Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

488 DECORATIVE ART part u
Other Sakai drawings of spiders have five legs,
but in this specimen we sometimes see seven and
sometimes eight. Perhaps the mistake may have
arisen from copying an older pattern. The fact that
the male spider (in the centre of the figure) has two
rows of legs, instead of one, was explained as indicat-
ing that these spiders do not remain in one place, but
run to and fro.
The Sakai believe too that the spiders have fangs
or jaws like the millipedes, but that they are too small
to be seen. As already mentioned, the " spider's
feet " at the edge belong to the female ;
the explana-
tion being that the spider is supposed to have run
along the thread.
Near one of the right feet of the female is to be
seen a small round figure surrounded by short strokes.
This is the young one, which the female is supposed
to be tending.
The figure on the body of the male is incorrectly
drawn, but has no significance.
The upper part of this pattern is of special
interest. It represents the stony side of a hill—
locality where these spiders are supposed to be
specially numerous.
The figure c towards the upper half of the drawing
indicates a hill emerging into a sand-covered plain
(like the plains which lie near rivers). Over this
again rise hill-ridges, represented by a figure that
appears to possess three separate types, denoting
respectively (i) projecting rocky masses, (2) simple
rocky or stony ground, and (3) water-courses.'
was. At last he tore off the legs of were not enough to go round. The
his victim, and laid them in succession only thing he then said was " silap "
on those of the figure, when he was (mistake),
highly astonished to find that there ' Z.f. E. xxvi. 184.
a