INTIAniTING THE MALATAN I>ENmsUI.\. fi3 



sioB requires. The parang is an iron bkde 

 (>r ahaut one foot long, and two or three 

 inches broad witli a haff, !ike that at a large 

 knife; they use it to cut trees employed in 

 the building of their houses; and to cut 

 branches to open a passage wiien jour- 

 neying in the thick jungle : it is also used 

 as a defensive weapon against wihl beasts. 

 I know a Jakun who being attacked by a ti- 

 ger, defended himself with a parang (the 

 only weapon he had with Irini at the time). 

 Nearly half an liour was spent in this sin- 

 gular combat : the Jakun Ifjst an eye and 

 was seriously wounded in the head; hut the 

 royal beast paid tlie forfeit with its life. The 

 Jakuns of the Menangkabaw states use the 

 parang, the sumpitan with poisoned ar- 

 rows, and a few of them the spear. The 

 sumpitan is a small bamboo of tlie size of 

 the index finger, from six to ten feet long 

 with a head as large as a fowl egg; this 

 piece of bamboo is inserted nnltl the head 



