Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. XI SAVAGE MALAYS OF JOHOR 559
anything, and will never refuse what is asked from
them ;
and when after asking their visitor refuses to
take anything, they will press him to do so. They
very seldom have quarrels among themselves, and
their disputes are usually settled by their Batins or
chiefs without any display of malice or fighting. Their
laws allow of punishments for several sorts of crime,
but the Batin seldom has occasion to apply them.
Candour and honesty, qualities very rare in India,
and perhaps so in all Asia, are notwithstanding found
amongst the Jakun. It is remarkable that they abhor
lying and thieving, not in words as the Malay, but
really and in practice. They are never known to
steal anything, not even the most insignificant trifle.
These remarkable qualities have on more than one
occasion induced persons to attempt to domesticate
them, but the result has generally been the disappear-
ance of the Jakun upon the slightest coercion. A Mr,
Lewis, formerly Assistant Resident at Penang, had
for some time a Jakun family in his house. They
appeared at first to be very glad of their position, but
having been one day employed in some servile work,
they fled away and appeared no more. The reason
is that the Jakun are extremely proud, and will not
submit for any length of time to servile oflices or to
much control. This, if it was a defect, was the only
one that Logan remarked in them. ^
Europeans are known to the Jakun, as a rule, by
report only, the greater number of them having never
seen a European. But on account of the great
number of Chinese in the Peninsula, few of them are
unaware of the existence of China ; they are told, too,
'
J. I. A. vol. ii. pp. 266, 267.