
reposed in him, according to the Sakai beHefs
by attempting- to cast out the evil spirit from his
patient.
This act is called the tay nak. He first asks the
sufferer where the pain is, then making a sort of brush
with some palm leaves he holds it in left hand. The
right he closes loosely and lays it on the place that
aches, puts his mouth to the opening left throug the
lightly closed fingers and begins to pull in his breath
as hard as he can. Sometimes he is able in this way
to draAV out the demon' which has caused the illness,
from the patien's budy into his hand and drive? it
away by energetically beating it .with the brush.
The sorcerer is aware if the spirit has come out by
a very pale light, Avhich only he can see, though !
But if the malady is a serious one this cure fails, a
sure proof that the spirit is one of the most dreaded
class and must thereforo be heriocally fought by means
of the chintok, as follows.
The villagn in which the afflicted person lives is
closed in by numerous traps, and planted all round with
poisoned arrows so that nobody can come near, even
if someone were to succeed in crossing that original
cordon sanitaire without any fatal consequence he would
most certainly be killed inside it as it is feared that
another evil spirit may be imported by an outsider, in
aid of the one they are trying to get rid of.
Over the body of the infirm they form a canopy of
medicinal herbs ; the Ala and the company present
paint themselves in the most horrible manner possible
and as soon as it is quite dark (any sort of light is
absolutely forbibben) they disposa themselves around
the invalid and begin to madly beat their big bamboo
canes. Their frenzy and the noise they make cannot
be described ; it makes one shudder, and the sound
can be heard several miles off.
Abandoned because of contagious disease.
/.. 193.
— igS —
But is intended to heal the poor wretch in the middle
who, if he does not succomb to the violence of his
disease, has a good chance of dying from the torture
endured.
The diabolical concert lasts until the garrulous har-
bingers of the sun announce the dawn but is repeated
after sunset for seven days during which period only
the men are permitted to go into the forest in search
of food.
If on the seventh day the patient is still alive he is
left in peace unless a relapse should render another
night of music necessary, and if he dies it is believed
that the malignant spirit would not depart without taking
the soul of his victim with him.
The most frequent illnesses to which the Sakais are
subject are rheumatic complaints and very heavy colds
which not rarely turn into severe bronchial and pulmo-
nary ailments. Both are due to the cold at night against
which they take no pains at all to protect themselves.
Their huts shelter them from the rain but not from
the air.
Some contagious skin diseases are also prevalent
amongst them.
Directly somebody is seized with this malady a tree is
selected at some distance from the settlement up which
a little bower is hurriedly made and the person attacked
is placed there and left with a little food at hand. Next
day the relatives go to see if he or she is living and
call out their demands, in a loud voice, a long way off.
If there is a movement or an answer they go nearer
and throw up some food but if there is no sign of life
they hasten back and leave the corpe to decompose in
the bower that now serves as a sepulchre.
•3
194
c#o
No rites whatever are performed at the death and
burial of an individual.
When the sufferer has breathed its last all the people
in the village unite in making grand lamentations. They
cry, moan and howl worse than at the proverbial Irish
funeral, they blacken their faces with charcoal and daub
it with other colours to frighten away the bad spirit
whilst the family crowd round the dead body and let
their tears flow freely, exclaiming:
" Alas ! Look at us, don' t leave us ! Who will take
care of us now! Who will defend us? Thou has departed
before us and we shall follow thee „.
The first moments of grief over they quickly destroy
the hut visited by Death, then taking up the corpse they
carry it into a thick part of the forest.
Here a grave is dug, from five to six feet deep and
the body is placed in it, sometimes lying on its back,
and sometimes in a sitting posture but always with its
face turned towards the west. Some tobacco, betel and
personal objects of the deceased are put near and then
it is covered up with the ground. Sometimes these ar-
ticles are strewn on the top of the grave and sometimes
too instead of interring the corpse it is laid upon pieces
of wood placed horizontally across the branches of a
large tree, close to the trunk.
But whether buried or not, for seven days the dead
person's relatives carr}' water, fruit, tobacco and sirih
to the spot, over or under the last resting-place of their
lost one, taking care to always keep a bright fire burning
within the vicinity.
It is however with fear and trembling that this duty
is performed aud they regularly implore :
" Here is thy portion, but don't hurt us! „
-%*
■■l-i
li
i.Sf ill'
:i
-I > "- •
Finished the seven days mourniny; the memory of the
dead fades, only awakening afresh when somebody passes
bv the burial place when they deposit there a part of
whatever they have with them, game or fruit.
For the sake of truth, though, I must say that the
grief of parents for a child is not so soon cancelled, for
I have seen some moved to tears at the remembrance
of one who had been dead perhaps for many seasons.
The immediate consequence of a Sakai 's death is the
forsaking of the village by all the survivors for fear that
the evil spirit which has bereaved them of a kinsman
may do the same with another.
Then follows the march in search of a desirable spot,
as I have already' described. Taking the children and
the little domestic goods they possess upon then- shoul-
ders they troop away seeking suitable ground for the
erection of their new huts. The Elder, as head of the
immense family, gives the signal for stopping where he
thinks best and if there is an A/a in their midst he
consults with him about the choice of position.
When the site seems favourable a fire is quickly lighted
and if the smoke goes up straight the}' settle there
otherwise the}' continue their wanderings for the Sakai
thinks that his whereabouts will be betrayed if the smoke
is dispersed in the forest and that it will serve as a
guide to some bad spirit — eager to do harm — that
will cast its fatal influence over the company fleeing
from the cruel spell of another.
Once the decision is made, with wonderful rapidity
trees, and bushes are cut down and the huts are raised.
As in civilized countries. Death amongst the Sakais
^exacts an exterior manifestation of mourning, with this
— 196 —
difference perhaps that with them it is much more sincere
because they have not the comfort of a long expected
and coveted legacy to make it a farce.
All ornaments have to be put aside; ear-rings, bracelets,
necklaces, nasal sticks, flowers, tattooing etc, for a period
of time determined by the Elder but generally for not
less than six months.
Those in mourning are rigorously prohibited to sing,
play, dance, marry and even (quite a Lenten sin) to eat
fish and meat on the some day.
The Sakais observe all these prescriptions with the
greatest strictness and are scandalized should any of
them be infringed before the appointed time. Whoever
violates them is judged a heartless being and if a woman
loses all the consideration that was hers before.
The duration of mourning varies according to rela-
tionship. That for a father or a mother is the same,
but it is shorter for brothers and sisters and for little
children there is none at all.
In this respect the Sakais are not dissimilar to their
civilized fellow-beings who measure their grief by the
black clothes they wear and at the demise of a baby, not-
withstanding its parents' desolation, make the church-
bells ring out the liveliest tunes, i"
0^
When a little Sakai opens its eyes to the light of
this world no religious ceremony greets its arrival.
The woman who is about to become a mother sepa-
rates herself from the rest of the family and retires by
herself to a hut apart, where the floor is very high.
Nobody assists her at her confinement because there
is perhaps no other event in the existence of a Sakai
(I) A custom in Italy when a little child is buried. Traiislatoi's Note.
