SAKAIS. 115 



some odorous grass, of shell, and of animal teeth, to serve as 

 ornaments. 



Obnaments. 



The use of necklaces belongs to attire. Ornamentation of 

 the body is effected by painting- the skin in different colours, 

 mostly red, yellow and black, by dyes obtained from plants, 

 gutta and lime. Two lines, one drawn from the vertex of the 

 head over tip of nose to chin, and the other from ear to ear, 

 bisecting the first, divide the face into four areas, the painting 

 of two of which on one side must correspond to the painting 

 of the two others of the opposite side. 



The chest and body are generally divided also by a ver- 

 tical line cleaving the trunk in two halves, right and left, upon 

 which similar patterns are painted. 



The object of this adornment by painting is not merely 

 decoration, it is what formerly would have been called dedicat- 

 ed to superstitious uses. The painting of the face and body is, 

 in fact, a species of charm and is supposed to act as amulets 

 and talismans are presumed to act, by warding off dangers, 

 driving afar evil spirits, aud filling the wearers with un- 

 usual courage. 



Religious Sentiment. 



It is a peculiarity of the Sakai that, like many of his 

 characteristics, his religious belief is extremely simple. The 

 idea of a Creator, of an all-powerful, all-just and all-merciful 

 Ruler, is absent from his scanty mythology. The origin of the 

 world and the life of mankind on the earth present no problems 

 to him. He believes simply in good and evil spirits. The good 

 spirits are to him vague, indefinite beings, who manifest them- 

 selves rarely fatally, and about whom, therefore, he knows and 

 believes little. The evil spirits, on the contrary, are feared, 

 because they are considered to dwell in dangerous ravines, in 

 abandoned kampongs, in caverns, and in places regarded accord- 

 ing to popular sakai report as uncanny, whence they issue to 

 infect the Sakais with famine and disease. They also are 

 believed to make themselves felt in thunder, in lightning, and 

 most particularly of all in wind. The early morning breeze 



R. A. Soc., No, 14, 1904. 



