Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

156 DUESS PART II
the Negrito women. ^ According to De Morgan,
these combs are made of decorated bamboo, or else
of small wooden teeth bound together by means of an
exceedingly tight string. These latter are used by
the Sakai of G. Bujang Malaka and of S. Kampar^
(both of which places are in Perak).
In addition to these combs the Sakai women,
when they wear their hair long, adorn their heads
with fillets and bouquets, which they keep in place
by means of a comb or a long dagger-shaped bamboo
pin, covered with (incised) patterns.^
The fillets and bouquets are generally gathered in
the forest and worn fresh, though the Sakai not
unfrequently also wear dried plants cleverly plaited.*
According to Hale, the Sakai women also wear
porcupines' quills, etc., through the lobe of the ear, rolls
of cloth and other materials being also worn, not for
the purpose of ornament, but in order to enlarge the
orifice.^ Short bamboo tubes with flowers in them are
then inserted."
For the quills, earrings were not unfrequently
substituted — probably owing to their greater con-
venience. According to De Morgan, the women also
wore earrings consisting of copper rings, a small
string of beads, or a mere flower, whose stalk is
inserted into the perforation of the lobe."
Nose-sticks or Nose-quills.
Perak Sakai.— But one of the most distinctive orna-
ments is the nose-quill, which appears to be originally
1 Hale, p.295 (and Plate xiii. ib.). * De Morgan, vii. 413, 414.
2 De Morgan, vii. 413, 414. * Hale, p. 293 : cp. vol. ii. 3 This pin is also used (Hale, p.
"
39.
^..i.^ among the Semang-Sakai of
295) for disentangling the hair.
patterns, v. Fasc. Mai. 35, 36.
For U. Jelei, Pahang.
' De Morgan, vii. 413, 414.