Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

150 DRESS PART II
Nose-sticks and EarHngs.
Kedah Semangr.—The custom of wearing a stick
through the septum of the nose was not practised in
Kedah. It is also unknown to the Andamanese, and
as it is common among the Perak Sakai and the Sakai
of Pahang, it is no doubt a practice of Sakai origin.^
Earrings of rolled-up leaf (banana and "licuala")
are worn by both sexes.^
Perak Semang.— It is quite possible that some of
the Perak Semang may have learnt nose-boring from
the Sakai, but I have not met with any record of its
employment among the purer Semang tribes, though
they do wear earrings ; it is quite unknown to the Jakun.
II.
—
Sakai,
The Girdle.
Perak Sakai.—The fringed waist-cord sometimes
worn by the Semang is also found among the Sakai
and Jakun. Thus De la Croix says that, in the
neighbourhood of Mt. Bujang Malaka, the Sakai
women that he saw wore, instead of the tree -bark
girdle, a row of small grass- bundles attached to a
cord which went around the waist. And in i869(.'*)
M. Alfred Marche observed the same form of girdle
among the Mantra women north of Malacca.^
On the other hand, we are told that the waistwrap
or " loin - cloth " of tree - bark, which is
most probably of Malayan origin, appears to be very
1 Cp. Man's A7id. p. I15 : "No differ greatly from their neighbours the
attempt is made to alter the shape of Nicobarese." - See p. 526, infra.
the nose by flattening or pinching it, ^ De la Croix, p. 330. Another
nor is the cartilaginous septum ever form (of coiled jungle-fibre with leaves
perforated for the purpose of inserting attached) is sometimes seen among
ornamental bars or rings. In this, as
in many other respects, the Andamanese
mixed Seniang-Sakai {fi.g. the
of Pahang).
O. Jelei