Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

I So HA lUTA TIONS
of an immense plantation {'' un vaste Jardin''), which
seems to imply some degree of permanence. All he
says of the houses, however, is that they " were con-
structed on a level with the ground," and " were open
to all the winds that blow," and that the Semang
protected themselves at night against the attacks of wild
beasts by means of great " braziers " [sic) which they
light up under their roof.' On the whole, it seems
that the Semang take much less readily than the Sakai
to the Malayan custom of building their huts on piles.
Among the Semang of Perak (Menik) no one uses
any special kind of pillow, whether of wood or of any
other material. Often they use no pillow at all, and
if they do, the first thing that comes to hand (such as
a bundle of grass or twigs), or the arm will be used.-
II.
—
Sakai.
Skelters and Jree-hiits.
Perak Sakai.—The wild tribes of the Perak Hills
(Sakai Bukit), according to what De la Croix was
told by the tame Sakai of S. Kerbu, are seldom met
with, as they do not live in villages, and build no
houses, but when night arrives they either sleep in
the shade of a tree, or (at the most) hurriedly erect a
shelter of leaves.''
Selangor Sakai. — The Sakai, like the Semang,
make use of caves as well as trees to dwell in. Mr.
Ridley informs me that he once saw an excellent
example consisting of a rock-shelter which he visited
1 De Morgan, viii. 296. ever, seems to have been hearsay, and
2 Z.f.E. xxix. 186. Elsewhere (p. Mr. Wray informs me that the Sakai
1S7), V.-St. says that the wild Semang of the Perak Hills build very good
(rangan)alonedonot use the pillow con- houses (cp. Z'//. ii. 646), which probsisting
of a cloth bag stuffed with cotton. ably accounts for De M."s much too
^ De la Croix, p. 340. This, how- sweeping d^tnenti (Z'//. iii. 43).