Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

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RACIAL AFFINITIES
as shown in the tracings of Pangan feet which we took
in Ulu Kelantan.
The following passage from Vaughan-Stevens about
the walk of the aborigines in general (" Orang Utan ")
applies perfectly to the Semang :
—
" I have tried to obtain some data on the walk of the Orang Utan, but I
find that this is scarcely possible, from reasons related to the great variability of
their environment. In the first place, it is very rare to find a man who is free
from cuts, cracks, or thorn-pricks ; for according to their custom they go barefoot
in spite of the roughness of the land and of the obstacles and dangers with
which the thick vegetation threatens them. This influences their walk in one
respect. In the second place, they are appreciably influenced by the character
of the jungle through which they have been wandering for some weeks previously.
From habit they adapt their walk to the peculiarities of the way by which they
have to travel. A path (for instance) where thorns that have fallen from the trees
and creeping plants surround him causes the man to walk carefully and slowly,
and at each step to delay a moment before he trusts the whole weight of the
body to the foot ; and this method of walking is retained some days from mere
habit, even when the thorny jungle is left and the path is once more smooth and
level.
" After observing a man for a whole day, I found that he employed no fewer
than eight different ways of walking, which varied with the nature of the ground
to be traversed. And the ground to be traversed suff'ers such constant changes
throughout the life of the Orang Utan that I really do not know which of these
ways of walking I should describe as his most usual method. Contrary to the
European in general, he has few or no level paths to go by, and hence the gait
which he adopts on such a path would not be his usual way of walking, but
would be precisely the method which he employs most rarely.
" The footsteps of the Negritos, I am prepared to maintain, are almost straight
in the majority of cases, whereas all those of the Orang Utan (?) turn outwards.
In all races, however, there is so great a difference in the [usual] angles that it
is impossible to say which angle is the real standard."^
Locomotion. ^
With regard to strength and endurance in walking, the wild E. Semang
(Pangan) stand in the front rank. Then come the Jakun and the civilised (W.
Semang ; and, last of all, the various tribes of Sakai (Blandas and Tembeh).
The Semang are bad runners, but they are as quick as an eel or a snake in
getting through marshy swamps or forest, their small bodies being very pliant and
supple. In getting fast through bushes or mangrove jungle they are better than
the Sakai (Blandas), although the latter have the better sense of direction in
unknown forest.
Climbing,
The following remarks, from the dialectal forms,
evidently refer to the Semang :
^ Z./. £. xxix. 191, 192. 2 /(j_ pp_ ig^^ ip^.
)
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