50 
PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS, 
the mode of address of one member of the family to 
another. It is a serious offence for a yoniig Alai JJarat 
to address an elder by his personal name; such an 
address afflicts the person addressed -with hydrocele. 
This belief makes a Sakai very chary about revealing ]iis 
true name to strangers who may misuse the knowledge. 
He prefers to describe himself by some Malay designa- 
tion that means very little. Judging by the fictitious 
names given to Surveyor Williams on Gunong Korbu 
the Northern Sakai show the same im willingness and 
probably share the same belief. The close family 
relationship between the members of each of these small 
communities forces them to seek their husbands and 
wives outside it; for tbe Mai Darat object to the 
marriage of near relatives— even first cousins. Such 
marriages are incest, and ** God will not have them."^ 
Incest of tliis sort (for it docs occur) is one of the few 
things that can stir an aboriginal community to its very 
depths. It seems to invite the divine wrath, and no 
Sakai feels safe till the scandal is put an end to. And 
as the Sakai political system has no means of compulsion 
or punishment for dealing with cases of this sort the 
tension becomes greater than ever. 
When the m^nmi- or Chief holds an enquiry he may^ 
if he chooses, administer oaths and even ordeals. The 
oath is ** May I be eaten by a tiger, may I perisli under 
a fallen tree, may I be slain by a ghost/* for these are 
the terrors that loom largest before the vision of a Sakai. 
Convert that oath into a curse—" may you be eaten by 
a tiger " — ^and you have the nearest approach to abuse 
of which a Mivi Darvf is capable. There is also a curious 
form of ordeal by holding molten tin in the hand, but 
