FASCICULI MALATENSES 
XXXI 
station, in species and individuals. Among mammals* a gibbon was common, 
and we obtained a specimen of the monkey Presbytes (Semnopithecus) femora Its^ 
which seemed to replace the common P. obscurus. Several specimens of the 
rare porcupine, Hystrtxgtout, were brought us by the natives. 
Our object in visiting Mabek was to meet a small tribe of Semangs, 
calling themselves Hami or 4 Men/ whose Malay lord resided there. In 
this we were, so far, successful, for we saw and talked with five adults and 
obtained from them several interesting ethnographical specimens, as well as 
taking measurements and photographs of them, but their master was afraid 
that we intended to kidnap them and so hindered us from seeing as much of 
them as we desired. At the same time, he arranged that the people of the 
village should refuse to sell us supplies, so that we could obtain little to eat. 
The Hami are probably of purer Semang stock than the Semin of Upper Perak. 
Petai. A small Malay village some miles north of Mabek. Here we 
spent a night on the way to Tanjong Luar, incidentally obtaining some 
curious information regarding the Malay belief in familiar spirits and witches. 
Tanjong Luar. Tanjong Luar is a small Malay hamlet only separated 
by the Sungei Groh, a tributary of the Fatani, from the Siamese community 
of Ban Kassot ; but as the Sungei Groh also forms the boundary between 
Jalor and Rhaman, the two hamlets, or rather quarters of the village, are in 
different states, Ban Kassot being on the Rhaman and Kampong Tanjong 
Luar on the Jalor bank. The two together contain some fifteen to twenty 
houses, whose inhabitants, being too lazy to practice artificial irrigation, 
cultivate hill rice (which needs no such aid for its growth), maize and bananas in 
small clearings often some little distance from the village, living during part of 
the year in their plantations. The scenery in the surrounding country is 
mao-nificent. The bold outlines of the limestone hills, which are several 
o 
times higher than those near Biserat, the whiteness of the exposed cliffs, and 
the luxuriance of the vegetation at their base afford a series of contrasts very 
grateful in Malaya. At one point a stream makes its way through a lofty 
tunnel in a marble crag, and the hills, if the natives 1 stories be true, are full of 
splendid caves. We were invited by the Luang Chin, or head of the Chinese 
community in Patani, to visit a tin mine which he owned in the neighbour¬ 
hood, having first been warned of the precautions we must take not to scare 
away the tin spirit. In forming the mine, which is probably the most 
important in the Patani States, the side of a hill has been completely dug 
away, but the Luang Chin told us that it did not now pay to work it to its 
full capacity. He took us to see in the immediate neighbourhood a beautiful 
little valley at the entrance to which a pair of huge rocky pinnacles stood 
sentinel, strangely reminiscent of certain rocks in Switzerland, except that one 
