242 



A 2fATmALIST*S WANDEItlNOS 



f is a term of opprobrium which I have often heard applied by 

 one native to another whom lie had rpiarrelled. The 

 viUage jieoph^ consider them little other than lx?.asts. In no 

 case will a JIalay tonch or interfere with a dead body of one 

 of his people; yet I was aldo to obtain their assistance in dis- 

 intiirring the body of the Kubu from whiL*h I made the skeleton 

 that I obtained. The Kubus possess no personal property of 

 any kind beyond what they can carry alxiut willi tlicm. Their 

 fooil, which consists for the most part of wild fruits or small 

 animals^ which they prefer, 1 am tohl, in a semi-putrid condition, 

 they eat m they come by it, with little or no cooking. When 

 traversing the forest, if one of them, on finding a bee-infested 

 or a dammar-yielding tree, clear the brush around it^ make one 

 or two hacks in the bark, and repout a form of spell, it is 

 recognised by the others as !iis possession, which will lie un- 

 disputed. This is the only property, if such it may be called, 

 that they possess. 



They are extremely fond of tobacco. Before one of thein^ 

 who had sejited himself on the edge of the verandah, I pro- 

 dviced some of the coveted weed. It was a study to see how 

 his face gleamed over, and his eyes followed the pi\rcel with 

 the eiigemess of a dog's after a boue with which he is tempted. 

 To try him* a handful of very |ioor qualify was offered him, 

 which he snatched at, but, after smelling and tasting it, he 

 rejected it with a sneer jtist as a monkey might have done, 

 fixing his eyes eagerly once more on the bundle first produced. 

 Bome of this was handed to him, the whole of which, after 

 smelling, he rolled into a thick cigarette in a leaf, and smoked 

 with prodigious monthfuls in perfect and delighte^l silence. 

 When he saw or was offered anything which he liked par- 

 ticularly, his eyes sparkled, and he expressed his eagerness 

 by the continued repetition of a pt-culiar sound, " 5-.Wio-o 

 g^g^Jfo^0 / " ' Some fruit and a large plateful of rice, offered 

 to him, were devoured more in the ravenous manner of a l>east 

 than of a man. Wlien he had finished it he rubbed his stomach, 

 to judge by its rotundity if he had had suflicient. 



Their intelligence is not, however, to be called of a low order. 

 They evince considerable dexterity in the use of their spear?, 

 and are wonderfully accurate marksmen with atones. They 

 post themselves behind some tree, in front of which is another 