— '97 —
SO involved in tenacious and perilous superstition as is
that of birth. Her own husband and the father of the
new-born babe dare not cross the threshold of the hut
or make the acquaintance of his child until a long time
after, that is, until it has got some strength.
It is always feared that by entering the cabin the
smell of the child may be carried into the forest by
means of which the Evil Spirit would be able to trace
it out and do it some mischief. And for the same rea-
son the newl3'-made mother dare not have contact with
an}' of the adults who go into the jungle to hunt or
for other purposes, but has food and water taken her
b}- the children.
It is superfluous to add that for a given time before
and after a confinement the presence of a stranger in
the village is not tolerated, worse still if be is a white
man.
The A /a, seconded by all, both males and females, is
inflexible about this, asserting that it would be the death
of the babe, and it is a prudent thing to accept the veto
with a good grace and to obey the sorcerer 's orders
without hesitation. Sometimes a stranger is not even
allowed to look upon a woman who is in an interesting
state, as it once happened to me.
Another time upon arriving at a village where a
child had been born a few hours before, 1 was flatly
refused hospitality, some Sakais preferring to accom-
pany me a long \\'ay off and there erect a hut for my
use on the formal understanding that I should not for
any motive whatever attempt to approach the settlement.
Had I not kept to this condition 1 should probably
have been killed.
One cannot reason with terror.
The hut in which the poor woman is fulfilling the
noblest of Nature's missions is jealously guarded by
da}- and by night.
— 198 —
Woe to the unfortunate individual who is found loi-
tering around it if he is not one of the village !
The floor of the hut does not touch the ground that
the odour of excrements may not penetrate into the earth
and proclaim to the Evil Spirit : Here a babe is born I
The mother herself, with extreme caution places eve-
rything of this sort in vessels of bamboo which she
hangs high up on the bough of a tree.
There the torrid sun quickly dries it all up and the
smell emanating from it being diffused in the upper air
the spirit cannot find out the sick woman or her child.
og>o
As soon as the period of gestation commences neither
the woman nor her husband must eat the flesh of monkey
or serpent in order not to transfer to the unborn child
the tendencies of a quadruped or reptile.
They must also abstain from eating fish and meat
on the same day and are obliged to be very careful
not to enter a hut whilst it rains, this being always a
very bad omen but especially so when an increase is
expected in the family.
Another very bad sign is when the cep plni sings
near the encampment. The Sakais consider it quite as
unlucky as the grating screech of the night owl (birds
kept in awe by the Sakais as being in familiarity with
the Evil Spirit) on the roof of a house, or the spilling
of salt is believed to be in many countries we know.
A few days before her confinement the woman picks
up some leaves of the hakak which have fallen to the
ground and makes a decoction with them. She drinks
a little every day, continuing the cure even after child-
birth. I do not know the wherefore of this but the
women seem to think it exercises a particular effect
upon them at this period.
— 199 —
Immediately the child is boi-n its mcjther takes the
fruit of the l>ua kaluna and squeezes out a few drops
into the little thing's mouth.
I have never been able to understand the reason of
such a practice but believe that it is inspired by some
superstition or hygienic rule of the natives.
The fruit of the biux kaluna is sweet but has also a
rather tart flavour.
After seven days have passed the newly made mother
leaves the hut aed makes abundant ablutions that have
the same character and scope as the religious duty
imposed upon the Israelite women; that of respect for
elementary hygiene.
From this moment the wife may return to her husband
but she is not allowed to go into the forest and is
obliged to wear upon her stomach a hot stone, which
serves her as a cure and exorcism.
She returns to her faithful mate but she does not
abandon her child whose separation trom all other
human beings, including its own father, cannot last for
less than six months.
The birth and death of a Sakia, as here seen, is
devoid of every rite or ceremony, as in the case oi
matrimony or divorce and do not require aven the in-
tervention of the Ala.
s^&n
The fact of their being strictly forbidden, when kin-
dling a fire, to lift their eyes from it until the wood
has been well ignited and smoke proceeds from it would
suggest the idea that there is either a superstition at-
tached to this operation or that fire is also an object
of veneration with them. But this concentration of the
— 200 —
gaze may be simply a precaution (become a habit)
not to retard the act of combustion bi distraction of
thought.
The only thing in connection witli this custom I have
succeeded in ascertaining is that the Sakais have no par-
tticular cult for the Sacred Fire like the priests of Baal
the Brahmins in India and the Vestals of Rome but
appreciate it as a means of cooking their food' preparing
their poisons, of warming them during the nigt and
of keeping wild beasts far from their huts. And I was
convinced of this the first time I gave them mathes
and taught them their use.
Their wonder was mixed with satisfaction but had
there been any pronounced religious sentiment they
would have rejected the modern innovation and con-
tinued the old method of making fire.
rtJra
I have here given a rough idea of the superstitions
and beliefs of the Sakais as best I have been able to
understand them from close observation and words
inadvertently let fall now and then. Thek may be
briefly summed up thus : a supreme terror of Evil
spirits ; a vague principle of the soul's transmigration
(a strange degeneration from the primitive conception
of the Pythagorean theory).
The people of the jungle are stil under the thick
shade of cerebral inertia. They have not yet seen the
swift, bright light of a first dobt flash across the
darkness of their brain giving to it a shock of unsus-
pected vibrations. As yet no glorious Prometheus has
arisen amongst those primitive creatures far whom the
(liscouras^iiig counsel of the Italian poet might seem to
have been in part written :
Meglio oprando obliar, senza indagarlo,
Q.uest'enorme mister dell' universo ! (i).
The Sakais have no real religion ; they only have
fear for everything they do not understand or cannot
And yet in the pratice of morality they are much
more forward than other uncivilized and even civi-
lized peoples.
(i) Better by work to forget, without studyng it,
This tremendous mvsterv of the Universe.
CHAPTER XV.
Sakai arms — Shooting — Serpent catchers — The
Sakai and his poisons — TOALANG, RENGAS
AND SAGOL — SLA DOL, SLA PLEK and
SLA CLOB — AKAR TOKA — Ipok (i) — An
antidote — The LEGOP — The Nai Bretaks —
The preparation of LEGOP — Curious and su-
perfluous ingredients — The effects of LEGOP
— Strange contradictions — Experiments —
Poisons and antidotes — The settler and science.
The Sakai possesses only one weapon : the « blaii »
(pr. blah go) called « sumpitam » by the Malays.
This reveals the peaceful character of these forest
inhabitants who never seek adventures or commit ag-
gressions.
The strong ugly knives which he procures from his
brethren of the plain or manufactures for himself, and
the little hatchets I have already described, are not
(i) The i is almost an e and the (/ in all these words are
pronounced as Int. Translator's Xotc.
o>
203 —
for him arms in the exact meaning of the word but
are simply instruments necessary for those living in
the jungle. He employs them for cutting down bamboos,
creepers and trees and for preparing food, but very
likely he would not know how to use them for an as-
sault or in defence.
