SOME ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES. 75 



Messrs. Skeat and Ridley suggest that " the Sea-gypsies 

 of Singapore owe their origin largely from " Sakai " hill- 

 tribes of the Rio-Lingga Archipelago " and class the Belandas 

 as " Sakai " also : surely this is a slip and should be Jakun 

 or Proto-Malayan or some other equivalent of these ! 



It is regrettable that all those English writers who have 

 dealt so interestingly with the primitive people should be re- 

 stricted in experience to the Peninsula for the Jakuns are only 

 the mainland representatives — and probably least pure — of 

 that large family that is spread throughout a great part of 

 Eastern Sumatra and the islands adjacent. Such, for in- 

 stance, are the Orang Akit of Bengkalis and Rupat Islands, 

 the Palong of the upper tributaries of the Siak River, the 

 Mantong and many others of the Rio-Lingga Archipelago, 

 the Orang Gunong of Banka and the Sika of Biliton. The 

 Kubus and Lulus of the interior of Sumatra also appear to 

 be members of the same family. 



To Journal 41 of the Society Dr. W. L. Abbott con- 

 tributes a note on " Human Images among the Orang Man- 

 long." 



According to an old inhabitant of a Kampong at Tanjong 

 Ru, an orang Laut by descent — though he would never 

 admit himself to be other than a pure Orang Malayu — these 

 images are called " Tukar Ganti " and, in common with the 

 " Kapal Hantu " and " Rumah Sakit," are constructed, to his 

 knowledge, by all the inhabitants of the Rhio Archipelago 

 and of the creeks round Singapore in times of sickness. 

 When the Tukar Ganti is completed the "penyakit " (sick- 

 ness) is induced to enter it and it is then taken away to the 

 jungle or some distant spot and there left. Further, all these 

 objects — and this was unknown to me and perhaps is so to 

 others — are used for prophylaxis as well as cure. A current 

 instance was related. 



" Ten days ago the village pawang came to the people, 

 i I see the evil spirits/ said he, 'the hantus are gathering 

 thickly to afflict the Kampong. Now if we want to escape 

 their machinations every house must contribute 40 cents so 

 that a large vessel may be built into which the hantus will 



R. A. Soc. No. 50, 1908. 



