H. D. None, 'Settlements and Welfare of the Ple-Temiar Senoi of the Perak-Kelantan Watershed'

7/28/2019 H. D. None, 'Settlements and Welfare of the Ple-Temiar Senoi of the Perak-Kelantan Watershed'

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Part I

""'N -V .,--,,- 0 "-.... t , . ; : . . ; ~ . . . ; : ; , j ' . ". 5!NGAPORE"L r S ~ ~ A R YCONTENTS .

Preface_1. Culture, Breed and Language among Malayan

Aborigines2. Summary of Previous Records

Part I I 1. An Outline of th e Perak-Kelantan watershed: and th e expeditions

Part II I

2. The Breed and Culture of the PIe-TemiarSenoi3. Demography: th e Ple-Temiar population

CONTACTS1. The Temiar and the Forests2. The Temiar and Cultivation3. The Temiar and Wild Life4. The Temiar and Health.5. Temiar Trade and Enterprise6. The Temiar and Culture Contact

Part IV PROPOSED ABORIGINAL POLICY1. Present circumstances affecting th e Status

of the Temiar2. Th e Scheme of a Controlled Reservation and

Pattern SettlemeI!ts3. Summary of Provisions necessary in propos

Enactment4. Conclusion

Page 14

10

2133

404143444651

61

62

6773

Appendices I, II, III. IV. V, VI 7 7 , 7 8 , 8 0 , 8 1 , 8 ~ 8 5\.


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PREFACE.

Half a century of pioneer work umong th e aborigines of thePeninsula has prepared a setting in which it is profitable, in thenorth at any rate, to describe each group intensively according tomodern functional methods. Skeat and Blagden'sl classical study onth e pagan races ' provided a basic survey compiled fro m many sourcesfrom which it appeared that there were broadly speaking threeaboriginal "complexes," the woolly-haired nomads of the north andnorth-east, predominantly Negritos; the straight-haired, "protoMalay" jungle dwellers of the south, usually termed Jakun; and in th ecentre the wavy-haired Senoi or "Sakai." Mr. I. H. N. Evans andPater Schebesta have more recently described the northern Negritogroups in some detail: the ethnographical survey of the south hasadvanced little since Skeat's time, and so for the past three or fouryears the present writer has concentrated upon the Senoi of th emain range of the peninsula. The results of this research will bepublished in succeeding numbers of this joumal. The present numberis intended to clear the ground for the presentation of these factsand to supply the geographical setting. Some two years ago thewriter was invited to make a report to Government on th e welfareand distribution of the northem Senoi who inhabit the mountainsbetween Perak and Kelantan, and Lv discuss policies of reservation.The second half of this number is based therefore upon this Report,and a succinct account of th e breed and culture of the Temiar Senoinaturally finds its place as a basis for any discussion bearing onaboriginal policy. A demographic survey of the territory followslogically upon the account of their environment, and a preliminarystatement of evidence bearing upon the population is included here,as affecting the problems with which Government is faced. A moredetailed analysis of vital statistics will accompany the .second partof th e monograph, which will deal with the sociology of the Temiar.So soon as the physical m e a s u r e m e n t ~ and observations made on theliving .subjects in the field have been worked out statistically by aspecialist in physical anthropolog"'j a subsequent number will bedevoted entirely to their breed. Their language, material culture,magico-religious beliefs and mythology will also be dealt with fully.

Investigations of such an intensive nature could never have beencarried out but for the courtesy of the Government of Perak inaccording me the opportunity and facilities for the work.

1 Pagall Raus of tlw lIfa.lay Penin81tla, Volumes I and H. W. W. Skeat andC. O. Blagden. Macmillan & Co., London, 1906.


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Journ. F. M. S. Mus. - Vol. XIX. Frontispiece.

HILL TEMIAR DANCING THE "KANANYAR",

PART I.