His weapon in this case is always the blau (blow-
pipe) which he carries about with him constantly even
if he only goes just outside his hut.
It is a cane of bamboo from two metres and a half
to three in length not very large in diameter but per-
fectly round, especially inside. At one end there is applied
a mouth-piece similar to that of a trumpet.
Having introduced a dart the Sakai puts the cane
to his lips and first drawing a very long breath he
then blows into it with all his might. The little arrow
flies out with the greatest velocity reaching to the dis-
tance of 40, 5o, or 60 metres.
It is a pea-shootej- but with the difference that the
projectiles shot out are deadly in their effect, particu-
larly so when in the hands of persons who, like the
Sakais, seldom or never fail to hit the mark.
This dangerous weapon, which at first might be mis-
taken for a toy, is ornamented with designs lightly
incised in the cane. It is kept with great care and when
not in immediate use it is slipped into a bamboo of a
larger size (this too decorated with incisions) which
serves it as sheath.
The arrow is a little stick made of very hard wood
of about 12 or 14 inches long and not much bigger
than a big knitting needle. At one extremity is fixed a
tiny cone made of palm-pith that stopping up the tube,
receives the impulsion of the air blown into it so vio-
lently.
The other extremity finishes in an exceedingly sharp
point (sometimes of bone or metal well inserted into
204 —
the wood) c Jiitrived in such a mode that when the dart
strikes an object the point breaks off and remains there.
The force of penetration is however so great that the
body of a man standing 3o metres off may be pierced
through without its being broken.
No animal, except pachyderms, can challenge with
impunity the Sakai's arrow. It is alwa^'s, and for all,
a terrible messenger of Death, either in the precision
of aim, the violence with which it hits, or the poison it
inoculates.
In the same way as the aborigenes of Australia throw
their boomerang w-ith inimitable dexterity and security,
the Sakai manages his blowpipe with a cleverness it
is impossible to imitate or learn. The Mala3's, who have
studied to make themselves masters of this weapon, are
but poor shooters compared to their forest neighbours.
Tosrether with the b/nit the Sakai alwavs carries with
him his /ok (quiver) suspended from a girdle of bark,
called ho gnan (pr. bo nean).
This quiver is also composed of bamboo measuring
from 3 to 7 inches round and i3 or 14 long. It is very
rare that the darts are placed in it without being first
enclosed in thin reeds, known by the name of dawn
which preserve the points and prevent the poison
from being rubbed off as well as saving it from getting
damp, when it would lose its force. In its turn the
quiver is enclosed in the tchcnkop, a covering of ratan
or palm-fibres woven so intricately as to render it
water-tight.
With his blowpipe ready the Sakai penetrates into
the forest, creeping softly among the tall grasses and
bushes. No rustling, no crackling of dry leaves denounces
the presence of the man who advances cautiously under
the broad green roof, casting keen and restless glances
— 2o5 -
towards the branches of the trees. His ear catches the
faintest flapping of wings. From time to time he utters
a cry like that of a bird or a monkey, and quickly a
feathered biped, moved by curiosity descends from a
higher to a lower bough ; a monkey swings itself down
in answer to the call, or a pretty little head with a sharp
nose and bright eyes peeps out of a hollow in the tree.
Very slowly and quietly the Sakai crouches down,
lifts his blowpipe and fixing his eyes upon the black
mark he has made at the end of the cane, he takes a
long and stead}' aim.
The bird and the monke}' 30 metres above him are
trying to provocate another cry from the voice they
heard before ; the squirrel looks puzzled and uncertain
but neither of the three suspects the mortal danger
that awaits them from below.
The Sakai blows into his hlaii, the dart flies out
with a slight whiz and perforates the victim's tlesh.
There is a cry and a fall, then the sportsman runs
to pick up his pre}'.
Sometimes a wounded bird will fly away from the
spot where it has been hit, but the savage knows
perfectly well the infallibility of his poisons which will
bring it to the ground in a few minutes, so he follows
the way it has taken.
Something of the same sort may also happen with
a monkey. Although it is usually cowardly enough to
let itself fall a dead weight as soon as it is touched (so
breaking all its bones) it may by chance cling to the
bough upon which the Sakai shot it, but if the arrow
itself does not succeed in killing it, the poison never
fails to do so and nothing can save it from the fatal effect.
The monkey holds on convulsively but the Icgop's in-
fluence cannot be resisted, there is a brief struggle
against death and then the animal is precipitated hea-
vily to the ground.
206
The Sakai runs to pick it up but perhaps is arrested
by seeing an enormous boa constrictor twisting itself
round the crushed body of the little beast.
But at this sight the hunter does not despair. He
observes the surrounding trees with great attention
and discovers that the one upon which he had found
the monkey has a large hole beneath, where the huge
reptile has taken up its abode.
He hurries away to let his comrades know, for a boa
constrictor excites the spirit of gluttony amongst the
Sakais.
They instantly and unanimously resolve upon its
capture and accompany him to the scene.
Guessing nearabouts the length of the serpent they
cut down a very strong bamboo cane that if not longer
is not shorter than the reptile and at the end they
fasten a stout piece of rattan abl}- folded into a noose.
Terminated his repast the boa retires to his den and
settles down for a little nap that will help his digestion.
This is the right moment : two men, with great caution
approach the hollow, keeping in their hands the knot
made of the Indian cane. Very gentl}^ but with a rapid
movement they lift up the snake' s head and slip it
through the noose. The snake gives a shake but it is
too late. At a sign from the two who have disturbed
its slumber, the others pull hard the bamboos that they
are holding in their hands. The noose is pulled tighter
and the boa constrictor fights furiously to get free. But
the more it resists the closer the knot becomes. The
struggle between captor and captured is not soon fin-
ished. The monster pulls, jumps, writhes, sometimes
giving such sudden springs as to make the tenacious
Sakais run here and there to keep their equilibrium
and to stay out of its reach.
Often the}^ strive so for more than an hour but at
last the serpent is suffocated and is reduced to a lifeless
— 207 —
mass. Then its victors carry it Iriomphantly to their
village where it makes a banquet for almost all the
inhabitants.
n^
The Sakais would hnd but a scanty result from their
hunting and shooting-, and their own lives would not
be sufficiently protected if the forest did not provide
them with an inexhaustible and infallible means of deal-
ing death with their blowpipes and darts.
There is sch a rich and varied quantity of plants
growing in the jungle which produce poison, that Man
has the choice of using the one he deems more adapted
for this or that particular need.
The Sakai is enthusiastic over his poisons, so much is
he engrossed in the science that it takes with him the
post of a besetting. Like a maniac which always speaks
of his strange fancies, so this poor savage speaks all day
long of his poisons, and studies their qualities.
And they provide him with all the necessaries for
his primitive existence for he utilizes them in shooting,
fishing, and in setting traps for big and small animals,
they are a defence for himself and the whole village
where he lives, besides furnishing him with the means
(by barter) of obtaining tobacco, rice or any other ar-
ticle that cannot be found in the forest.
All his best intellectual faculty is consecrated to the
research and areparation of poisons because it must not
be thought that he uses one instead of the other in-
differently. Those with which he is most famigliar are
each used as the occasion may require.
