2 THE PAGAN RACES OF THE MALAY PENINSULA. 



races. The only representations of any of the tribes in those days 

 were the rough sketches of profiles by Miklucho Maclay which 

 were to be found in all ethnological books. Indeed till about 

 1890 photographs of these races were quite unprocurable in 

 Singapore. From 1890 onwards the wild men were the subject 

 of study by a large Dumber of ethnologists and antropologists. 

 Several scientific men came from Germany, and many local 

 residents investigated the ethnology and collected specimens of 

 their handiwork, made researches into their language, and took 

 photographs of the people themselves, besides securing skulls 

 and skeletons. The results of this work in which Mr. Skeat 

 took a very large share himself, are well represented in these 

 two volumes. One of those who devoted a great deal of time to 

 the wild tribes was Mr. Vaughan Stevens, a very well 

 known character here for some years, who was employed by 

 the Berlin and St. Petersburg Missions to collect ethno- 

 graphical specimens of the Sakais, and who wandered about all 

 over the peninsula in search of them. He published volumin- 

 ous accounts of his researches, on some of which considerable 

 doubt has been thrown. The authors have made use of his 

 work while drawing attention to inaccuracies and improbabilities 

 in his observations and theories. The most important of the 

 anthropologists who visited the peninsula was Herr Rudolf 

 Martin whose monumental work "Die Inland stamme der Malay- 

 ischin Halbinsel " was the first sound and reliable work on the 

 subject. 



The book commences with an introductory account of the 

 environment of the wild man, and his character and relations 

 to it. 



The racial characters and names of the tribes and the 

 problems of their origin are next dealt with. The three types 

 of the tribes are the Semangs, negritos with woolly hairs 

 and brachycephalic heads, the Sakais, dolichocephalic with 

 wavy hair, and the southern Jakuns, brachycephalic and smooth 

 haired. The relationship of the Semangs with the Andamanese 

 and the Philippine negritos is certainly close. The Sakais are 

 perhaps related to the Veddahs, Australians and Tamils. They 

 vary much in skin-colour and height, and their origin must 



Jour. Straits Branch 



