Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

I SUMMARY OF NEGRITO CULTURE 53
The Negritos themselves acknowledge that the Semang (Menik) child
generally suffers more when in want of food than the Sakai (Blandas) and Jakun
children. ^
!
Summary of Semang Culture.^
The Semang are the most nomadic of all these
tribes, the wilder ones never staying, it is alleged,
more than three days in one place. But few of them
have taken to agriculture, and they obtain their livelihood
by hunting, fishing, and trapping, by digging up
wild roots and tubers, and by gathering the various
jungle fruits as they come into season.
They are fond of tobacco, but very seldom indulge
in betel-chewing, of which, in fact, I never saw an
instance among the Semang of Kedah and Ulu Patani.
They wear to some extent the loin-cloth of tree-bark
(the bark selected being in some cases that of the
upas or poison-tree), but their distinctive costume
appears to be a raere girdle of leaves, or, as especially
on festal occasions, a peculiar girdle manufactured from
the long black shiny strings (really the rhizomorph)
of a toad-stool
The wildest of the Semang do not appear as a
race to tattoo, or scarify, either the face or the body,
though in some cases they may have learnt the custom
(of scarification) from the Sakai. They (the men
especially) often shave the head, and not unfrequently
about half a dozen of their front teeth will be seen
to have been filed, though this is not necessarily a
Semang custom. The women wear in their hair a
magic comb which is believed to avert disease and
danger. The Semang do not circumcise. Their dis-
tinctive weapon is the bow with poisoned arrows,
' Z. f. E. xxix. 202, 203.
- For Col. Temple's comparison of Semang with Andamancse v. Appendix.