Jnst as a gun is not loaded with the same sized shot
when shooting small birds and partridges, the Sakais
doen not waste his strong poisons when aweaker one
would be equally effectual.
— 20S —
His selection of one rather than the other is frepuently
regulated by the state of the atmosphere (damp being
pernicious to venomous productions) and sometimes by
the phases of the moon.
These plants are herbaceous, arboreous and often
creepers, but not all those that grow in the forest, nor
even those known to the savage for their efficacy, are
yet in the knowledge of Science.
This is a verygreat pity as I fear that these medi-
cinal treasures, which may contain miraculous properr-
ties. will be inevitably lost if a scientific study of this
wild jungle produce is not quickly initiated.
The fever of colonization has attacked the forest and
here and there it rages ; for certain it will not be a
long time before that vast extension of tropical vege-
tation with the extraordinary fertility of its soil will
give place to plantations of Parah-rubber, gutta-percha,
soffee, sugar, rice, tobacco, etc.
For this reason I shall be very pleased to give what
aid I can to the cause of Science by means of notes,
collections and specimens of paints and animals not yet
thoroughly known or studied, should anyone feel inclined
to respond to the offer before it is too late. Such help
would seem to me a sweet chain of thought, linking
the mind of the colonist in the remote depths of the
Malay Forest, to the Mother Country and that civili-
zation from which he has withdrawn himself.
The "■ giu u toalang ,, is one of the colossal trees of
the Jungle for it reaches from 40 to 46 yards in height.
It may be said that its whole organism is poisonous
because its deadly properties have the same force in
the juice under the bark as in the leaves, when they
are rubbed or broken. If this sap finds its way under
- -09 -
the skin, in contact with the flesh or blood-vessels it
has a quick and nioi-tal effect. It seems to me that even
the smell might produce fatal consequences but of this
1 am not sure, although it is a certain fact that it makes
one feel very ill and the indisposition can only be cured
by keeping the patient in a high temperature.
Almost the same poisonous power has the " i(in u
rangas „, a tree of more modest dimensions, and the
" gill n sagol „ smaller still. It is dangerous to touch
the leaves of these two plants because they bring about
a severe irritation of the skin, covering it with pimples
and little bladders, that itch intollerably, whilst the body
becomes swollen. And yet the temptation to scratch
must be resisted or ulceration follows with the proba-
bility of gangrene. When one is able to renounce the
momentary relief procured by rubbing or scratching
the inconvenience passes in a couple of days.
The toolang, rcngas, and sagol are to be found scat-
tered profusel}^ over the forest but the Sakai does not
interest himself in their venomous properties because
he finds that those of which he already knows the se-
cret fully satisfy his wants in promptness and eftect.
On the contrary he wages a continual war against these
noxious plants beating them down and destroying them
wherever he comes across them. He is very careful,
however not to touch them with his hatchet but chops
down one of the giants growing near which bears them
to the ground in its ponderous fall.
As soon as the dangerous trees are down the trunk
and branches of their involuntary assassin are pulled
away and the}^ are left on the spot for one or two months
to dry, and when completely withered the}' are burnt.
There is also a large and varietl number of plants
in the forest whose leaves are very dangerous. I will
mention for an example the ^7^/ dol, sld piek and the
sId dob the leaves of which, if eaten, may engender fatal
consequences according to the Sakais.
In some the poisonous qualities are located only in the
roots. Of the Icgop, which belongs to this class I will
speak further on, for now I will onl}^ name the akar tobd.
This root is first well pounded and then left to soak
in some water for a few days after which the venomous
liquid is thrown into a pond and a perfect massacre
of big and little fish follows, all of which may be eaten
without doing any harm to the persons.
What sort of poison this is I cannot say for it has
never been made the object of special study. I have
proved its utility in destroying insects and particularl}^
the larva of mosquitoes and the little worms that ruin
fruit and vegetables.
o®o
The ipok called " upas „ by the Malays and " aiifiaris
toxicaria „ by botanists is a tree which supplies a poi-
sonous juice to the Sakais of the plain. It is a colossus
of the forest, and belongs to the nettle family.
It has broad, shin}^ leaves something like those of the
magnolia, and numerous species are to be found in the
Malay Jungle.
When the season is not too damp and there is a full
moon the Sakais make some deep cuts in the bark of
this tree and place some bamboo tubes around it in
order to catch the sap which flows out abundantly. This
juice has a gluey, resinous appearance and is white or
yellow according to whether it is extracted from the
trunk or from a young bough.
Then, whilst still in the thick of the forest, they light
up a fire and boil the liquid during which process the
Aid, who presides over the work, mutters the magical
A branch of the poison-tree " Upas
/>. J 10.
words without which the poison would not liave the
desired force.
It is not taken from the fire until it presents the aspect
of tar, in thickness and colour. F'inished to boil, some
lemons are squeezed over it and after throwing in red
arsenic and other drugs it is all stirred up together
and the mixture is read}- for use.
The substances added to the ipok — with the excep-
tion of the arsenic — are not toxical but are only the
expression of Sakai prejudices.
The flesh of animals killed with arrows dipped in
ipok are perfectly eatable after being cooked a little, but
the precaution must be taken of cutting away for about
an inch round the wound which turns purple imme-
diately from the action of the poison.
An antidote against ipok poisoning is found in the
juice of a climber ealled lennuak kapitiiig. B}- energeti-
cally rubbing the wound with this juice all baneful ef-
fects of the ipok are checked.
0®O
I believe that it is amongst creepers that the most
powerful poisons must be sought.
The Sakai is on confidential terms wath the gii( it
Icgop, gill u labor, gift u latnpat, gift n iiiasc and the
gill It loo, but the laiiipon and hroial are not forgotten
either (n.
(i) The professors, A. Benedicenti and G. B. De Toni, of the Ca-
merino University have pubhshed the result of their studies upon the
roots and some juice extracted from the broial which I sent them for
the purpose in 1902. I think, however, that the conclusions of these
two scientists would have been in favour of a greater and quicker
effect of this poison if, in spite of all my care, the samples had not
suffered from the change of climate and, very likel}-, been exposed
to dampness.
The i-oots of these two plants yield poisons that are
amongst the most terrible of those which abound in the
forest.
It seems to me that the only difference passing be-
tween these creepers is in the intensity of virulence,
but not in the nature of the venomous substances,
and it is just for this that the Sakais favour the Icgop
and make it the centre of their primitive chemical studies
because it furnishes them with the strongest and most
fatal of poisons.
This parasite, as soon as it is long enough, clings to
one of the superb vegetable kings of the forest, twining
round it with a tenacious hold.
Its trunk is from 2 to 4 inches in diameter and gives
vigorous life to about 5ooo feet of its offspring.
The Icgop leaves are green, smooth and glossy, si-
milar in form to those of the lemon, but they are larger.
They are covered longitudinally by prominent nervures.
