188 



CONDITIONS. 



Though maintaining- a nominal independence we found the Semang 

 of Ijok living in close contact -with the Malay's of the village, who 

 formerly, by employing them to cultivate liill padi escaped the 

 payment of rent to Government, aborigines being exempt from this 

 form of taxation. ]^ow, however, ladang cultivation is discouraged 

 and the Semang is no longer an agriculturalist. 



At the time of our visit their headquarters were situated in 

 garden land belonging to a Malay who was not improbably their 

 "gembala" or "herdsman" a term, commonly applied, in Semang 

 districts, to Malays who possess influence, hereditary or acquired 

 over these primitive folk, which influence it is needless to i^emark, is 

 not altogether unprofitable to the possessor. Men and w^omen 

 entered the village at will and purchased at the Chinese shops, where 

 we were credibly informed that a proportion of them had acquired or 

 been persuaded to acquire a taste for opium, They certainly showed 

 an appreciation of money though whether they were able to obtain 

 full value for it is problematical. 



We saw in all eleven people, five adult males, of whom one was 

 elderly, three women, one of whom was aged and three children, but 

 we are certain that a few others did not show themselves. The 

 Tunku Mentri of Larut, who has held the office of Malay Magistrate 

 of the district for some years, assured us that he was certain that the 

 total population of Semangs in the Selama sub-district was less than 

 fifty.* 



HABITATIONS. 



(Plates xviii and xix). 



The village consisted of about seven " houses " ; each house was 

 merely a curved wind-break and I'oof combined made up of a light 

 frame work of bamboos and sticks, supporting a thatch made of the 

 fi'onds of the bertam palm {Eugeissona tristis), sheltering a floor 

 space of some six feet by four on which was a rude platform very 

 slightly raised made of the mid-ribs of the same palm. In two or 

 three instances these latter were mei^ely laid on the ground. The 

 huts were in no sequence or order and faced in no particular 

 direction. There was no regular fire-place and cooking operations 

 were conducted anywhere over a fire made of a few branches or 

 smouldering logs. The ground was littered with palm pinnos, wood 

 shavings and broken bamboo, the debris of matwork and basketry in 

 process of manufacture. 



* As regards the numbers of this tribe tlie third decennial census of the 

 Federated Malay States taken on the night of the 10th ilarch, 1911, records 37 

 persons as inhabiting the Selama districts. Of these, 22 were adult, 10 males and 

 12 females ; and 15 children, 9 males and 6 females. 