CU LTURE, BREED AND LANGUAGE.The aboriginal races of the Malay Peninsula are generallyknown locally as "Sakai." An inclusive name for the various tribes isdesirable, and "Sakai," having become fashionable, will serve thepurpose best. Yet it is important to clear up many misapp:'ehensionsabout the use of this term.The first is one of scientific terminology. Unfortunately, earl?investigators in the Peninsula, following Annandale, restricted thescope of the term .. Sakai" applying it only to th e wavy-haired Senoitribes of the main range of the Peninsula. Dr. Rudolf Martin andMr. 1. H. N. Evans alone stood out against this practice, which hascaused confusion locally, well-read people using the term in varianceof vernacular usage. Pater Schebesta, who ha s done so much to

record accurately the proper names of the nomadic Negrito tribes,(on the principle of adopting their own word fo r " fellow man"followed by th e tribal name perhaps originally applied by neighbours)has given sanction to this restricted use of "Sakai" which stillpersists in -the literature of comparative anthropology. I propose toaccept the popular local usage of .. Sakai" as a general term, and tosubstitute" Senoi" for the wavy-haired people.Certain groups of Negrito nomads in Upper Perak and elsewherein the north certainly fell into almost complete economic dependenceon Malays; but the mere fact that these groups were distinguishedas " hamba," whilst the neighbouring hill tribes were not, shews thatthe term .. Sakai" does not necessarily imply dependence.I t will be apparent from the above argument that .. Sakai"must include a variety of peoples. It is essential to realise this

qualification when using the term, which can only be a convenientbut approximate label. These tribeR may be classified from threepoints of view. On the linguistic side the nomad collectors alonefurnish us with six dialects: and the Senoi and Jakun contributeabout six more. Generalisations, for example, about extent of"Sakai" vocabulary and "Sakai" numeral systems frequently quoted,have little meaning. At least two dialects have numeral systems up .to ten and the statement that all " Sakai" cannot count above threeis incorrect.From the point of view of physical type, alt}1Ough it is convenientto speak of three main groups, anthropometric analysis and observation shew that there is probably no group which is homogeneous, andthe fact is that at least four racial types, if not more, can bedistinguished among the "Sakai," and at most we can only speakof anyone group being predomirw.ntl?j N e ~ i t o or predominantly


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2 Journal of tke F.M.S. Museums [VOL. XIX,Proto-Malay. The Australo-Melanesoid type, for instance! occursoccasionally among all groups. I t is impossible to be dogmatic a?outthe average stature of the "Sakai." One element is. comparabvelytall, individuals of five feet nine inches or more occurnng.

We are left therefore with the third consideration, that .of th emode of life. There is, once again, no such thing as a u m v e ~ s a lII Sakai" culture . There ar e tribes who are, practically speakiDg,nomad collectors: others who plant catch crops and build a temporaryvillage of flimsy little houses: o t h e ~ s ye t who make p e r m a n e ~ tsettlements in long-houses on th e higher ranges and rotate theirplantations on the hill slopes around: one a b o r i g i ~ a l group plantswet padi, owns buffaloe.'l, ye t speaks a non-Malay dialect.

The mode of life is th e most consistent basis fu r classification:the physical types ar e too scattered.

The most primitive mode of life in th e ~ e n i n s u l a . is t h ~ t . ofth e nomadic "collectors." These are a senes of tnbes hvmgmainly in th e north. bu t penetrating fa r south in isolated groupsinto Pahang on the east of th e Peninsula. These peoples ar epredominantly Negritos. though other elements ar e present. Perhapsthe historical fact is that t he" collecting" mode of life ha s been theprincipal means of survival of the purer Negrito type, for whereNegritoid types ar e found following other modes of life they .theresults of intermarriage. The Malays and also th e otheraborlgme3who possess a higher (material) culture recognise these tribes underthe deprecatory names of Semang (Kedah), Pangan (Kelantan,Trengganu, North Pahang), .. Orang Liar," .. Orang Belukar" and soforth. Thanks to the researches of Mr.!. H. N. Evans and PaterSchebesta these are th e best known aborigines.

