PJ'llAK TO SLIM. 59 



There are said to be about three thousand in the hil\s about 

 Slim ; and on the hills of Slim, Batang Padang, Bidor, and Songkei 

 as many as ten thousand. 



The headman of the Slim orang Jakun, or SaJcei as they are called, 

 is blessed with the title of "Mentri,'' and the Pengftlu of Slim is 

 obliged to consult him in all things, otherwise, it is said, the orang 

 Sakti would at once attack the Pengulu and his people, who dread 

 the poisoned arrow of the sumpitan more than rifle bullets, and 

 with reason. 



The Sake Is are clever gardeners, and cultivate sugar-cane, plan- 

 tains, sweet potatoes, and other vegetables in abundance. Rice they 

 use but little. Tobacco they are very fond of, and grow it them- 

 selves, to chew not to smoke, They use their own green, but they 

 prefer Javanese tobacco if they can get it. 



Their solitary garment, or rather rag. the " tig leaf apology " 

 (as Cromwell called the excuses of a certain party in Ireland) is 

 made of bark, the men wearing it in all its pure simplicity, the 

 women affecting an additional fringe of grass. 



Like the natives of Borneo, these women cover their arms with 

 wire. There is a young lady standing within two yards of me, 

 whose arms are covered with numberless brass rings. She has about 

 a dozen strings of coloured beads — to which are hung more brass 

 rings — round her neck, and these beads are fastened behind with a 

 buckle of shells and boar's teeth : through her nose she has a long 

 porcupine's quill, and her face is painted in stripes of black and 

 red, beginning at her forehead and ending like a pitch-fork on her 

 mouth and chin. She is a belle, no doubt, and amongst the " orang 

 SaJcei,'" I dare say irresistible. 



Raja Ja Astjl came to see me, and I had a long talk with him. 



He says the Slim river is the same size and the same length as 

 the Bernam river, but he says that about half way between Slim 

 and Ulu Bernam there is a river called " Sungei Bil." which is now, 



