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Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

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38o ARTS AND CRAFTS<br />

fish and turtles, or assisted <strong>the</strong> women in <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

search for roots.<br />

Manufacture <strong>of</strong> Bark-cloth.<br />

Kedah Semang-.— I have seen <strong>the</strong> Semang <strong>of</strong> Kedah<br />

make cloth <strong>of</strong> Upas-bark by cutting down young<br />

saplings <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Upas tree, (whose diameter was<br />

perhaps no more than 3 or 4 inches). These <strong>the</strong>y<br />

" ring-barked " a few feet from <strong>the</strong> root-end, and <strong>the</strong>n<br />

loosened <strong>the</strong> bark iji situ by hammering it with a<br />

mere rounded (hardwood) cudgel, and <strong>the</strong>n turning it<br />

back by hand in <strong>the</strong> way that a sleeve is rolled back,<br />

or a stocking taken <strong>of</strong>f, <strong>the</strong> process being continued<br />

until all <strong>the</strong> bark on each sapling has been similarly<br />

treated. As soon as <strong>the</strong> last <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> bark has been<br />

thus stripped <strong>of</strong>f it is thoroughly washed to remove<br />

<strong>the</strong> poisonous sap contained in it, dried for a short<br />

while in <strong>the</strong> sun, and is <strong>the</strong>n ready for use without<br />

any fur<strong>the</strong>r preparation.<br />

But by far <strong>the</strong> most interesting <strong>of</strong> all <strong>the</strong> Semang<br />

articles <strong>of</strong> attire is <strong>the</strong> black girdle woven from " urat<br />

batu " (or " rock-veins "). This girdle, which is called<br />

" tentom " in <strong>the</strong> Kedah dialect <strong>of</strong> Semang, is not<br />

manufactured, as usually stated, from a kind <strong>of</strong> creeper,^<br />

but from <strong>the</strong> vegetative parts or rhizomorphs <strong>of</strong> a<br />

fungus which resemble long, slender, black, lea<strong>the</strong>ry-<br />

looking shiny strings, ra<strong>the</strong>r thinner than ordinary<br />

lea<strong>the</strong>r boot-laces. A number <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>se strings are<br />

woven toge<strong>the</strong>r into a single plait, which measures<br />

several yards in length, <strong>the</strong> loose end, 4 or 5 inches<br />

<strong>of</strong> each string, being allowed to hang down (when<br />

' See p. 138, note i.

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