V 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ETHNOGRAPHY 
OF THE MALAY PENINSULA 
By NELSON ANNANDALE and HERBERT C. ROBINSON 
The first four parts of this paper will he purely descriptive , dealing with (i) Semang 
and Sakai tribes ; (2) the Coast Folk of Trang ; (3) the Malays of Perak ; and (4) 
the Malays and Siamese of Patani and Senggora. We intend to describe each tribe that we 
have ourselves investigated as fully as our experience permits , but not to discuss our results 
or compare them with information derived from other sources until we come to the fifth 
part of our paper. This will consist of a summary , with discussions as to the relationships 
of the different racial elements in the Malay Peninsula. 
PART I. SEMANG AND SAKAI TRIBES 
A S we believe that it is possible to distinguish two distinct types among 
the jungle-folk of the Malay Peninsula, we have thought it best to 
retain the names, Sakai and Semang, for them, seeing that these terms 
have acquired a certain currency. This has been done purely for the sake of 
convenience and to avoid confusion, for both terms are really bad : ‘ Sakai,’ 1 
among the majority of those tribes to whom it has been applied, is a term of 
abuse, the origin of which is uncertain, while ‘ Semang,’ 2 is a Malay corruption 
of ‘ Seman,’ a name given to one particular tribe by themselves. 
1. Crawfurd states, without reference to any wild tribe, that sakai means ‘follower,’ ‘retainer,’ ‘dependent,’ 
or ‘associate’ ( Malay Grammar and Dictionary , vol. ii, p. 157, London, 1852) ; other authorities say, variously, 
that it means ‘dog,’ ‘friend,’ etc. [Zeitschr.fur Ethn. 1891, p. 830, Berlin). In many parts of the Peninsula where 
jungle tribes occur, Sakai is a general term applied indiscriminately by the Malays to all of them. In Patani, where 
Panghan takes its place, it is hardly known, except among those Malays who have visited Perak ; and this is probably 
true in parts of Pahang, Kelantan, and Kedah also. In South Perak and at Kuala Kangsar, the residence of the 
Sultan of Perak, the Malays say that all those jungle-folk who live on the right bank of the Perak River are Sakais, 
and all those on the left, Semangs — a view of the case which is approximately correct ; but in Upper Perak the 
Semangs are said to be those Sakais who have no master, viz., the Po-Klo, who are Sakais according to our classifi- 
cation and live on the right bank of the stream. 
2. Mr. W. W. Skeat suggests [Malay Magic, p. 185) that the words semang and siamang [Hylobates sp.) may 
have been confused, but the latter is probably a contraction for Sri-Amang, Sri being an honorific prefix, derived from 
the Sanscrit, that is often added to the names of demi-gods and heroes in Malay folk-lore. Amang is a legendary 
hero of Upper Perak, whose children became gibbons after he himself had perished in a combat with Wa-Wa, whose 
offspring and followers were also turned into gibbons of another species. The bodies of the two heroes were trans- 
formed into rocks, which are still shown. The legend is to account for the belief that different species of gibbon, 
known in Malay as siamang or amang and ava-wa or mawah , inhabit the right and left banks, respectively, of the 
Perak River ; but whether the belief is true has not been properly investigated. Wa-mua is an onomatopoeic word 
derived from the cry of the species with which it is associated. 
B 
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