Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

1 84
HABITATIONS
metres in breadth. The flooring, consisting of flattened
tree-bark, was raised about a metre above the ground.
Both the walls and the roof with its double slope were
constructed alike of broad strips of bark, which afforded
an excellent shelter from the floods of rain that fell in
the wet season. A notched tree-trunk served as house-
ladder for giving access to the interior of the building.^
In the middle of the only room was placed a hearth
consisting of a thick layer of clay deposited in a (square)
wooden frame. This was the hearth ("dapor") of Malay
houses. A few pots and receptacles of various kinds
containing provisions were hung upon the walls. The
remaining huts were all of the same type, except two
or three whose side-walls were made of matwork, in
imitation of the Malays.
-
Pahang- Sakai. — A graphic description of the
mountain hut of a Sakai by Mr. L. Wray is interest-
ing from the fact that the locality referred to is in
the far interior of Pahang.
Mr. Wray wrote ^ that the house (in the Tahan
valley) in which he passed the night was a large and
well-built one, and seemed to be occupied by two
families. It was at an elevation of about 4000 feet
(1225 m.), and being perched on the top of a cleared
hill fully exposed to the winds, he found it very cold.
Hanging up in the house were strings of the lower
jaws of monkeys, musangs, and other animals, and in
another house he saw bunches of hornbill skulls.
These were kept hanging up in the smoke as trophies,
in the same way as the Dayaks keep human heads in
their houses. Another custom which seemed to point
' De la Croix, pp. 322, 323. Brau fifteen families in the same place (pp.
fie S. P. Lias, in writing of the Sakai 279, 280).
of Sungei Kerbu, adds that they ' Jbid.
always lived in groups of from ten to
'^
J. A'. A. S., S. />'., No. 21, p. 162.