P AIDERS ON iMALAY SUBJECTS. 
burial customs of the Noi'tliem and Central Sakai. The 
£iccoimt b taken from the diary of a trigonometrical 
surveyor working in the Negri Sembilan, 
" 1 visiteiUhegraveof a JakuuCliic^t . . . The gmve liad a bark- 
Yovi staiidiiij^ uu poles about 4 fet^t liigb to protect it. The base of 
this jjfiuve bad four I'aitiid logs, 4 iiicbes iu dijuneter, round it, 
forming a rectangiifar epa<.'e 8 feet by 'J feet. The space between 
these lo^B waa filled -n^itJi pugged clay. On top of this clay were four 
logs of k'isEer diuiensions about the length and width of a botly, and 
the Bpiice l>etwet'u these logs bad been tilled in also with pugged 
L-lay. . . , On top of these siualler logs were four planks stsmdiug on 
etlge, each plank ei'ect and just inside each of the lugs. The two side- 
planks were restiug on the logs which marked the length of the Ixwly. 
The other two planks — at the head and fchot— were slotted into the 
side-plaufcs, 
"These plauks were crudely ear^^ed on the side at each end and 
■were further ornamented with bhick eharcoal lines. 
*' At the head and foot of the grave (inside the planked space) 
* were two memorid boards. One %vas covered with the deatl man^s 
singbt ; the other had liis. towel. Two calabashes and a, half eoconnt- 
^hell also rested on the ground, 
" I understood from my Malay companion that the body is 
usually ])laced about 3 feet deep, K>lled in a mat, 
" This grave had a small ditch (about G inches broad by 6 
inches deep) dug round it." 
It may be added that the " memorial boards " were 
probably the ifnhjga i^emamjat or " ladders of the soul," 
by which the spirit of the deceased is believed to mount 
to his home in the heavens; and that the "small ditch *' 
is the moat on which the dead man paddles his ghostly 
canoe. 
The numeral system of the Jakun is interesting, not 
only for its relative completeness— it goes to "seven" 
while all other Sakai numerals stop at "three'* — but 
also because it indicates linguistically the source from 
which it came. It is close to Khmer, but still closer to 
