Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

SA VAGE MALA YS OF SELANGOR 217
ing very peculiar though cruel method was pursued.
The argus pheasant, which is a most beautiful bird,
is exceedingly shy of man, and lives, as a rule, a long
way off in the hilly part of the forest, where it may
be heard calling, and sometimes (but very rarely) can
be seen flying overhead.
Here and there these birds have regular dancinggrounds
which they clear of weeds and small shrubs by
seizing the roots with their beaks and twisting their
necks round the stems so as to drag the latter up out
of the ground.
The Besisi of Kuala Langat, being aware of this
habit, search for one of their dancing-grounds and
plant in the centre of it one or two long and flexible
slivers of bamboo, bent double so as to form a stifl
kind of noose standing upright in the ground. The
edges of these slivers are as sharp as knives, and
when the birds twist their necks in the nooses (mis-
taking them, it is alleged, for newly-grown weeds)
and try to drag them out of the ground, they generally
kill or choke themselves in doing so.'
Fishiti!^.
Besisi.— The Besisi of Langat (as their claim to be
Orang Laut might lead us to expect) are very expert
fishers. Their bait.' for the most part, consists of
worms, especially the sand-worm ("pumpun sarang "),
which they stalk and very adroitly dig up out of the
sand before it has time to bury itself too deeply.
They commonly also use, however, the " pumpun
' Often, however, they are taken markable process here described, is
alive in one of the many kinds of bird- contained in the Museum at Cambridge,
traps used by the Jakun. A model, - It is described by Klinkert as remade
at my request by a member of sembling a millipede, as living in the
the tribe in order to exhibit the re- sand, and as affording luit for fish.