Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

MODES OF BARTER
they frequently leariu to work upon the superstitions
of the Malays (when they had no products to barter,
and wished to procure a supply of tobacco), by pre-
senting them with medicines which they pretended to
derive from particular shrubs and trees in the woods,
and represented as efficacious for the cure of headache
and other complaints.'
Pangfan.—The Pangan or Eastern Semang that
we saw at Ulu Aring in Kelantan used to depend
upon the Malay hamlet of Kampong Buntal for their
rice, as well as for their salt and their tobacco, and
had come down, in fact, at the time when we were
there for the purpose of obtaining this latter commodity,
of which I myself was able to present them
with a considerable supply. The only other articles
for which they were usually indebted to the Malays
were the cloths they wrapped round their waists, and
the blades of their jungle-knives and spear-heads. On
the other hand, one of the men that we observed was
in possession of a razor which had been " given " him
(doubtless in return for more than its fair equivalent
in other commodities) by the Malay chief or " Peng-
hulu " of the village.
Kedah Semang. — The Semang of Kedah had
themselves grown a small field of rice, and to the
extent of their harvest were independent of the local
Malays, so far as their food-supply was concerned.
Nevertheless the scantiness of this stock made it
quite clear that in a few months they would have
come to an end of it, and would either be obliged to
' I. J. A. vol.
This account is
iv. pp. 425, 426.
not quite just to
Similar charges are, of course, often
made by the Malays (from whom this
the Semang, who undoubtedly offered idea may have been derived), but on
to the Malays what they themselves proper investigation they prove to be
resrarded as efficacious medicines. baseless.