ETHNOLOGICAL EXCURSIONS IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 215 



as they come into Malay villages endeavour to clothe them- 

 selves according to Malay fashion. 



The (Drang Sakai usually has but one wife at a time, who 

 may have 5 to 6 children but who very often remains 

 childless. 



Some further information about the mode of living 



AND THE CUSTOMS OF THE OrAKG-SaKAI AND THE 



ORANG SEMANG ACCORDING TO THE REPORTS OF 



THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES OR OF THE MORE 



CREDIBLE MALAYS. 



The Orang Sakai and the Orang Semang consider them- 

 selves the original inhabitants and independent of the 

 Malays and of the Malay Rajahs, and so they are in fact 

 in their woods. 



On several occasions, and in different places I heard ac- 

 counts of Sakai Rajahs, who are said to exist still and whom 

 the people obey though these Rajahs do not live in any 

 other style than the rest of the inhabitants of the forest. 

 If such a Rajah dies his widow can claim to be considered 

 as Queen. So I was often told and it is characteristic of 

 the position of the Orang Sakai women as compared with 

 that of the Malay women. 



Besides the simple procedure of marrying, which an Orang 

 Sakai described in the words " I take her and sleep with 

 her,'' there is, as I was told by the Orang Sakai jina, a 

 custom among the Orang Sakai of Pahang, according to 

 which the man on a certain day must catch the girl in the 

 jungle before witnesses, after a considerable start has been 

 miven her. If he fails to catch her, he is not allowed to woo 

 her a second time. Communal marriage exists, it appears, 

 among the Orang Sakai ; at least I must conclude so from 

 a great number of accounts. A girl having been married to 

 a man for some days or weeks goes, with his consent, and 

 voluntarily, to live for a shorter or longer period with another 

 man. She thus goes in turn to all the men of the party until 

 she comes back to her first husband ; she does not remain with 

 him however but continues to engage in such temporary 

 marriages, which are regulated by chance and by her wishes. 

 She is however considered the wife of the man who first 

 took her (16). 



16. This, which. I first heard from Malays in Pahang, has been repeated 

 to ine by numbers of the Catholic Mission at Malacca, who most likely knews 

 it from the Orong Muntra. 



