THE WILD TRTBP:^ OK THE MALAY I'ENINSULA. 475 



FUNEKAL. 



At !i Sakai or Jakiiii fimejral the l)ody of the deceased is shiiiu;' from 

 a pole and carried to a distant spot in tiie juni^le at h'ast a cock's 

 crow from the nearest house. Here it is wrajjped in a new cloth and 

 buried in a shallow trench, the clothes worn duiinu- the life of tiie 

 deceased lieing- ])urned in a tire which is lighted near the <;rave. The 

 grave l)eing- tilled up, rice is sown ujjon it and watered, some herbs 

 and young bananas, etc., are planted round it (all of these being for 

 the deceased's soul to feed ui)on), and linally a small three-cornered 

 hutch, not unlike a doll's house, ))ut raised on very high posts, is 

 erected near the foot of the grave for the soul to reside in. The soul's 

 house itself is about a foot and a half high, is thatched M'ith palm 

 leaves, and provided with a ladd(M' for the soul to climb up bv. It 

 contains in addition dimiuuti^'e emblems of the sex of the deceased (in 

 the case of a man, th(^ model of a hatchet and a jungle knife, etc.; in 

 the case of a woman, the model of a ])ack basket or wallet, such as is 

 carried 1)}" the women of the tribe), as well as a supply of food (a little 

 rice and lish, etc.) for the deceased's soul to feed upon, to])acco for it 

 to smoke, and betel leaf for it to chew. 



The Semang, on the other hand, practice a simple form of interment, 

 a supply of food and drink being placed in the grave along with the 

 body. There is, however, a tradition that the}' used to devour their 

 dead and bury the head only, and although this assertion is certainly 

 untrue now, and probabl}^ always was so, it is more than probable 

 that like their close kinsmen the Andamanese they may once have been 

 in th(^ habit of disinterring the ])on(»s of their dead and l)reaking them 

 into short segments to string on to their neckhices, in which cas(^ the 

 skull may have once l)een worn, as among the Andamanese, as a sort 

 of pendant attached to the necklace. 



MAOIO. 



The chiefs of the tribe were often, if not always, medicine men or 

 magicians, their power in this respect being greatly feared by the 

 Malays, who believed them to l)c capable of slaying jx'ople at a distance 

 b}' means of what are called "sendings," which were small slivers of 

 bamboo apparently representing darts, which l)eing placed on the 

 palm of the hand would (it was thought), at the magician's bidding, 

 fly through space until the}- reached their intended victim, whom they 

 would pierce to the heart and kill even at a distance of two or three 

 days' journey. 



The Biduh Perindu or "'love and longing" bamboo was said to 

 grow vipon almost inaccessil)le mountain peaks. Slivei-s of this plant 

 were form(>rly obtained from tlui Jakuns by the mem})ers of Malay 

 traveling theatrical troupes, who inserted them between the teeth, 



