Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

392 ARTS AND CRAFTS part ii
livelihood ; they
traverse the jungle all the day
seeking after rattan, dammar, eagle- wood, and several
other articles of commerce ; the next morning they
go to some Malay house, where they dispose of the
produce of their search, receiving in return a small
quantity of rice, sometimes scarcely sufficient to
support their family for that very day ;
after that they
return to the same thing for the purpose of in like
manner procuring food for the next day, and so on/
Baskets.
Jakun of Johor.—Among the Jakun the panniers
or back-baskets (so generally worn by all the abori-
ginal tribes) are usually made either of basket-work
or of tree-bark.
D. F. A. Hervey, in writing of the Johor Jakun,
describes a pannier of the second kind mentioned as
being manufactured from the bark of the " meranti."-
Mining.
Where the Chinese work tin-mines, they some-
times employ the Jakun as workmen. It is, however,
also alleged that there is a place in Jelebu where the
Jakun work the mines by themselves, and bring the
tin to Pahang, where they sell it.^
Boat-building.
Benua- Jakun.— Of Jakun boats we learn (also
from Logan) that their canoes were used for
transporting produce and for fishing, as well as for
visiting every part of the network of rivers on which
they lived. These canoes varied in length from 8 to
'
J.
I. A. vol. ii. p. 260. A fine hardwood kind of jungle tree,
- J. R. A. S., S. B., No. 8, p. 97. generally a Shorea {Dipterocarpea).
3
J.
I. A. vol. ii. p. 260.