4^ 
PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 
and need not be distingiiislied from a suppressed final 
Pi n or even ^f/?/.^ If any European claims that lie 
can speak Central Sakaij believe him not; the truth is 
not in him ; a little cross-examination would soon dispose 
of sucli a claim. But for mere lexicographical purposes 
the final coDsoiiaut may be brought out clearly by making 
Ihe Sakai pronounce it before a second word commencing 
with a vowel. It can then be noted down. Three 
months do not represent a long period of study, it is 
true, and they were not sufficient to enable me even to 
approximate to the sound of Central Sakai, With the 
grammar it was otherwise. Things began to explain 
themselves in three months, though very gradually ; and 
the explanations were not always what I had expected. 
It is, however, with the beliefs and customs of the 
Central Sakai that this brief sketch is concerned : ques- 
tions of language must stand over for the moment. 
The Central .Sakai believe in a sun -god. They 
cannot be cnlled sun- worshippers, for they make no 
offerings to theii' divinity nor do they hold services in 
his honoiu\ but they call the sua " god " ^ and regard 
him as the source of all hfe and as immeasurably 
superior to the many ghosts and spirits of their 
mythology. Tliere is no parallel in their minds between 
the power of their demons and the power of their god : 
the two work on different planes. But a Sakai is very 
reticent on the question of his religion and speaks in 
visible awe of the subject whenever he refers to it. The 
information as to their god came to me quite by accident 
when discussing the meaning of* a word, nor could it 
be supplemented much by further questioning. My 
informant avoided talking about it. So far as I could 
* Like til© French 'jn m "cigo^e," " J^noutj, 
