Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

SA VAGE MALA YS OF SELANGOR 189
off squarely at the ends. It ditlers from the Jakun
and Blandas pillow, the wood of which was very soft.'
The Balai.
Besisi.— Before leaving the subject of Besisi huts 1
must not omit to mention the important fact that there
were among these Jakun tribes traces of the use of a
Tribal Hall, such as is always attached to the house
of a Malay chief, and is called " Balai " both by Jakun
and Malays. On the occasion of a Besisi wedding,
the Besisi of Ayer Itam (on the Selangor coast) had
built a hall of this kind at right angles to the house of
their tribal chief or Batin (thus forming a sort of " T "-
shaped building in which the " Balai " formed the
downstroke of the " T "). Such Balais are frequently
mentioned in Besisi songs, and I think there is very
little doubt that we do not hnd here a simple instance of
borrowing from the Malays, but rather an example of a
custom sprung from their common origin. The building
in question was erected by the voluntary labour of all
the men ot the tribe (just as would have been the case
if it had been built by a Malay chief), and it was large
enough to contain about sixty to seventy people or
more (the members of the tribe itself numbering about
sixty). It was opposite the door of this building that
the bell-shaped mound which was explained to me as
the religious emblem of the tribe -' was thrown up.
And it was inside this same building that the various
tribal feasts took place.
lints.
Labu Tribes.—Their dwellings are the simplest and
' Z.f. L. xxix. 186. Sec p. 186, supra, and p. 105, infiii.
2 Cp. vol. ii. pp. 72-74.