ABORIGINES IN MALACCA. 179 



plantation of rams, sugar-cane, papayas, maize and sometimes either 

 hill or swamp-padi according to the situation. Occasionally they 

 plant coconuts. They hunt all manner of animals, principally 

 monkeys and squirrels for food, and many of them have guns though 

 they still use the sumpitan on occasions. Their houses are small 

 but constructed something like those of Malays and roofed with 

 wild atap. 



Each settlement is a sort of society by itself and the principal 

 inhabitant usually bears the title of Penglima. Monogamy ap- 

 pears to be the usual practice, but in some cases a man has two 

 wives. Marriages take place soon after the age of puberty in the 

 case of girls and do not apparently involve any particular ceremony 

 beyond cohabitation, although sometimes a feast is made. Funerals 

 also involve no special ceremony. According to their own account 

 no religious ceremonial at all is practised by the Orang utan and 

 they profess no sort of acquaintance with any deity though they 

 believe in the existence of malignant spirits and especially in the 

 ghosts of the dead. It is out of fear of the latter that they make 

 a practice of shifting their settlement after a funeral. 



Many of the Orang utan have become christianised by the 

 French Mission, but it may be doubted whether their new religion 

 is ever very clearly understood by them. It has however un- 

 doubtedly contributed to raise them in the social scale, and their 

 standard of comfort is certainly higher than it used to be, according 

 to the description given in the Hikayat Abdullah and other works, 

 some decades ago. Even those who remain heathen or have re- 

 lapsed into heathenism seem to have shared in the material im- 

 provement consequent on the attempt to convert them. 



The number of aborigines in this district according to the 

 Census of 1891 was only 77, but there is no doubt that this was 

 an understatement and I should think that there are probably 

 nearly double as many. A list of their settlements as far as is 

 known to me is appended and it is to be observed that apart from 

 those living in the jungle there are in this District some half dozen 

 cases of Orang utan women living in the kampong with Chinese 

 or Malays as wives or as concubines, viz : at Ayer Panas, Kesang, 

 Bukit Senggeh, Batang Melaka, ^Nyalas and possibly elsewhere. 



ABOEIGIXES IX THE JASIX DISTRICT. 



No.- 





Mukim 



Tribe 



Remarks. 



1. Ay. 



2. 



3. 



er Panas, Ulu Gapam 



„ Bemban (Ulu 

 Samajok) 



„ Bemban 



Mentera & Jakun 



M enter a 

 Mentera 



5 or 6 houses, 

 Hun Guan's 

 estate. 



2 or 3 houses. 



3 houses. 



4. 



» 



Ayer Chermin 



Mentera 



2 houses. 



R. A. Soc, 



No. 



77, 1917. 







