Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. I NEGRITOS OF KEDAH 113
out with a little sugar-cane, both of which were cultivated
by themselves, together with a little tapioca and the
wild roots and fruits of the jungle. Their flesh-food
consisted of small birds and animals, but more often of
fish and turtle, etc., which they caught or harpooned
in the river at the foot of the hill. A few of these
Negrito tribes still hunt with the bow, but the blow-
pipe has also made some converts, especially towards
the south. They are unfettered by religious re-
strictions in their search for food,^ and are averse to
nothing which can be converted into a means of
sustenance. We often encountered the holes made by
them in digging for roots in the deepest recesses of
the forest.
Pang-an.—The food of the Eastern Semang (Pan-
gan) does not differ from that of their western kindred.
In a small rock-shelter which I visited in the hills
of Patalung near Singora, and which was deserted
by the Pangan just before we got there, we found
the remains of a fire, the ribs of a small tortoise
on which they had been feeding, and a half-smoked
(native) cigarette. In the deserted semicircular
huts of the Pangans at Ulu Aring, in Kelantan,
we found the remains of fires, short bamboo vessels
which had been used for carrying dried rice (" nasi
lemang"), and a half coconut-shell, which had, no doubt,
been used for drinking. These Pangan when in the
neighbourhood used to come down to the Malay
hamlet at Kampong Buntal for rice and tobacco.
Kedah Semang and Pangan. — Fire - making by
friction is the simplest method practised by both
Eastern and Western Semang. It usually takes the
form of rubbing together short blocks of wood,
' For rules as to eating the " soul-bird " (an alleged exception), v. vol. ii. pp. 4-6.
VOL. I I