REMARKS ON THE SLETAR AND SABIMBA TRIBES, 343^ 
fcant from the town only 8 miles, gives its name to the tribe, and is 
situated nearly in the middle of their range. They number in all 
40 boats, or 200 people, and are subject to a Batin or petty chief 
whose names is Keding. Their de facto sovereign is the Tomungong 
of Jchore, who can command their services in the manner of a feu¬ 
dal lord. Their language is the Malayan, and considerable pains 
was taken to elicit any words foreign to that language, but without 
effect. Their dialect is the same as that of the Orang Laut of Tulloh 
Blangah, but spoken with a slightly more guttural accent, aud they 
clip their words as mueh as the natives of Keddah. As a proof of 
their possessing the same language as the Malays, I may mention 
that the children were heard when playing to converse in this lan¬ 
guage, and were perfectly understood by the Malays amongst our 
crew. They are possessed of no weapons either offensive or defen¬ 
sive ; their minds do not find a higher range than necessity compels, 
the satisfying of hunger is their only pursuit, of water they have 
abundance without search; with the serkap or fish spear, and the 
parang or chopper, as their only implements, they eke out a miser¬ 
able existence from the stores of the rivers and forest; they neither 
dig nor plant, and still live nearly independent of their fellow men, 
for to them the staple of life in the east, rice, is a luxury; tobacco 
they procure by the barter of fish, and a few marketable products 
collected from the forests and coral reefs. Of esculent roots they 
have the prioh and kalana, both bulbous, and not unlike coarse yams, 
—of fruits they eat the fcampuf, kledang and buroh, when they come 
In season, and of animals they hunt the wild hog, but refrain from 
snakes, dogs, guanas and monkeys. Such are their principal means 
of subsistence, for many minor products of the forests and creeks must 
be left unmentioned. 
On their manners and customs, I must needs be short, as only long' 
acquaintance with their prejudices, and domestic feelings could afford 
a clue to the impulse of their actions. Of a Creator they have not the 
slightest comprehension, a fact so difficult to believe, when we find 
the most degraded of the human race in other quarters of the globe, 
have an intuitive idea of this unerring and primary truth imprinted on 
