209 



LANGUAGE. 



The vocabulary obtained from the Kemaman section differs 

 considerably from that used on the Retang river, one of its 

 peculiarities being the use of (he word "mesong" for "five." The 

 only tx'ibes recorded by Skeat in the Pagan Races as using this word, 

 or forms of it, are those of the Ulus (head waters) of the Tembeling, 

 the Cheres, the Endau and the aborigines of the Serting river. 

 The people of the wilder tribe, said that they spoke the same 

 dialect as the Kemaman people. Owing however to the short time 

 spent in the locality the correctness of their statement was not put 

 to the test. 



THE WILDER TRIBE. 



(Plates xxxiii and xxxiv.) 



This tribe, or rather section of a tribe, was said to have recently 

 come from Salang on the Tekam river, Pulau Tawar, where they 

 belonged, and had settled down close to the tamer or Kemaman 

 Jakun. The writer, finding the Tekam people the most interesting 

 group of the two, devoted a good deal of the short time spent among 

 the Tekai aborigines (two days) to investigating as far as possible 

 their beliefs and superstitions. The results obtained will be found 

 below. In dress like those of the tamer tribe this chiefly followed 

 Malay fashions, but the clothes and the bodies of many of them, 

 especially of the old men, left much to be desired in cleanliness. 

 One very old man, as can be seen in plate xxxiii, is wearing a T- 

 bandage loin-cloth of European material. The skin disease known 

 as " kurap " {Tinea circinata) was common, being probably freely 

 propagated owing to dirty habits. In personal appearance they 

 were just as light as the other section. Their hair was, as a rule, 

 either straight or slightly waved, but in the man who is the second 

 from the right in plate xxxiii it is distinctly curly. Chin beards 

 were not uncommon among the older men, but the hair in them was 

 rather weak and straggly. 



HABITATIONS. 

 The houses of the wilder tribe were not visited but they were 

 said to be similar to those of the Kemaman people. 



DRESS AND ADORNMENT. 



The only objects of dress and adornment other than the Malay 

 clothes mentioned above were girdles of rattan, worn by the men, 

 and bracelets of the fungus rhizomorph called akar hatu, M-^hich were 

 used by both men and women alike. The rattan girdles were made 

 of whole peeled canes of small diameter, a cane about fifteen feet 

 long being coiled several times round the body with the ends, which 

 were shaved down for the purpose, tied together. An example of 

 this type of girdle can be seen on the old man in plate xxxiii. 



