Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP, in SAVAGE MALAYS OF MALACCA 19
such as combs and medicines. The exact patterns
were said to be lost.'
Huts and their Furniture.
Mantra.—Of the Mantra huts, M. Borie says that
their dwelHngs scarcely kept out the rain, and were
open to every wind, most frequently being without
either doors or windows. The best of them consisted
of nine posts, of which three were about a third longer
than the six others. These nine posts were strongly
planted in the ground in three rows, with the long
posts in the centre ;
these
posts were then united at
the top by means of longitudinal and transverse
timbers lashed together by means of rattans ; upon
these timbers were placed rafters - to sustain the roof,
which was made of leaves ; and the floor, which was
generally raised several feet above the ground, was
formed by laying laths across the longitudinal and
transverse timbers and covering these laths with the
bark of trees ; the
sides were similarly more or less
covered in either with leaves or tree-bark.'^
The following articles were found in a compara-
tively well-furnished Mantra hut, which was occupied
by two men, two women, and two children.
There were two blowpipes (" sumpitan "), several
choppers and axes, two torch-stands, two iron pans,
two earthenware pots, two wallets or back-baskets
(" sentong "), a kind of basket termed by the Malays
"garing," two plates, two cups, five small tea-cups,
four earthenware spoons, seven "sarongs," three jackets
("baju"), three pairs of trousers ("seluar"), four
waist-bands, four headkerchiefs, one pair of ear-
' Z. f. E. xxix. 187. - In oriijinal, "shingles'" (.t/V).
' Borie (ir. Hourien), p. 76.