ABORIGINAL TRIBES: THE CENTRAL SAKAI. 
55 
the ladies of his tribe when he returns to them after his 
wanderingSj but the more harilened Malays from whom 
he learnt his metaphors would only laugh at liis accom- 
phshments- The older men and women are said to have 
a rich stock of stories for children* The two or three 
tales that were narrated to me did not impress me 
favourably either for style or matter. A Sakai tale is 
related in a series or short jerky sentences with much 
repetition of detail and never a change of style. On the 
whole, I am inclined to think that Central Sakai will 
interest the philologist and the grammarian rather more 
than the litterateur. 
There are artists in design also among the Sakai. 
The nests of the little bee known to the Malays as 
L-elulnt supply a material for polishing and colouring 
the surface of bamboo-quivers and blow-pipes and also 
for stai n in g th e punctin^es of the tattoo-thorn . Th e j/ra/t- 
fi'uit when left to rot in earth provides a rich dye. 
Other dyes are obtained fi'om the Hjaiy the hemimha^ the 
plant known as getah kmjii, and similar sources. The 
^curious markings incised on bamboo-combs and on blow- 
pipes have been the subject of a very imaginative theory. 
The designs are conventional. A Mai Damt looking 
at a comb will enumerate the names of its panels : one 
is " the snake " (a scaly design) ; another, perhaps, 
is " a wild-cat *' (a s tipped or spotted design) ; another 
"a gourd," from the shape of the gourd-seeds. The 
descriptions will not commend themselves as pictures 
to a European to whom "a wild-cat" suggests the 
outline of a cat; but given a sufficient range of such 
designs and a sufficient simplicity of pattern, a very 
ingenious man might represent whole sentences on a 
blow-pipe and make it resemble an obelisk of quaint 
