PAPERS ON MALAY SUBJECTS. 
we knOTV about the beliefs of the NortherE Sakai bas 
been learnt from these low-country tribes and cannot 
be j3roved (at present) to be true of their mlder 
neighbours. It may, however,' be surmised that the 
" tame ** aborigines differ from the " wild " only in the 
fact that they have discarded their old communal 
houses and the use of the bow and are losing other 
racial traits such as the making of bark-cloth and the 
painting and tattooing of the face. Briefly, they are 
becoiuing sophisticated; one of them indeed has so 
far forgotten his tribal isolation as to find his way to 
the Tai]>ing Gao) oti a life-sentence for murder. 
If we assume the beliefs of these low-country Northern 
Bakai to be identical with the ideas of their neighbours 
on the high hills, there is evidence to prove a close 
connection between the Northern Sakai and the Central 
Bakai. That evidence is m follows. Iii the year 1892 
there died of fever on Gunong Riani in Ulu Kinta a 
Trigonometrical Surveyor, the late Mr. Williams. This 
unfortunate gentleumn spent the last weeks of his life in 
noting down the language and customs of the Sakai 
around him. His vocab^ulary of Korthern Sakai contains 
between 400 and 500 words and represents the best 
linguistic material available for the study of this tribe. 
His notes on custom are less valuable, but they contain 
some very striking passages : 
**In i-ei^ard to the disposal of the Ixnly after death, some hmy 
their dead, otliers build a hut high enough above tlie ground to 
|)ermit of a full-grown man passing under it. The hut is roofed in 
and covered <m all sides. With the body ai*e placed food, Trater, 
luxuries in the way of tobacco, betel, etc. — a little, in fact, of every- 
thing used in life, including clothing and weapons. For three days 
a fire is kept lit at tlie grave ; then it h deserted for a fortnight, when 
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