642 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION H. 
Sakai-Semang race, and quoted evidence to support the same, though on the word 
of the people themselves they are a pure Sakai race. 
The paper then dealt with various camps separately, giving particulars of 
the inhabitants of each. Blowpipes and poisoned darts are not much in use, 
and no spears or bows and arrows were met with. Tatuing and painting of the 
features are practised by some, and nose-quills and necklaces of seeds and wild 
beasts’ teeth are also worn, 
Absence of religious rites and ceremonies at births, marriages, and burials 
seems to be general, and only very little evidence was obtained respecting super- 
stition of any sort. The men exhibit great reluctance in introducing their women- 
folk to white strangers, hence there was great difficulty in gathering much interest- 
ing data. Further up-stream this reticence was found to be fortunately absent. 
Clothing, though scanty, is of cloth, Malay dress being largely in evidence 
amongst the women nearer civilisation, but bark-cloth is worn by tribes further 
up-stream. Agriculture of only a very primitive nature is carried out, and the 
basis of food is the boiled or roasted root of the wild tapioca-plant. Houses are 
built of bamboo, bark and palm-leaves, but all the people are more or less 
nomadic. They are short in stature—as are the rest of the aborigines of the Malay 
Peninsula—reddish brown in colour, with black hair of a varied character. Their 
features are negroid, but with lips only moderately thick, and prognathism is almost 
entirely absent. They are friendly and hospitable towards strangers, and light- 
hearted in disposition. They call themselves ‘Sakai’ or ‘Orang Darat,’ the latter 
a Malay word meaning ‘countrymen,’ Senmnot, a heretofore supposed tribal name, 
they use as signifying ‘ person’ or ‘ people.’ 
Ethnological specimens of undoubted Semang origin were collected from 
amongst them, and the blowpipe and poison darts, when used, are all of Semang 
make. 
5. A Study of the Conditions of the Maoris in 1907. 
By Miss B, Putten-Burry. 
This study dealt with the population, distribution, and the Government repre- 
sentation of the Maoris, their transitional condition, education, religion, character, 
and health, and concluded with a sketch of the native land question. The census 
of 1906 shows an increase of over 4,000 natives from that of 1901, but the increase 
is only apparent. The Maori enumerations prior to 1906 are in reality valueless. 
The last census was taken by responsible members of lately established, native 
village councils. The Government policy has been generous in the way of 
education, and with respect to the disposition of native lands, humanely con- 
ceived. Many regret that technical and industrial education is not included 
in the educational curriculum, and it is unfortunate that the present insecurity of 
land tenure has rendered the Maori indifferent and lazy. Individualising tribal 
communal lands in the Native Land Court is a slow and costly process, besides 
being accompanied with endless disputes on the part of the natives. Medical 
returns show that 22 per cent. of the diseases afflicting the Maori are pulmonary. 
Consanguineous and too early marriages conduce to racial deterioration. The 
village councils and ‘the young Maori party’ are doing much to protect, preserve, 
and educate the race. 
6. Notes on the Ethnology of the South-west Congo Free State. 
By E. Torpay and T, A. Joyon, IA. 
The inhabitants of the south-west corner of the Congo Free State, that is, the 
tribes living in the territory drained by the Kwango, Kwilu, and Loange and their 
tributaries, are the Ba-Samba, Ba-Songo, Wa-Ngongo, Ba-Bunda, Ba-Yanzi, Ba- 
Yaka, Ba-Pindi, Ba-Mbala, Ba-Huana, Ba-Kwese, Ba-Lua, and Ba-Djoke (also 
the Hollo and Tu-Kongo, with whom this paper does not deal). 
1 Published in full in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, xxxvii. 1907, 
p. 133. 
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