The fruit borne by this dangerous plant is of the
size and form of a small orange, slightly depressed at
the stalk and the opposite part. It is very black and
hard to break, a hammer or its substitute being neces-
sary' to disclose its contents which consist in a great
number of little seeds embedded in a scanty pulp.
All the Sakais extract and prepare poison from the
Icgop but there is a tribe living in the most remote
parts of the forest, severed from all intercourse with
civilized beings, and in consequence pure barbarians,
who are renowned for their ability in the preparation
of the same, and whose products are considered much
superior in strength.
It is the Mai Bretak tribe to whom all the other
Sakais have recourse, carrying with them a large tri-
bute of the goods usual in exchange. This speciality
mixed with ipok is the Essence of Death in drops. The
minutest particle that enters the blood means imminent
— 2l3 -
extinction of lile. The sentence is irrevocable for no
remedy is known with which to avert it. The utter
impossibility of saving a creature that has fallen a
victim to this terrible poison has given rise to a su-
perstition among the Sakais that an evil spirit hovers
over, or goes into the mixture when it is being pre-
pared and for this they do not set themselves to the
work without taking numerous precautions.
Ipoh is extracted and condensed (under the exorcism
of A/a) in the presence of, perhaps, all the village but
no women or girls may assist at the preparation of
/egop lest the invisible enemy should do them some
injury. (The spirit is evidently a woman hater!).
The man who prepares it may not eat fish or meat
on the dav fixed for the important operation and once
he has begun it he must remain fasting until he has
finished. He is scrupulously attentive not to expose
himself to the steam escaping from the bubbling liquid
and often (here superstition comes to the aid of clean-
liness and hygiene) has to wash his face and hands.
But even all this caution is not sufficient and he is con-
sidered as a sick person for some days.
The earthenware pot or bamboo used for the purpose
must be new, nothing must have been cooked in it be-
fore, and nothing after. Directly the legop has been
poured out it is thrown away because contaminated.
The perfect newness of these vessels serves to in-
crease the power of the poison.
OS<2
A couple of days before the Sakai w'ishes to prepare
the deadly mixture he goes in search of the creeper,
which having found he uncovers its roots and to assure
himself that he has not made a mistake, he tries if it
has the bitter taste natural to it. Secure upon this
— 214 —
point he dig.s up a nice lot and then fills up his dosser
with two sorts of bulbous plants which secrete a glu-
tinous substance but whose name and quality I have
never found out. This done he rambles about the forest
until he is able to find two kinds of wasps or bees
(whichever they are); one is very big and black the
sting of which causes a high fever, and which generally
has its nest on the ground ; the other is little and red,
stings like a nettle and has its nest ander the leaves of
a tree.
If he has in store some teeth of the scndok snake, or
of any other equally venomous, he now returns to the
village, otherwise he looks for one, kills it and possesses
himself of its fangs.
Having thus all the necessary ingredients, the Sakai
begins to pound the roots into a paste. This mass he
then puts into a tube stopped up by leaves which lets
pass a liquid but not a substance. Keeping this primitive
filter suspended over the receptacle to be used for boiling,
he slowly empties some water into it which soaking
through the paste becomes of a brown colour before it
reaches the vessel beneath.
Terminated the filtering process he takes the two
bulbous plants and squeezing them in his hand he
sprinkles as much of their juice as he thinks fit, into
the same vessel. The serpent' s teeth and the bees are
then pounded, they too, and cast in with all the rest
which is at once placed on a slow fire. When the mixture
begins to boil the Sakai skims off the impurities floating
on the surface and adds a little more legop if it seems
to him necessary, taking great care, meanwhile, not to
breath or to be enveloped by the fumes rising from
the pot.
The poison is lifted off the fire as soon as it has got
to the consistency of a syrup and is of a dark reddish
colour, the darts are dipped irtto it and its virulence is
Root of the poisonous creeper " Legop
/>. 212.
— 2l5 —
put to the test without waste of time. If the proof is
satisfactory the thick fluid is poured into bamboo re-
ceptacles, covered with leaves, and a piece of deer-skin
fastened over them with a band of scudi$,cio and finally
the vases are collocated in the driest corner of the hut,
from whence from time to time, they are carried near
the fire to prevent that their contents should lose force
through humidity.
o5Bo
Now the question is this : do the ingredients which
the Bretak Sakai believes indispensable in this con-
coction augment the virulence of the Icgop?
1 am inclined to doubt it a great deal as I do not
think those two plants containing the glutinous juice are
poisonous, or at least ver}- little so, but that they are
added mereh' to give denseness to the mixture or else
from a false supposition of the indigenes.
And less still can serpents' teeth or crushed wasps
have an}' influence in increasing the power of this poison,
which" is in itself intense.
Evidently the Sakais, well aware of the lethal effect
of a bite from a serpent, think that bv introducing into
the wound, by means of their dart, a tiny portion of
the organ which determines this effect, an equal result
will follow.
He neither knows nor imagines that the tooth exer-
cises a simple mechanical action in consequence of which
the little reservoir of poison, being compressed, lets a
drop fall into the wound produced by the bite.
But there is nothing" to be surprised at in this because
in history we learn that the superstitions and sorceries
practised by more advanced races than the Sakais offer
the most curious documents in proof of such odd rea-
soning.
— ai6 —
It is enough to remember that in the time of Augustus
the jaw bone of a female dog, which had been kept
fasting, and a quill plucked from a screech-owl were
required for the enchantments of Canidia, ossa ab ore
rapta jcjiinac canis, phimanqnc nocturna sfn'gis. And
yet it was just at that period Rome had inherited from
Greece the Philosoph}^ of the Epicureans and that of
the Sceptics and was maturing the poem of Lucretuis
Carus !
And quite recently has it not been narrated by Parson
Evans, of Wales, how he had been badly treated by a
spirit because he had forgotten a fumigation during one
of his enchantments?
If there has been so much imposture or hallucination
amongst advanced peoples (or supposed to be such) we
cannot reproach the poor Sakai for his ignorance if in
all good faith he thinks that a pinch of pounded bees
and serpents' teeth increases the virulence of the fegop
poison. Does he not also believe that the m3'sterious
words muttered b}' the A/a give greater ibrce to his
murderous preparations ?
o®o
As to the effects of the kgo/) strange and contradictory
versions are given.
Some affirm that the smallest possible quantit}- brought
into contact with the blood, causes instantaneous death;
others declare that it is not sufficiently powerful to kill
a man or a beast if the quantity inoculated is not in
proportion to the size or if thev are strong enough to
resist it.
It is my opinion that both these assertions are exag-
gerated.
One day 1 asked a Sakai if he thought it possible to
kill a man with Icgop.
He replied that nearly eveiy day animals of double
the bulk and strength of a man were killed in the forest,
and that the poison supplied by this creeper speedily'
fulfils its mission. As a proof of this he related that once
he was standing near a Javanese who had been guilty
of violating a woman. This man was hit by a poisoned
dart and died almost immediatel}'.
Without appearing in the least to doubt the fact 1
begged him to show me the exact spot where the dart
entered the poor fellow, and where it came out, and
from his indications I could convince mvself that the
dart having penetrated under the shoulder blade had
passed through the heart from part to part and had
been arrested in its course by the muscles of the thorax.
