66 



Ka Han a Kapa. 



"The loin-clotli of the Negritos, which constitutes their sole garment, is made 

 (according to De Morgan) from the bark of a tree (yArtocarpus). The material is 

 thick, but supple and soft to the feel, and is occasionally painted yellow with the sap 

 of a plant, the patterns consisting simplj' of broken lines {dc ligncs hiisccs). Of the 

 method of manufac^lure we are elsewhere told that the bark is either rendered supple 

 by being pounded between two stones, or by being beaten upon a tree-trunk with a 

 strong wooden mallet or cudgel. 





_#isi.i.<««^, "^^--/r-^ ■:\^l^!^ 



-.n.'W*^- 





x^^lfp^i''::-^: 

















FIG. 27. GROIP OF ABORIGINES, ULU BATU, SELANGORE. MCGREGOR. (.SKEAT & BLAGDEN. ) 



" In confirmation of the account given above of the Kedah Semaug, I hear from 

 Mr. Wray that the bark of the Antiaris was used by both the Semang of Perak and 

 the Sakai as bark-cloth. It was prepared as follows : A young tree was felled and 

 cut into pieces of suitable length. The outer portion of the bark was then shaved off 

 with a knife and the inner bark was beaten with bat-shaped pieces of wood until it 

 would slip off from the stem. The bark was then put into running water, in which 

 it was allowed to remain for the space of one month to free it of the poison ; then it 

 was beaten with wooden bats, on one face of which furrows had been cut at right 



