Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. XI SAKAI OF PERAK 527
II.
—
Sakai.
Dealings with Strangers.
Perak Sakai.— Clifford says,' that in contrast to
the Negritos, who Hve as hunters in slight lean - to
sheds, the Sakai live in houses, and plant as well
as hunt ; and
adds further that the Sakai tribes are, for
the most part, now split up into innumerable clans,
each consisting of a few families living in places
surrounded by the Malays, and thus cut off from
communication with each other, these small clans
being more advanced in civilisation, and at the same
time more degenerate than their brothers the Sakai
of the far interior.
De Morgan says that, thanks to their honesty,
they can do without police, and that as often as he
compared our feverish life in Europe with the peace-
ful existence (of the Sakai), the comparison always
proved to the advantage of the latter.-
Hale, who saw a great deal of the Sakai people
in Perak, invariably found them (where not demo-
ralised by Malay intercourse) most kind and simple-
hearted, and always anxious to do their best to
assist any white man that happened to be in want of
assistance. He found this, moreover, the general
opinion amongst those who had had dealings with
these tribes. As has already been stated in the case
of the Semang, the Sakai in their natural state were
given neither to lying or cheating, though, on the other
hand, they themselves are often the victims of the
most shameless imposture on the part of the Malays.^
' /. K. A. S., 5. B., No. 24, p. 14.
^ De Morgan, vii. 425 ; cp. /.'//omwe, ii. 556-559. ^ Hale, p. 286.