FASCICULI MALATENSES 
9 
that' current among themselves regarding the origin of the Kubus. A Siamese 
in Jalor, on the other hand, stated that in the days of old, Sri Hanuman, ‘ who 
was a monkey,’ invaded the country and burnt the villages. The people fled 
into the jungle, but their skins were darkened and their hair frizzled by the 
heat ; while their pigs became jungle-pigs, and their cattle tapirs and other wild 
beasts. The tale is obviously an echo of the Hindu epic, Ramyana , incidents 
from which abound in the shadow-plays both of Malays and Siamese. 
The Semdn of Upper Perak and Rhaman (Plates II, fig. 2, III, IV, V, fig. 2). 
At the village of Grit, in Upper Perak, and at Krunei, near the Perak- 
Rhaman border, P met over fifty individuals belonging to a Semang tribe that 
called itself Seman, while at Kampong Jarum, in the Jarum district of Rhaman, 
I saw others who were said to come of the same tribe, and even to be near 
relatives. The Malays of Upper Perak call these Seman Sakai Jeram , or 
‘ Sakais of the Rapids,’ on account of their skill as raftsmen. (None of the 
jungle folk met in Upper Perak objected to be called Sakais ; indeed they 
often used the term when talking of themselves in Malay). 
The government census for 1901 gives the number of ‘aborigines’ in 
Upper Perak, including the New Territory ceded or restored by Siam in 
1899, as 2,246; of these 1,277 were males and 966 females. Of the 
males 303 were under fifteen years of age, and of the females 208. Though 
there is a slight mistake in arithmetic in the census of this district, there is no 
reason to consider it less than approximately correct ; for it is not difficult here 
to call together the Sakais and Semangs through their Malay masters and 
Chinese friends, and most, if not all, of the enumerators were Malays. Some 
Semang families may have been absent across the border when the census was 
taken, as there is at this point no natural boundary between the Siamese and 
the Federated Malay States ; but, on the other hand, families who generally 
lived in Siamese territory may have been present. It must be noted that the 
term ‘ aborigines ’ includes both Semang and Sakai tribes. The total ‘ aboriginal ’ 
population of Perak in 1901 was 7,982, but this, owing to a mistake, noted 
later, in one of the districts, includes a certain number of natives of India. 
That of all nationalities in Upper Perak and the New Territory at the same 
date was only 6,758, almost exactly three times the number of the Semangs and 
Sakais of the district. The settled population is here almost entirely Malay, 
with a considerable admixture of Semang or Sakai blood in some villages. 
Jungle men who ‘ enter Islam ’ are no longer looked upon as inferior beings, 
1. Henry O. Forbes, A Naturalist' s Wanderings in the Eastern Archipelago , p. 243, London, 1885. 
2. When the first person singular is used in our joint papers, the statements are those of N. Annandale 
alone. H. C. Robinson was unable to visit Upper Perak, Patalung, or Trang. 
C 
22/1/03 