It was therefore clear to me that death was due to
the passage of the dart through the victim' s bodv and
had nothing to do with the poison in which the missile
had been previously steeped. To my knowledge no re-
cognized studies have ever been made to ascertain the
true force of Icij^op, so one is free to calculate it at its
maximum or minimum, especially when its susceptibility
to atmospheric changes is considered.
When the weather is dry it carries death on the wing
of the arrow, but if it should be wet, or damp, the poison
becomes moist and remains on the surface of the wound
(where it can be easily rubbed off) instead of penetrating
with the dart into the object aimed at.
And this was the disillusion of one who wanted to
try its effects on a dog. The poor beast howled with
the pain but did not present any symptom of poisoning.
0®C
Science alone can pronounce accurately upon the
toxical qualities of the U'gop and 1 am always ready to
assist it with my modest experience.
— 2l8 —
Wishing to solve every doubt and also to find out
an antidote to this poison I sacrificed many innocent
creatures, but I will relate the pitiful end of only two.
I selected a fine fowl full of healthy vigour and taking
one of these poisoned darts I made a wound of not more
than a half an inch long upon the upper part of its leg.
For a minute after it moved about slowly without
even noticing the wound, then it stopped as if overcome
by a strange sense of stupor, but soon began to peck
the ground.
Two minutes and a half later it opened and shut its
beak and let its tail and wings fall limply on the ground.
Another half a minute and with its legs bent under, as
though sitting, it sought to raise and shake its drooping
head. For an -instant it succeeded but the poor member
wagged without energy (as happens to us when in tra-
velling we get sleepy but have no place to repose our-
selves) whilst its eyes now shut, and now wide open
wore an expression of unconsciousness.
About the fourth minute the animal was seized with
violent convulsions and at the fifth it was quite dead.
I made the same trial upon a middle-sized dog, wound-
ing this also upon a leg in order not to touch a vital part.
At first it seemed quite insensible to what I had done
but after three or four minutes had passed it got very
inquiet and sniffed the ground and everything that was
around as if to find out what was the matter, turning
round its head from time to time towards its thigh which
it evidently felt was the seat of its uneasiness. It gave
a jump, a prolonged shudder and then la\^ down.
Once it feebly barked but when it made a second at-
tempt it entirely failed. The cry was not one of pain
but seemed to be a sound emitted under the impulse of
profound bewilderment.
Its head rested for a moment upon its fore-legs but
was soon lifted up as the animal rolled over on one
Branch and fruit of the poisonous creeper ' Legop „.
p. 2IL
— 219 —
side of its body which had the appearance of being
paralyzed. Its eyes became fixed, expressionless. The
body shivered and gave httle starts but the head re-
mained motionless, lying heavily on the ground, and
the eyes in their glassy stare revealed the absence of
all perception of the senses rather than pain or mortal
anguish.
At this point I turned m}' attention to its heart which
was beating quickly and violently. It stopped an instant,
then continued but very, very weakly whilst the whole
body began to take a rigid form.
A quarter of an hour after the inoculation of Icgop,
the dog was dead.
If I do not mistake, the first and almost immediate
effect of this poison is upon the nerve centres. For
certain the blood remains unaltered, or at least no
change is visible and the flesh of animals killed with
legop does not lose any of its flavour nor is there any
danger in eating it.
But I dare not speak with any precision about the
nature of certain venomous products because where the
vast field for scientific research begins, the unpretend--
ing labour of the colonist, who collects, refers and
describes, finishes, leaving to the chemical student and
the physiologist the task of drawing from the information
given, those results which may be for the good of hu-
manity in general.
The poisonous flora of the forest is not limited to
trees and climbing plants ; it extends also to countless
herbs, to an infinite variet}^ of fungi, berries, flowers
and tempting fruits.
The realm of poison is known but very little. It still
reserves the greatest surprises for the scientist who
wishes to explore it. And because provident Xature in
every manifestation of its feciindit}- has the habit of
putting different quahties in contrast 1 think that amongst
such an abundant vegetation of dangerous plants there
ma}- be another, perhaps less plentiful but which would
serve to oppose the deadl}- effects of the first.
The Sakai knows no antidote except those I have
mentioned : the lemmali kapiting and the one empirically
prepared with quicklime and urine. Neither of them,
however, can be warranted as genuine articles, so in
this field Science would have everything to discover.
The great Sorceress, the great and incomparable Ma-
layan Forest, offers wonderful treasures to the world,
some of which give charms to Lil'e and others conceal
the snares of Death.
It is for the homo sapiens to distinguish this from
that and to make himself the master of their secrets
as he has done with Electricity, thereby making it the
means of illumination, motive power, and the alleviation
of man}- physical sufferings.
This forest, which would have answered to all the
criminal exigencies of the Borgias as regards poisons,
is still a waste land, notwithstanding its extraordinary
riches.
Let Science tell us of the immense treasures there
produced for the welfare of Mankind.
E
Vi^#?S^^laiy^Sff^^'^
■l^l
^^^w3^^
.J^^
M^TA^^SrtjBiS
?^
CHAPTER XVI.
Past and future geography — Mountains and pla-
teaus — An attempt at a census — Temperature
— Maladies and remedies — ALA a quack.
Thirty years ago, even in our best geographies, very
little mention was made of the Malay Peninsula.
Something was said about its coasts and a scanty
product of tin, antimony and coal but there was not a
single word about the wide stretch of land far from
the shores, partly unexplored and partly inhabited by
savages, beyond stating that a chain of mountains ran
the whole length, beginning at Kedak and Kelantan and
terminating at the extreme end of the peninsula, so
dividing it almost in the middle.
But a geographer in our days would have to write
a great deal more, for the interior of this country is no
longer a deep inviolated mystery, and its aspect has
proved very different from what studies, made at a
prudent distance, had led us to imagine.
The high mountains (the Berumbun reaches 653o
feet in height) present to the gaze scenery which would
satisfy an artist. Some of the tops are covered with a
rich, wild vegetation, some are rugged or have sharp
peaks from which torrents of sparkling white foam dash
down the narrow dark crevices with roaring fury.
From those superb masses extend a series of plateaus
like so many terraces which the more they descend
the more they unfold the fruitfulness of the soil, irri-
gated by smooth rivers and rills.
There, where mountainous fertilit}' ceases, one to the
east and the other to the west, lie the plains of Pahang
and Perak whose industrious hands guided by civilized
ideas are carrying on a work of redemption from aban-
donment and malaria by the extension of cultivation
and sanitary principles.
o^
The forest — the territory of the Sakais — covers
the central part of the Peninsula. On the outskirts live
those less savage because of their contact and dealings
with the Malays, Siamese, Chinese and Indians, by
whom they are surrounded. The others press always
closer on towards the mountains at the same rate that
civilization approaches them, fixing their abode at an
elevation of not more than from i5oo to 2000 feet. I
have found some, but a very rare case, at a height of
4000 feet.