A higher mode of life is that characterised by the planting ofcatch crops, and the building of more permanent d w e l l i n ~ s , t h o u g ~diet is largely dependent on trapping and th e blowpipe. This ISperhaps the most widely spread mode of life, and is followed by thepredominantly wavy-haired lowland Semai Senoi in South Perak andNorth-west Pahang, and also th e Proto-Malay Jakun of Johore, SouthPahang and Negri Sembilan.

Perhaps th e most formidable group ar e th e Temiar or NorthernSenoi who inhabit the main range from Gunong Noring, south toCameron Highlands. They possess a typical hill culture, live in longhouses (of early Indonesian type) and practise a much modified shifting cultivation, planting up successive plots on th e hill slopes around.Many groups remain seven or eight years in one spot. They maIntained their independence of the Malays, even before th e Britishregime. This hill culture extends down among the hill Semai: it isassociated with a predominantly Indonesian (Nesiot) physical type, inmany ways the finest aboriginal stock in th e peninsula. Yet the downriver Temiar, though to a less extent than among the Semai, do notexhibit this intensive cultivation and the large houses, and are predominantly of more primitive racial stocks called for the present theII older strata."

1936] Culture, Breed and Language 3On the eastern slopes of Benom, chie.fly on th e Sungei Krau,(but also to the south on th e Kerdau, and probably in the U1u Tekaiand Ulu Remaman), are the enigmatical Ja h Chong, whose mode oflife is similar to the Malays. They plant "sawah" (wet padi): sompgroups own buffalos and like many other Indonesians practise circumcision without regarding this rite as an initiation to Islam. Yet theyspeak a language of their own. They appear to be a fair mixture of

wavy-haired (Indonesian) and straight-haired Proto-Malay, but theyoccasionally intermarry with the elusive Negrito nomads whom theycall "Kleb" or "Orang Liar." Perhaps we should add the mode of lifeof the "Orang Laut," predominantly Proto-Malay sea gypsies, whoseonly dwellings are their boats and whose livelihood is mainly fishing.Though these interesting peoples arc found all around the coasts ofMalaysia from Mergui to Celebes under the name of Orang Manfang,Orang Bajau, etc., very f.ew persist in this mode of life alongth e coasts of the peninsula. Reports of their movements would bevaluable.

I t is important to lay stress on these diversities because theyseem to be unobtrusive. There is, of course, a highest commonfactor fo r all the groups, but this is lower than a superficial studywould lead one to think. On the whole they tend to live in th e jungle,though some make clearings extensive enough to be able to speak of"II going intL th e jungle" when they pass from one settlement to th eother. They do not profess any of the world religions to any extent.They rely mostly on their environment for the major needs of life.Their allegiances are for th e most part local. and their loyalties areto the group: yet outside these limits their feeling of "community"as expressed in their language may be fa r wider, though not alwaysprepotent.. When we are concerned with any particular group, we find themterplay of all three elements, the language, the" organisation" ormode of life, and the breed of men. Speech is a mode of socialbehaviour: without the medium of speech human society in its knownforms would be impossible. The language a particular group speaksholds it apart from groups speaking other tongues, whilst communityof speech breeds intercourse. The composition of the breed of aparticular people follows on this intercourse through intermarriage.~ e r e th e Senoi and th e northern Negrito groups, physicallydisparate, meet, they learn each others language and th e offsnring ofthe hybrid marriages join the mother's group. In the south twoneighbouring groups whose breed is almost identical do not knoweach others language and speak Malay when they meet, and theoffspring of mixed marriages join the group of the father.

