Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. HI SAKAl OF PERAK 183
house in question was more than an hour's climb from
water. It was surrounded by a clearing of about two
acres in extent, where tapioca, maize, sugar-cane, and
tobacco were grown. The house contained sixteen
inhabitants, divided into six distinct family units, each
of which had its own hearth. In the case of a man
having two wives, each wife had her own hearth,
marked out by means of a low partition of split
bamboos. There was a door in the end-wall, and also
an outlet in the slope of the roof
On the other hand, the Sakai huts observed in Ulu
Kinta by De Morgan are described as being built
very far apart from each other, and situated in the
midst of immense plantations of tapioca, " sorgho " (?)
and maize, trom which it may possibly be deduced
that they were on rather less strictly communal
principles. De Morgan was invited to enter the
Penghulu's hut. which was, like those at S. Raya. built
at a height of about 1.50 m. from the ground. It was
very small, but very clean. Blowpipes, arrows, and a
spear hung from the roof, and it contained many betel-
leaf-wallets, necklaces, nets, lines, and a small but
highly decorated piece of bamboo, the use of which
was for carrying the worms used in rod-fishing.
In another place, De la Croix, in describing the
Sakai village of Kampong Chabang, in the upper
reaches of S. Kerbu (a tributary of the Plus river in
Perak, which is a few miles furth(*r north than Ulu
Kinta), remarks that the village consisted of a dozen
huts, erected in the midst of a clearing, on the banks
of the river. The chi(Ts but (the largest) was built
upon piles, and measured ten metres in length by five
' Hale. p. 294. ii. 645, for illustrations showing ground-
'•* De Morgan, viii. 167. Cp. /."//. plan .-ind elevations of a S.akai hut.
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