It is true that up there, there are not so many dan-
gers to be met with, for wild beasts (with the exception
of an occasional bear) and serpents do not frequent
the heights but the cold is too intense to be well sup-
ported by individuals who do not wear clothes and
who do not build houses to protect themselves from
the inclemency of the weather.
The tract of land inhabited by the Sakais is, at a
rough guess, comprised between S"" 5o' and 5" 5o' North
— 223 —
latitude and loi" and 102" East longitude (Greenwich).
But for such an extension they are very lew in numbers
because in the year 1908, passing from one village
to another in 25 days, I could not count more than
6800 persons camping round the durians at the inga-
thering season.
Reckoning the women left behind because of a recent
confinement, the old and infirm and the little children
I do not think that altogether they can be man}- more
than 10,000 souls. It is truly the case to say : " i-a7-i
nantcs in gurgitc vasto ! „.
It would be impossible to take a real census of the
Sakais owing to their distrust of everything the}- do not
understand and the difficult}- their nomadic life presents.
The climate where they live, although damp, is good,
for the thick foliage of the forest and the breezes that
often hail from the mountains mitigate the heat of the
sun's rays.
There are no alternations of seasons as in temperate
zones but only the distinction of dry and rainy ones, the
former being determined by the monsoon blowing from
the east, and the latter from that coming from the west.
It is not unusual for the heat at noon to surpass
40" (centigrade) but to the torrid temperature of the
day follows a cold night and the hotter the day is, the
colder the night. From 40" it easily falls under 20."
The Sakais who possess no garments, or rugs and
whose huts are ver^' open and airy, sleep all huddled
together (to keep each other w-arm) round a large fire
but they frequently suffer from these variations of tem-
perature.
As I have before mentioned severe colds are very
prevalent among the Sakais against which they have
no efficacious remedy so that it often happens for a
simple attack of intluenza to turn into a serious bron-
chial or lung affection and finally result in consumption.
Neither the tenak or cintok is of an}^ use then ; the
evil spirit never leaves hold of his prey.
Cases of fever are very rare and these few must be
attributed to the wind which ascends from the plain
bringing with it germs of infection. It is extremely
seldom that a woman dies in child-birth, but a great
many succumb to senile decay at about 60 years of age.
Both men and women are very subject to a cutaneous
disease which covers the body with large blotches of
a lighter colour than their skin, giving a repugnant
appearance to the poor wretch so afflicted. But it is
neither a serious nor a contagious illness, nor does it
excite amongst the jungle-dwellers that loathing which
it would with us because this discoloration does not
prevent them from getting married and having children
as healthy as other peoples'.
Sometimes one of them is struck down by an infec-
tious disease for which they know no remedy or cure.
The sick person is at once isolated from all the rest
and is almost entirel}' abandoned in order to check any
propogation of the malady.
I have never noticed any illness which might be
considered as peculiar to the people themselves or the
region they inhabit but I have been able to establish
the fact (from a special study made by me as to the
causes of death among the Sakais) that the victims of
wild beasts and serpents are on a very low average.
It is quite an extraordinary thing for anybody to
lose their life in this way if they have not by some
imprudence brought death upon themselves.
1 only remember, perhaps because it took place not
long ago, that a young woman incautiously wandered
away from her hut one evening, as it was getting dark,
and was attacked by a panther which fastened its teeth
into her lower jaw. Hearing her seream the husband
rushed out just in time to kill the animal and save his
poor wife's life, but she, of course, remained deformed.
0®C
The pharmacopoeia of these foresters, freed from all
superstition, is of truly primitive simplicity and only
contains vegetable remedies. A decoction of the root
tenok cclcs is an excellent purgative. A poultice made
of its leaves pounded with lime and sirili and applied
to the forehead is intended to cure headache.
The sla delok (a bitter leaf) serves in the place of our
worm powders for children.
Another leaf (the sla poo) is used for curing dysentry.
They have also several other medicines (whose virtues
are kept secret by the Ala) for complaints of the stomach
or that may be used at will without any precise know-
ledge of the illness needing treatment.
The gum extracted from the singret is employed for
stopping decayed teeth and is also rubbed over the cheek
during a fit of tooth-ache to preserve it from the air,
without putting on bandages.
The Sakai makes great use of charcoal powder in
his medicinal preparations, dressing sores, wounds and
the bites of animals with it. This might make one suppose
that he either knows or divines the disinfecting pro-
perties of charcoal. He also makes it a means of defence
against the invasions of ants which change their direction
when they find the black line across their way.
The water in which a piece of charcoal, made from
bitter wood, has been for a long time infused, is ac-
cording to them a first-rate remedy against debihty of
the organism and coughs.
The Ala wisely acting for — his own good, reserves
for himself the prerogative of mixing certain pharma-
15
— 226
ceutical specialities which make the patient recover if
the indisposition is merely a passing one, but help to
kill him if the conditions of his health are serious.
He always keeps prompt some plasters prepared from
herbs, either of a soothing or irritating nature, in case
of fractures, sprains, or dislocations caused by accidental
falls.
But it is scarcety worth while to discuss the merits of
these cataplasms, for the Sakai, who is the first person
interested in the question, acknowledges and admits their
healing wtues.
All the world is akin, and the much respected Ala
of the forest is nothing less than an uncivilized colleague
of those charlatans, inventors of miracles, who by the
sale of powders, lotions, medicinal waters and ointments
make their fortune in the midst of civilized society', often
deceiving science and common sense by means of well
placed advertisements.
One is an educated and the other an uneducated quack.
Mv notes finish here. They are wanting in order and
art but not in verit\- because above all 1 have dedicated
this writing to the truth, prompted by feelings of gra-
titude and good will towards my kind friends the savages.
I have wished to illustrate the customs and character
of a people very much calumniated, amongst whom I
have found strong and devoted friendship free from
everv taint of jealousy or self-interest.
Sixteen years of a tranquil, laborious life have I
passed among the Sakais and still to-day I feel a pang
of home-sickness thinking of that wonderfully fertile
land and its good and simple inhabitants.
If mv words have been clear to you, dear reader,
vou must have remarked that in those savages are to
be found real treasures of uprightness, honest\- and
common sense. And the first seeds of these \-irtues
were sown bv nobody for they bud and blossom in
their souls as spontaneously as from the bosom of
great Mother Nature the marvellous multitude of flora
rises up to.vards the sun, seeking light and heat-
It is not so amongst us. Civilization teaches virtue :
sermons preach it; moralists condense it into precepts
and aphorisms ; historians honour it in the ancients in
— 228
order to inspire it in the moderns ; laws, and the me-
naces of Hell, want to impose it. And yet, nowithstand-
ing all this, it cannot flower well for too often it is
fettered by the frenzy 'of " getting ahead „ and by the
spasms of passions which in the superb majesty of the
forest, and under its sublime influence, are neither known
nor understood. Here one works serenely, undisturbed
by the fear that others will rob you of your profit.
I mention the fact but leave others to draw the con-
clusion because if I arrived at that which would seem
most logical after the premise, I should be called a
worse savage than those I have held up to public
admiration and if I arrived at any other I should be
accused (and with reason) of contradiction.
