Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. IX NEGRITOS OF PERAK 439
was occasionally more or less covered over by the
resin that coated the muzzle-end, the virtue of the
charm was not impaired thereby.
It was evident at once that many of the patterns
on the charm-holders (" ga "), which were originally
designed for a bamboo of larger diameter, did not
suit the reduced area available for them in the blow-
pipe. The muzzle part of the latter, therefore, was
shortened to correspond with the design.
The patterns now constructed are of varying
length (as in Figs. 113, 114, 121, etc.), and further
ring-lines are either added at the muzzle-end, or are
their pattern is varied. The
omitted entirely ; even
blackened muzzle-end of the blowpipe was soon
either altogether omitted or replaced by a band of
varying width, formed by stripping the bamboo of its
outer cuticle and smearing it with charcoal.^ It is
still to be seen in many specimens between the main
design and the muzzle-end.]
The general irregularities of design extend even
to the East Semang or Pangan. The Kensiu,
Kinta, Bong, and Bclum tribes of the west coast
have added designs of their own to the old patterns,
and employ them merely as a form of decoration, both
for the blowpipes and the dart-quivers that accom-
pany them. [Many patterns of the charm-holders could
not be adapted to the blowpipe tube, and hence were
retained for the charm-tubes only. The same patterns
were never employed in both sets, and hence the two
sets (of charm-tube and blowpipe patterns) must be
combined to form a complete series.]
* See illustrations. The order in to Yl. Then come (3) the blowpipe
which they are arranged is as follows : patterns from i to 128, where 66A i.>
— (I) Quivers and charm-tubes inter- inserted. The arrangement is that of
mixed from A to Z, and (2) from Ai Vaughan-Stevens himself.