216 ETHNOLOGICAL EXCURSIONS IN THE MALAY PENINSULA. 



The Orang Sakai are very much afraid or the dead. The 

 incurably sick who are near their end are lef fc behind iii the 

 jungle with a small supply of food. Cases of sudden death 

 are followed very often by the immediate flight of all the 

 members of the tribe from the spot wh re the death occurred. 

 The dead body is simply left behind ; very rarely it is buried 

 in a shallow grave. The places where people have died, are 

 avoided as unlucky. 



Exaggerated and fabulous accounts of the Malays res- 

 pecting the Orang-liar. — The Malays, who, as I have men- 

 tioned already, are much afraid of the Orang liar, do not 

 neglect to account for their fright by a number of fables ; 

 for instance, the Malays of Pahang relate, that the wild 

 men on the river Tekam have feet of half a meter in length, 

 that they eat raw every sort of animal which they can 

 capture, that they are cannibals and so on. 



The Malays in the Peninsula also repeat the tale, which 

 is widely spread in the East Asiatic Archipelago, of the 

 existence of men with real tails. Some Orang liar, who 

 however never show themselves ! are said to possess a tail, 

 which does not consist of hair only but is formed of bones 

 and flesh. Some of the relators went so far as to pretend that 

 they had been accidentally eye witnesses of the existence 

 of such men. 



The Orang Garc/assi (17) who live in the mountains on the 

 boundary of Kedah and Singgoro are said to possess two 

 very long pointed teeth standing out from the mouth. 



The hair of the body of some Orang Sakai, on the bounda- 

 ries of Kalantan and Perak is described as remarkably long, 

 and also the direction of the hair is said to be different to 

 that of Malays and Europeans, that is to say^t is turned 

 upwards among some of these curry-haired tribes. The fathers 

 of grown up daughters are said to claim for themselves the 

 jus jjrimiv nod is ; I have so very often heard the existence of 

 this custom maintained, that there must be something in it, 

 the more so as it is known elsewhere (18). 



I have communicated the chief of these tales, as it is pos- 

 sible that in spite of their exaggeration and their apparent 

 absurdity they may possess a certain though very slight 

 "fond de verite." 



17. Probably a wild tribe of Orang Sakai. 



IS. Basides numerous examples to be found in historical and geographical 

 literature which I will not enumerate here, I have heard of the existence 

 of the same custom in the Eastern Moluccas. 



