260 
FOOD. 
go to some Malay house, where they dispose of the produce of then- 
Search, receiving in return, a small quantity of rice, some times 
scarcely sufficent to support their family for that very day ; after that 
they return to the same thing for the purpose of in like manner pro- 
'curing food for the next day; and so on. Where the Chinese work 
in the tin mines, they employ sometimes Jakuns as workmen. I 
am told that at some place in Jellabu, Jakuns work the mines by 
themselves, and bring the tin to Pahang, where they sell it. In 
some other places Malays employ Jakuns to cut jungle where they 
intend to cultivate; and in several other works ; but there is a gener¬ 
al complaint on the side of the Jakuns, who say that the Malays 
are not just towards them, and recompense not properly their la- 
hour. The business of the Jakuns women is to take care of the chil¬ 
dren, to cook and prepare the food; and to go about the forest to 
look for fruits and vegetables. 
FOOD.* 
After what has already been said of the Jakuns, it can be easily 
understood that they have no regular diet. They like good food, but 
when they are deprived of it, they eat with satisfaction any other, 
even that which would be an object of horror for civilised people. 
They live upon the flesh of every kind of animal, snakes, monkeys, 
bears, deer, tigers, birds, etc. Yams, Plantains with the wild fruits, 
the leaves of trees and certain roots furnish the principal part of their 
ordinary food. Those of them who cultivate rice, sell a part of it to 
the Malays, or exchange it for cloths: with the other part they live 
a few months of the year. They do not dislike the flesh of domestic 
animals, fowls, &c., as it had been alleged; on the contrary, I remark¬ 
ed that they prefer it to that of wild animals. I have seen several 
of their houses where there was a good quantity of fowls. Sometimes 
they cook the flesh before they eat it: but .at other times they eat it 
raw: some merely put the animal upon the fire till the hairs are sing¬ 
ed, when they consider it as cooked. I have seen some large mon- 
* 
Vol. I. p. 251-260. 
