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to escape i'l'om tlie fire. In spite of this tlie tire reached them and 

 signed their hail', and this the reason we, their descendants, have 

 curly hair to the present day. After the war was over the King of 

 the Brok* monkeys, Rajah Bi-ok, became judge between the Siamang 

 and the Mawas, and lie gave judgment that the Siamang should stop 

 on the south bank of the Perak River and the Mawas on the north 

 bank, and thus they do till the present day, though before they had 

 both lived on the north bank. 



" The ancestors of the Malays, when the war arose, ran away down 

 stream caiTying a rice spoon with them ; and that is the reason why 

 the Malays use a rice spoon in cooking their rice. Our ancestors 

 ran away up stream carrying a pointed stick ; and that is the reason 

 why we still use a stick for digging tubers in the jungle." 



The other infoi-mation obtained was fragmentary and consisted 

 of certain beliefs concerning the rainbow, thundei', lightning, the 

 eclipse of the moon, and certain pantangs or tabus attaching to 

 mother-in-law and father-in-law. These are given below. 



THE RAINBOW. 

 " The rainbow is a fishing line. Somewhere far away there lives a 

 king of the Dragons (Rajah Naga) who, when he requires fish, sends 

 a servant to the river to fish for him. As the Rajah's servant lifts 

 his rod from the water you see his line with its two coloured thread 

 appearing in the sky as the rainbow.'" 



The Negritos will not walk into the foot of a rainl)()w as they 

 believe that to do so would cause them to fall sick. 



THUNDER. 

 " Thunder is caused by the spirits who lived under the earth. 

 When they are preparing their food and cooking it, the noise they 

 make is heai'd on the earth above. This noise is what we call 

 thunder.'" 



LIGHTNING. 



" Lightning is caused by the children of the spirits who live 

 under the earth. When they play at tops they flourish the cords 

 which they use for spinning them, and these appear above the earth 

 as lightning." 



THE SUN, THE MOON AND THE STARS. 



" The stars are the children of the moon. The sun watches by 

 day and the moon by night. If there is no moon the stars replace 

 her ; if there is a moon the stars are quenched." 



THE ECLIPSE OF THE MOON. 

 " Eclipses of the moon are caused by a butterfly settling on the 

 moon and spreading its wings over it while it attempts to eat it." 



The Semang name for an eclipse in haiup hihicl (haiup a 

 buttex'fly and hilud to swallow.) 



* The Brok is Macaco sp. 



