Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. Ill SAVAGE MALAYS OF MALACCA 193
as they might have caught. They were interdicted, by
one of their singular rules, from using any other wood
than that of the " petaling " and " jambu k'lat " in the
construction of these huts. The huts were made so as
to be movable at a moment's warning ;
on the appear-
ance of small -pox, or any other contagious disorder,
a whole encampment would vanish in the course of a
single night. The huts were ordinarily situated on
the steep side of some forest -clad hill, or in some
sequestered dale, remote from any frequented road or
footpath, and with little plantations of yams, plantains,
and maize about them (some also had fields of rice).
The bones and hair of the animals whose flesh the
inmates might have been feeding upon strewed
the ground near them, whilst numbers of dogs
generally of a light brown colour— gave timely notice
of the approach of strangers.'
Jakun of Malacca.—The Malacca Jakun(or"Benua"),
characterised by Favre as the most ignorant, were the
poorest and most miserable, their best houses being
about the same as the worst of those of the Menang-
kabaus;- indeed Favre found several families who lived
without houses at all. These latter, gathering them-
selves together to the number of five or six families,
would choose a place in the thickest of the forest, and
there clear a circle about 25-30 ft. (7.6 m. to 9 m.) in
diameter ;
having
cleared this space, they would sur-
round it with the branches of trees they had just cut ;
to this they would add other thorny branches collected
from other parts, and so make a sort of bulwark
against tigers, bears, and panthers, which were present
in good numbers. Having done this, they would pro-
ceed to establish their dwelling in the enclosure thus
' Newbold, vol. ii. p. 404. - I.e. Inland Malays near Malacca.
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