207 



TRIBAL NAME AND HISTORY. 

 The correct tribal designation of the people appears to be Menik 

 Rantau (Men of the river readies), the polite term used by Malays 

 when speaking to them being Orang Dalam. The}' are recent 

 settlers on the Tekai river having come from near the mouth of the 

 Kemaman* river and, according to their own account, are closely 

 related to the abox'igines of Kuantan.f 



HABITATIONS. 

 The houses of the tamer tribe were much like those of the local 

 Pahang Malays. The chief's house consisted of a verandah and a 

 single room with a cook-house (dapor) built out at the back. 



DRESS AND ORNAMENT. 

 As mentioned above, the general di^ess of these people differs but 

 little from that of the Malay. Though rapidly being discarded a 

 few really non- Malay articles of dress were collected from them. 

 Two of these were women's girdles of cord made from plaited strips 

 of bemban {Gliriogyiie grandis) bark, one being coiled twelve the 

 other forty-two times I'ound the body, both girdles were fastened by 

 the ends of the strings being tied to the coils. The only other object 

 of personal adornment obtained was a neatly plaited bracelet of 

 pandanus leaves, which was being worn by one of the children. 



MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 

 Two musical instruments were seen and purchased, one a short 

 bamboo flute with seven stops, of the type called " bangsi " by the 

 Malays, the other a jews' harp made of some kind of palm wood, this 

 being also similar to instruments used by the Malays. It was 

 contained in an o|)en bamboo receptacle made of an internode, with 

 one of its adjacent nodes to form the bottom. 



AGRICULTURE. 

 The Jakun had a fairly extensive clearing planted with Indian 

 corn, dry or hill rice, and iibi Jcayu (tapioca.) 



BOxVTS AND FISHING. 

 The ordinary boat in use among both the wilder and tamer people 

 was a small dug-out prahu, exactly similar to that of the local 

 Malays and of tlie kind usually called prahu sampan ov prahu sagor. 

 On occasions when a wooden boat was not to be obtained the Jakun 

 were, however, said to make a rough canoe from a sheet of tree bark. 

 Fish traps were also similar to those of the Malays. Although much 

 used by the Malays, perhaps some mention should be made of rather 

 a singular method of fishing which was observed. In this a small rod 

 made from the mid-rib of a bertam palm leaf was used. To this were 

 bound several rings of brass wire to carry the line. In place of a 



* The Kemaman river is in Trengganu not far from the I'ahau^-Trenganuu 

 boundary. t Kuantan is on the coast of Pahang. 



