262 
WEAPONS, 
The Jakuns of Malacca, and those of Johore have no other arm* 
than spears and parangs; very few use the sumpitan, and they are en¬ 
tirely unacquainted with the use of poisoned arrows, * The Jakuns 
spears consist of an iron blade of about one foot long, and one inch 
broad in the middle, attached to a thick rudely worked shaft about 
five or six feet long, and sharp at the inferior extremity, in order 
to enter easily into the ground; for before they enter a house they 
strike the end of the spear into the ground, where it remains until 
they go away.f It is scarcely possible to meet a single Jakun 
without his spear, which is both a stick to walk with, and an offen¬ 
sive or defensive weapon as the occasion requires. The parang is an 
iron blade of about one foot long, and two or three inches broad 
with a haft like that of a large knife; they use it to cut trees employ¬ 
ed in the building of their houses; and to cut branches to open a pas- 
sage when journeying in the thick jungle : it is also used as a defen¬ 
sive weapon against wild beasts. I know a Jakun who being at¬ 
tacked by a tiger, defended himself with a parang (the only weapon 
he had with him at the time). Nearly half an hour was spent in 
this singular combat: the Jakun lost an eye and was seriously wound¬ 
ed in the head; but the royal beast paid the forfeit with his life. The 
Jakuns of the Menangkabau states use the parang, the sumpitan with 
poisoned arrows, and a few of them the spear. The sumpitan is a 
small bamboo of the size of the index finger, from six to ten feet long 
with a head as large as a fowl egg, this piece of bamboo is inserted 
until the head into a larger one of the same length. The arrows are 
very slight slips ol wood the thickness of a knitting-needle, and from 
eight to ten inches long terminating in a fine point, coated with poi¬ 
son for the space of an inch or so; at the other extremity of the ar¬ 
row, is placed a cone of white wood, cut in such a way t that it may 
just fill the tube of the sumpitan to receive all the impulse of the ai r, 
and this cone also aids in directing the arrow; this is propelled by 
* Vol. i. p. 272. 
T This is also the custom of the Johore Binua, if?, p. 257. Ep. 
