Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. Ill SAVAGE MALAYS OF JOHOR 195
of the Penghulu Batin on the Johor river, and that of
a Jakun chief on the Benut river. These two houses
were divided into several rooms, some of which were
for the private accommodation of the Jakun women,
and the furniture consisted of a few pots, plates,
several other similar vessels, and a good quantity of
mats. Other houses were much more ordinary, but
were yet pretty comfortable and clean, and were
always divided into two or three rooms at least, and
furnished with an iron frying-pan for cooking rice in,
a few coconut-shells for holding water, and baskets
for carrying food. All these houses were raised about
6 ft. (1.8 m.) from the ground, and were entered by a
ladder like the Malay houses.^
House Fn r)i itu re— Pillows.
Jakun (district unspecified).—The Jakun pillow was,
unlike the others, made of soft wood, probably because
it could in that case be made without iron tools. It
was always convex at the sides and underneath, but
concave at the top, and was often stained red, yellow,
or black. These colours were obtained, the red from a
tree-bark, the yellow from a root, and the black from
a mixture of oil and charcoal. The yellow appears
from the description to be the Malay " kunyit " or
turmeric— a well-known root. The particular tree
which gave the red is not known, although there are
several trees whose bark gives a red colour.
It was the log-pillows of the women which were
most carefully stained. Those of the men were used
during the day for all sorts of purposes, e.g. as a Hoat
for a crocodile line, in which case their dark colour
1 J. T. A. vol. ii. pp. 255, 256.