I wmII instead declare that, in spite of certain discou-
raging proofs, I firmly keep my faith in human pro-
gress, believing that Science will one day, succeed in
lessening the grand anguish accruing from the inces-
sant and cruel " struggle for life „.
My chief reason for illustrating the virtues and defects
of the little-known Sakais is to present them more
closely to the attention of England, that, by delivering
them from the contempt and able trickery of other races,
might easily lead them to civilization and at the same
time form important and lucrative centres of agricul-
tural product in the interior of the Peninsula.
It is without the slightest idea of boasting that 1
state I have always remained among the Sakais alone
and unarmed, in my work as a colonist. In this way
it was possible for me to overcome hostility and mis-
trust, winning confidence and affection from one of the
most uncivilized of peoples. And the fact gives me the
greatest satisfaction for it demonstrates in a modest,
but not for that less eloquent manner, that armed
expeditions however fine and imposing in appearance
(according to taste) have not the practical or lasting
value of peaceful, friendly overtures. Civilization which
pretends to impose itself by violence, slaughter and
sackage only sows hatred. The pretended saviours be-
come oppressors, and having begun by force they are
compelled to resort to force if they wish to keep the
dominion which a ferment of hatred, little by little, is
undermining.
Therefore no arms, no missions (tending to substitute
one terror lor another) but onl}' patience and calmness
are necessary for the conquest of those simple souls
and to subsequently teach them, through example, to
devote themselves to work. They must be made to feel
that civilization is useful, the inspirer of good and not
an insidious injurer.
What can savages think when they are subjected to
depredation and bloodshed by those who, with the.se
measures, have come to them to proclaim the principles
of respect for other people's property and the inviola-
bilit}' of human life ?
It is indeed a great pleasure to me finding that to
day the Sakais no longer distrust civilization and .some
of them, especially the younger ones, do not refuse or
shrink from woi'k as they once did and neither do they
oppose such an obstinate resistance to tho.se innova-
tions which I too had a part in introducing among
them.
1 leave it to my readers to judge if I am guilty of
vanity in thus expressing my contentment.
And now I have finished.
<?"~^-§7'^*5>
CONTENTS
Chapter I : Malacca and its contrasts — Devourcrs of the
soul and devourers of the body — The realization of
a poet' s dream — Temptations — A call from the
forest — Auri sacra fames — Baggage — Farewell
to civilization . Page 5
Chapter II : My escort — By steamer to Telok Anson — The
other bank of the Pcrak — Towards the forest — First
news — Blood-letting in the swamp — Robbed and for-
saken — Revenge in due time — The Malay's insti-
gation — My little Sam Sam's fidelity — Philosophical
reflections under a heavy weight » i r
Chapter III: A fearful nocturnal concert — Fire! Fire! — ,
A clearing in the forest — A general flight — Masters
of the camp ! — Mortal weariness — A morning greet-
ing without any compliments — A first meeting — In
the village — Ala against the Orang-putei 22
Chapter IV : New friends — Gold — An English official —
The purchase of my future treasure — Administrative
simplicity — England teaches ! — The " sla pui „ —
Bitter disappointment — The Sam-Sam — The poison
of the Savage and the venom of the Civilized . . „ 3r
Chapter V : Great Mother Earth — A dangerous meeting —
A living statue — Here or there ? — An unrelished
supper — A dreaded immigration — A glance into the
past — A rape which was not a rape — A noble task
— Towards the mountain — Tiger-shooting — The
Sakais in town — Alloyed sweets — Musical tastes
— Hurrah for the free forest ! „ -12
Chapter VI : The great Sorceress — The forest seen from
above — A struggle for life — The crimes of plants
— Everlasting twilight — Births and deaths — Concerts
by forest vocalists — The " durian „ — The " ple-lok „
— Vastncsses unexplored by science — Treasures
intact — Para Rubber — The Samaritans of the jungle
— The forest and its history ,,59
Chapter VII : The snares of civilized hfe -- Faust' s invo-
cation — The dangers of the forest — Serpents — A
perilous adventure — Carnivorous and herbivorous
animals — The " sladan „ — The man of the wood „ 75
Chapter VIII: An official appointment — A tour of in-
spection — Lost in the forest — I find a philosopher
— Lycurgus and his laws — A contented mind is
a continual feast — A night among the tigers — On
the Berumhum — I sleep with a serpent — The last
of many — Safe from trap and arrow — The inco-
ronation of King Edward VII Page 85
Chapter IX : Tiie origin of the Sakais — Hypothesis and
legend — Physical character - Thick tresses, gay
ilowers and troublesome guests — Hereditary anti-
pathy — The five senses reduced to two — Food
and drink - Tranquil hfe — Intolerance of authority
— Mother-in-law and daughter-in-law — Logical la-
ziness — A Sakai journalist — The story of a mattress „ 107
Chapter X : The Sakai woman — Conjugal fidelity — A
life of labour — Betrothals and nuptials — Love among
the Sakais — Divorcement — No kissing — Chastity
— Bigamy — Maternity and its excesses — Aged
before the time — Fashion and coquetry . . . „ [25
Chapter XI: A Sakai village — The " elder „ — The fa-
mily — Degrees of relationship — Humorists dis-
occupied — On the march — Tender hearts — Kin-
dling the fire — A hecatomb of giants — The hut —
Household goods and utensils — Work and repose . „ 141
Chapter XII : Intellectual development — Sakais of the
plain and Sakais of the hills — Laziness and intel-
ligence — Falsehood and the Evil Spirit — The Sakai
language — When the " Orang Putei „ gets angry
— Counting time — Novel calendars — Moral gifts „ rSa
Chapter XIII : First attempts at industry — The story of
a hat — Multiplicity - Primitive arts — Sakai music
— Songs — Instruments — Dances — Ball dresses —
Serpentine gracefulness — Aii unpubhshed Sakai song ,, 172
Chapter XIV: The beliefs and superstitions of the Sakais
— Metempsychosis — The Evil Spirit — Superstition
among savages and ignorance among civilized people
— The two sources of life — The wind — The Ala
priest and physician — A scientific vigil — Vene-
rable imposture ! — Tenac and cintok — Therapeutic
torture — Contagion — A Sakai' s death — The de-
serted village — Mourning — Births — Fire — In-
tellectual darkness — The Sakais and Islamism. . „ i83
Chapter XV : Sakai arms -- Shooting — Serpent catchers
— The Sakai and his poisons — Toalang, lengas
and sagol — Sin dol, sin plek and slii dob — Akar
foka — Ipok — An antidote — The labar, lanipai,
iiiasc and loo — The hgop — The Mai Bretaks —
The preparation of legop — Curious and superfluous
ingredients — The effects of legop — Strange con-
tradictions — Experiments — Poisons and antidotes
— The settler and science ....••.. 202
Chapter XVI : Past and future geography — Mountains
and plateaus — An attempt at a census — Tempe-
rature — Maladies and remedies — Ala, a quack. „ 221
E K K A T A
Page
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