Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. IV SAKAI OF PERAK 97
of the Batang Padang Sakai. It was a raised grave of
the Malayan type, and was built up with earth thrown
up within his house, for which purpose the flooring had
been removed, and the walls continued down to the
ground. His widow and children were living in a
house near by, and it was they who took Mr. Wray to
see the grave.
The account given by Vaughan-Stevens contains
(as usual) no localities ; it runs as follows :
The old form of Sakai (" B'landas ") grave is very peculiar, but has now become
rare. In places where tlie Sakai have mixed with Malays and Chinese the old
methods of burial have ceased with the love of the old customs. The grave is made
wall-sided, as it is then (says Vaughan-Stevens) found easier to dig {sic). The
corpse is washed by friends or relations and dressed in clean clothes. The site
for the grave is chosen by the wife or nearest relation and one of the subordinate
chiefs (Penglima) ; it is always distant from another grave, road, river, or house.
The digging of the grave, for which no payment is made, is performed by two or
more persons, old tools being used in preference to modern (Chinese) ones.
The corpse is laid out with the hands close to the hips, and bands or strips of
bark or cane are bound round the arms, wrists, and ankles. The eyes are
closed, but the lower jaw is not bandaged ; and the body having been rolled up
in a mat (a modern substitute for bark-cloth), is firmly bound round in three
places. A new wrapper of tree-bark (large enough to surround the corpse) is
then rolled round it and tied again with three bands of cane or tree-fibre and
slung from a carrying pole, the ends of wliich are borne by two men upon their
shoulders. Only one woman (the wife) may follow, but as many men as like
may do so. At the grave the bark wrapper is removed, and the corpse laid upon
its back in the grave with the head towards the west. There is no "consecrating"
ceremony.i
I omit the rest of Vaughan-Stevens' description
of the Sakai grave, as it possesses no further interest
from the Sakai point of view. The form of grave
described is a mere copy of a common Arabic gravetype
which has been borrowed by the Mohammedan
Malays, and adopted from them in turn by the Sakai
without any interesting variations to recommend it.
Those who wish to see it, however, will find it under the
^ Vaughan-Stevens, ii. 136, 137. finger to that of the outstretched
The length of the grave is fixed by thumb). The standard for the depth of
measurement ; the standard being a the grave is the hip-joint of the digger,
man's length plus a span or "jengkal" [Among Malays it is usually taken to
(reckoning from the tip of the middle be the ear of the digger.—W. S.]
VOL. II H