FASCICULI MALA TENSES 
45 
have recently adopted the pattern from their more civilized neighbours, for 
those camps which we saw in the mountains differed in no material respect 
from those built in the close vicinity of settled districts. So far as we saw, 
the houses were always raised on posts, sometimes to the height of ten or 
eleven feet, where wild beasts are feared, arid sometimes not more than as 
many inches. The walls are constructed of bamboos, split along one side and 
then opened out, the flat strips thus obtained being interlaced to form a rude 
kind of basketwork. Often these walls are only necessary at the two ends of 
the house, as the eaves of the roof, which is made of palm-thatch, reach 
to the floor on either side. The floor itself is made of narrow strips of 
bamboo or sticks, laid parallel to one another, and secured with lashings of 
rattan or of the stems of creepers. There is no division into rooms inside, 
though that part of the floor furthest from the entrance is often raised to form 
a sleeping place. The fire is close to the door, being lighted on a square of 
sand or earth enclosed by four bamboos. There is no chimney. The door 
consists of a slab of the same material as that of the walls, and is secured by a 
stick which can be thrust through corresponding holes in the two door-posts. 
We never saw more than four houses in one clearing, but clearings in cultiva¬ 
tion were sometimes observed at a distance from the camp, and in such cases 
there was a small house in them, which appeared to be only used on occasion. 
When on the march the Mai Darat construct shelters like those of the Semangs, 
but apparently without a sleeping platform. 
The grave of a Mai Darat is elaborate, a chamber having been constructed, 
in several interments investigated, above the level at which the corpse was 
buried, but below the surface. The roof of this chamber was made either of 
palm-thatch or of earth beaten hard, apparently over a wooden framework, 
which had decayed ; in it were deposited all the goods owned by the 
deceased, including clothes, household implements, knives, ornaments, and 
even coins. The graves that we actually saw happened to be those of 
women, except in one case, where a Malay model had been followed. In the 
purely native interments an iron cookiJig-pot and some porcelain vessels— 
both, of course, derived from Chinamen or Malays—were placed on the 
surface of the mound raised over the sepulchral chamber, and a small tree had 
been planted at the head and foot. We were shown a photograph of a male 
interment, in the case of which a small shelter had been constructed over the 
grave and a blowgun left upon it. This photograph was in the possession of Mr. 
G. B. Cerruti, at that time Superintendent of Sakais in Southern Perak. 
The body was fully clothed in all the cases that we investigated ourselves, 
and in some a few copper coins had been placed in the belt. It should be 
