FASCICULI MALATENSES 
37 
which frequently press so closely into the skin that they must cause great dis¬ 
comfort. Necklaces of glass beads are in use among both sexes, being generally 
composed of brilliant colours, such as red, blue, and green, alternating with 
single white beads. We did not see among the Mai DarAt either the seed 
necklaces or the monkey-tooth necklaces and bracelets worn by the Jehehr and 
Pd-Klo. At Telom we procured a specimen of a different character, which was 
worn by a man, who considered it 1 strong medicine.* It consisted of a number 
of canine teeth belonging to different animals, strung together with several 
Dutch silver coins of the eighteenth century, a modern Straits Settlements cent, 
a Chinese 4 cash,* a large amber bead, and a marine shell. The items were so 
disposed that the coins hung in front and the teeth on either side. 
On festal occasions, such as marriages and magical performances, both sexes 
are said to paint their faces and bodies, but we only saw this done in the case 
of women. The patterns consist of broad black lines disposed on the cheeks, 
foreheads, noses, chins, and bodies, very much in the same way as the ground¬ 
work patterns of the bark-cloth fillets. Upon these, dotted designs in red, 
yellow, and white are impressed by means of a comb-shaped stamp of tortoise 
shell, which is dipped in the various pigments and then applied to the skin. 
When in the jungle the men paint a black line down the bridge of the nose, 
using a burnt stick if no other pigment is available. This they too believe to 
constitute a prophylactic against injury by thorns. Not infrequently the line is 
prolonged up across the forehead, running through a lozenge-shaped outline 
between the brows, and sometimes a more elaborate pattern is drawn, like an 
inverted M with double outlines, just above the eyes. Very possibly the more 
elaborate designs may also have their special meaning. The transverse lines 
on the cheeks, commonly seen in Upper Perak, were not noticed in Batang 
Padang. We saw no instance either of tattooing or ornamental scarification* 
On a journey the younger persons of both sexes carry roughly triangular pieces 
of the flower-spathe of a palm with which to fan themselves. 
The weapons of the Mai Darat are spears and blowguns (Plate XI). 
The former consist of strips of bamboo sharpened at both ends, about two-and- 
a-half feet long and three to four inches wide at the broadest part. These appear 
to be sometimes used without a haft, but as a rule they are bound to a stick between 
six and seven feet long by means of lashings of rattan. The spears are either 
used as such or fixed in spring traps, in which the cut stem of a sapling is bent 
in an arc, being released by the breaking or violent twitching of a string stretched 
across a game track and then launching the spear. It is unnecessary to describe 
these traps at greater length, as comparison of our diagram with one given by 
Ling Roth' from a type used by some of the Malay and Dyak tribes of Sarawak, 
I, The Natyvti of Sarawak and British North BorntO t Voi. II, p. .J40, London, 1896 