Speech and culture are most often interdependent: breed is moredispersed. 'When groups possessing a common culture distinguishtheir fellows as "senoi" in Conrad's sense of "one of us" and refer tostrangers of different culture and alier; tongue as "gob" or "stranger,"their community of feeling is reflected in their language and soplainly has common limits with that language. Yet some of their"fellows" may be physical types also represented in th e "stranger"group. In so fa r as no group is homogeneow') in breed th e motive force


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4 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums [VOL. XIX,behind th e organisation of separatt! groups is prepotently cultural,and th e language is the most assertive expression of this fact .

Many tribes indulge in external trade, washing tin and tappingjelutong, whilst most groups collect rattans fo r sale. Some earnsalaries as elephant drivers, others as labourers for felling on estates ,whilst on Cameron Highlands some !lave settled down to permanentoccupation on one estate .

Such statements as "the simple Sakai" or "these most patheticof people" are entirely elliptical. Th e word "Sakai" in fact is onlyuseful provided one remembers it means very little: it covers as wehave seen at least four types of culture, twelve dialects and four orfive racial types . A common error is to select some trait whichcharacterisel" one particular group, tram;port it in "cold storage" andmake it one element in some mythical assemblage of unrelated traitsfo r which "Sakai" is too often a label. And, in fact "Sakai"comes to mean .i ust what you want it to mean: if you are a missionaryth e Sakai 'is an unsociable, simple, unclean creature who cannot countabove three: if you are a conservator of game the Sakai is not sosimple: he suddenly assumes a terrifying lethal Quality. I f you ar ea Malay who has his eye on a choice "dusun" planted UP by these e o p l ~you teU th e District Officer how th e "Sakai" are "here to-day andgone t o ~ m o r r o w . " I f you ar e a writer of fiction the S a k ~ i is invariably "cowering in his flimsy shelter scratching his lupus skin as hegrows old."

There is, however, one indisputable fact, namely the lack ofeasily availahle systematic knowledge about the aborigines: and it hasnot been possible therefor e, fo r a cohtrent aboriginal policy to develop.The first step then is to avoid reading too specific a meaning into theterm "Sakai" and to build up separate intensive studies of the ratherdiverse patterns of culture and breed to be understood under thatterm . An attempt is here made to present vital facts about th eTemiar Senoi, a hill people of the main range between Perak andKelantan .

PREVIOUS RECORDS.rr II faut continuer, if ne faut pas recommencer."

Two works published in th e years 1905 and 1906 placed the studyof the Pagan Tribes on a systematic basis: Dr. Rudolf Martin's book lwas chiefly anthropological, whilst that of W. W. Skeat and Dr.C. O. Blagden2 was a compilation of all that was known about theethnology, magico-religious beliefs and material culture of th e variou:-3tribes.

Both books contain exhaustive surveys of earlier accounts, sothat in the present insta nce I shall only trace the significant advancesin our knowledge of the Senoi tribes on the main range. It is worthbearing in mind however that earlier explorers recognised only onenon-Malay aboriginal element in th e 'Peninsula, and the tribes were1 Die Inlandstamme der Malay ischen Halbins el. verlag Gustav Fischer.Jena, 1905. I .

