CAVE DWELLERS OF PERAK. 13 



some distance from the sea. No other shells of the kind are to 

 be found near the place, I believe. I have been told by Malays 

 in Province Wellesley that one of these mounds was opened 

 and explored by Colonel Low. If the others, left perfect by 

 him, have escaped destruction at the hands of Chinese lime 

 burners, they will probably be worth examination and descrip- 

 tion. ' Goa kepah ' (shell -cave), a place in the neighbourhood, 

 no doubt takes its name from these mounds." Unfortunately 

 Colonel James Low, the then Lieutenant - Grovernor of Penang, 

 does not seem to have left any record of his investigation, 

 and no one else would appear to have made an examination 

 of these interesting relics. 



It may be objected that these shell -mounds were made by 

 the ichthyophagi or sea gypsies, who may in former times have 

 frequented the coasts of this part of the Peninsula. Their 

 position, some way from the present coast line, points to their 

 having been formed long ago, when the sea coast was in a 

 different position and, given a considerable antiquity, there would 

 be no difficidty in reconciling the two suppositions. The sea 

 gypsies are Negritoes, and it is by no means improbable that 

 they in past times took to a sea life while other portions of 

 the tribes moved inland when the Malays or some other superior 

 race invaded and occupied the litoral and river lands of this 

 part of the Peninsula. This view of the case is svq^ported 

 by local tradition, as the following extract from Newbold's 

 "Straits of Malacca" proves: — "The Rayet Laut (subjects of 

 the sea) or Orang Akkye, are unquestionably from the same 

 stock as the Jakuns. The two tribes, it is true, differ from 

 each other in localities, habits, and slightly in personal 

 appearance, yet both generally admit the fact of a common 

 origin. The following tradition, however is current . . . 

 amongst the Malays . . . ' Dattu Klambu, a man of power 

 in former days, employed a number of Jakuns in the building 

 of an astana or palace. He had an only daughter, a young 

 and beautiful damsel who, once upon a time, observing the 

 primitive costume of one of her father's workmen, was seized 

 with an uncontrollable fit of merriment. Wliereupon, the 

 irritated Jakuns commenced the incantation ' Chindei-wye,' 

 and pursued their way to the forest, followed by the spell- 

 bound princess. Dattu Klambu despatched messengers to 

 bring back his daughter, but she refused to return, and even- 

 tually became the spouse of one of the Jakun chiefs. Dattu 

 Klambvi on receiving intelligence of this occurrence dissembled 

 his resentment, and invited the whole tribe to a sumptuous 

 entertainment, on pretence of celebrating the nuptials. In the 

 midst of the feast he fii*ed the palace in which the revels 



