9 o 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



dance, the women wear wreaths of 

 sweet-smelling grasses and leaves. A 

 French writer, speaking of their dress 

 and ornaments, says: "The whole 

 effect is an indescribably strange 

 mixture of grace and horror, flowers 

 and rags, carnival and woodland 

 poetry. The little figure gives an 

 impression of something child-like and 

 fairy-like too; these little beings with 

 great flowering antenna? are the forest 

 gnomes, the goblins, which for once 

 have shown, in the full sunlight, a 

 vision of the moonlight." In their 

 wild state they eat all the animal 

 food they can get, devouring even 

 snakes and lizards; but they will not 

 take the trouble to go in search of 

 animal food until all their stock of 

 fruits and vegetables is exhausted. 

 Once in about three months a big 

 fishing party is organised; but as the 

 art of drying fish is not understood, 

 the feast ends in a few days, because 

 what remains uneaten is no longer 

 eatable. 



They appear to have but two 

 manufactured foods. One is made 

 from the tubers of a wild tapioca; 

 these roots, if eaten in their natural 

 state, are said to cause a sort of 

 drunkenness, or perhaps merely sleepiness. They place the roots about 4 feet deep in the 

 mud of a swamp. After they have lain there four nights they are lifted and brought home, 

 and the women set to work to rasp the now soft roots up into a pulp, using a prickly rattan 

 for a rasp. At this stage they have a particularly sour and pungent smell. The pulp is then 

 put into a mat, and the juice most carefully squeezed out. This is done by means of a simple 

 lever, one end of a long piece of timber being put under the wall of the house, the bag of 

 pulp placed under the lever, and a woman sitting on the other end soon expresses all the 

 water. The dried pulp is then squeezed into a joint of bamboo and dried over the fire; it 

 will then keep for a month. 



The Sakais rise about dawn and prepare their breakfast, probably roasted tapioca and 

 some sugar-cane. Fires soon begin to burn briskly, for the hill-tops are chilly. Breakfast 

 over, some of the men go and collect firewood and food. Others stay at home, work in the 

 house, or make darts for the surnpitan, or blow-pipe, used in hunting. The only other meal 

 is served at midnight. But those who are indoors during the day are continually eating. 

 About 9 p.m. they retire to rest, only to wake up at twelve, light up the fires, and take 

 food again, after which they sleep on till dawn. Dancing and song of a very primitive 

 description are reserved for the afternoon. The sumpitan (see illustration above), already 

 referred to earlier in this chapter as a weapon of the Dyas, is a straight tube of bamboo, 

 fitted with a mouthpiece something like that of a cornet. Being very thin and delicate, 

 it is kept inside another tube. The darts are from 8 to 11 inches long, made from the 

 midrib of a palm leaf. One end of a dart is sharpened and dressed with poison; the other 



J'/u>to by Mr. Leonard \\i-ay, J'.tui M-i.-tum. SIR HUUH Low COLLECTION. 

 TWO NEGRITOS, WITH SUMPITAN. 



