CHAPTER XVII 



THE PENYAHBONGS, MEN OF THE WOODS — RHINOCEROS 



HUNTERS CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PENYAHBONGS 



— EASY HOUSEKEEPING — DAILY LIFE — WOMAN's LOT 



The Pcnyahbongs until lately were nomadic people, 

 roaming about in the nearby Miiller mountains, sub- 

 sisting on wild sago and the chase and cultivating some 

 tobacco. They lived in bark huts on the ground or in 

 trees. Some eight years previous to my visit they were 

 induced by the government to form kampongs and adopt 

 agricultural pursuits, and while most of them appear to 

 be in the western division, two kampongs were formed 

 east of the mountains, the Sabaoi and the Tamaloe, with 

 less than seventy inhabitants altogether. Tamaloe is the 

 name of an antoh (spirit) who lived here in the distant 

 past. 



The kampong consists of four small, poorly built 

 communal houses, and of the Malays who have settled 

 here, in houses of their own making, the most important 

 is Bangsul, who married a daughter of Pisha, the Pcnyah- 

 bong chief. Both before and since their transition to 

 sedentary habits the Penyahbongs have been influenced 

 by the Saputans, their nearest neighbours, four days* 

 journey to the north, on the other side of the water-shed. 

 Their ideas about rice culture and the superstitions and 

 festivals attending it, come from the Saputans, of whom 

 also a few live in Tamaloe. They have only recently 

 learned to swim and many do not yet know how to paddle. 



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