1422.] I. H. N. Evans: Negrito Beliefs and Customs. 193 
The last are said to dwell around the head-waters of the Plus. 
They are cannibals and dwell in burrows in the ground. 
Neighbouring tribes, according to Mémpélam, make offerings 
to them by pushing live babies down their burrows. 
I think that it may be as well to point out here that, in 
doing pioneer work among the Negritos, it is nearly impossible 
to avoid making a few mistakes, even when information is 
carefully checked. 
At Lubok Tapah, and at the Damak River, in 1918, I 
was lucky to meet two exceptionally intelligent men, Mém- 
pélam and Tokeh, and, had it not heen for them, the result 
of my work would probably have been very meagre, since 
the majority of the Negritos are, I think, neither very well in- 
formed with regard to the traditions of their people, nor cap- 
able of communicating what knowledge they have. 
It is generally necessary to extract information about any 
one subject piecemeal, for the Negritos easily become tired 
with mental efforts, and, when in this condition, are worse 
than useless, as they will then say the first thing that comes 
into their heads. 
A good deal of difficulty is met with in taking down words 
correctly. The first part of many words is often given loudly 
and clearly, but the voice trails off towards word-ends and 
this leads to the recorder being uncertain about last syllables. 
nother source of trouble is that, when a Negrito is 
asked bo tenclake a word into Malay, he will, sometimes, not 
give the meaning of the word itself, but that of some other 
word which he connects with it in his mind 
The Negrito Gods. 
I have written a good deal with regard to the Negrito 
gods in my former paper. With reference to Tapern, the 
chief of them, there appears to be a possibility that Skeat was 
right in dividing his name into Ta‘ (Tak, grandfather) Pern, ! 
and that my (1918) informant was wrong in speaking of 
Tak Tapern, but as, on the present occasion, Mémpélam only 
told me that Tapern was equivalent to grandfather Pern after 
I had told him what Skeat had said, I am still uncertain 
about the matter and, therefore, retain my old spelling. 
Tapern, as pronounced by the Kintak Bong, certainly sounds 
like one wor 
The evidence that I obtained about some of the deified Ne- 
grito ancestors from Mémpélam differs in some — from 
As a matter of fact Skeat gives Ta‘ Pénn, which may very likely be 
correct for the Siong people, from whom he got his" coereneag on, but 
not so for the Kintak i Vaughan Stevens has ‘Tappern”’ which i 
region 
Tok h (1921) confirms what he said before. He cota me that Tapern is 
one eee and that it is not correct to speak of Tak, Tape 