2 Pagan Races of the Mala'll Pen;w.rn/(!. Sl


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Journal of the FM.s. MuseumS [VOL. xIx,also demonstrated more clearly from linguistic evidence the. realityof an aboriginal peninsular Malay element in the south WhICh pre1 " I"ated the historical intrusion of the more comp ex orang me ayuor "Deutero-Malays" from Sumatra.To the Northern and Central tribes of Senoi defined by Clifford.Sk-eat and Blagden tentatively addl'd Southern (Besisi in Selangorand Northern Negri Sembilan) and Eastern (on the Benommassif in Pahang). They retained th e earlier term "Sakai"f(lr these wavy-haired tribes. Dr. Blagden compiled from manysources a comparative vocabulary of all the aboriginal dialects andwhile he developed1 the theme of their linguistic affinities with theMon-Khmer dialects, referring to the Austro-Asiatic branch of thegreat Austric family of human languages he insisted on th e evidencefor Indonesian elements in these dialects as well.Wilkinson2 publi'shed a more complete vocabulary of Central Senoicollected from a Gopeng aborigine. He also wrote a short accountof the pagan tribes, and this appears in slightly different form inthe beginning of his "History of th e Peninsular Malays" and in achapter forming part of a compilation "Twentieth Century Impressions of British Malaya."3 Wilkinson presents us with some interesting information about the Northern Senoi.4 These. ar e d e s c ~ H . > e das differing in many respects from the other pagan trIbes; as hvmgin long communal houses, going in for more intensive cultivati?n,and being more formidable and hostile to strangers, and so bemgfeared by their n-eighbours. Annandale5 ha d previously noted thatnon-Negritc hill-men ("Po-KIo") in Ulu Temengor, now included byWilkinson as "Northern Senoi" were economically independent of theMalays and did not hold friendly intercourse with them. Whateverhis SOUi'ces. Wilkinson's description of the Northern Senoi ha s stooothe test of ' recent research .Circumstances prevented Mr. I. H. N. Evans from intensivestudy of anyone group over a sufficiently long period. A long seriesof papers, most of which have been collected in his two books,Schieflv add valuable new information on th e beliefs and customs ofthe Negrito tribes. He also paid several visits to the Central Senoibut only on two expeditions did he touch the Northern Senoi. oncein Ulu Temengor7 and once on the Korbu and in Ulu Kinta.s Hebears out Wilkinson's record of the formidability of this Northern

1 Also earlier in 1894, Early Indo-Chinese influence in the Malay Peninsula_JOUrt!.. R.A.s., S.B., No. 27.

2 Wilkinson's A Vocabulary of Central Sakai: The Aboriginal Tribes :History of the Peninsular Malays all in "Papers on Malay Subjects."3 Edited by Arnold Wright. Lloyd's G. B. Publishing Co., 1908.4 "Northern Sakai or Senoi"=Ple-Temiar Senoi=Orang Bukit (Malay)."Central Saka'i or Senoi"=Semai Senoi=Orang or Mai Darat (Malay).Wilkinson, like Skeat and Schebesta, retained the restricted use of theterm "SakaL"6 Fasciculi Malayenses. Part 1. Anthropology, p. 24.6 Religion, FolJv.lore and Custom in N. Borneo and the Malay Penilumla .Cambridge, 1923 and Papers on the Ethnology an d Archaeology of the. MalayPeninsula. Cambridge, 1927.7 Upper Perak Aborigines . Jour1l . F. M .S. Museums, Vol. VI. 1915-1916.8 Notes on the Sakai of the Korbu River and of the Ulu Kinta. Journ.F M .S. Museu1ns, Vol. VII, 1917.

'

1936] Prevtous Recordshill tribe, bu t so much does he regard them as a hybrid tribe that hecalls them the "Negrito-Sakai" in Temengor. He repudiates theorthodox Vedd-Australoid affinity of the Senoi and inclines rather tothe view put forward by Schmidt that these wavy-hair'2d people arerelated racially to tribes in Southern French Indo-China.

R e ~ e n t l y , Pater Schebesta spent two years in the peninsula andwas th e first since Martin to have the opportunity to study one ofthe aboriginal groups intensively. He d2voted most of his time tothe Negritosl but undertook two expeditions across the main rangeamong th e wavy-haired hill people.2 After deliberation, bu t in myopinion for inadequate reasons, he allowed the locally indiscriminateterm "Sakai" to persist instead of "Senoi," adopted by Rudolf Martin,and frequently though not consistently employed by Evans.Bu t he was the first to record the correct tribal name for the"Central Sakai," namely Semai. The "Northern Sakai" he calls the.. Ple-Temiar." Bu t there is no' question of there being two triJ::.es,"Ple" in Perak and "Temiar" in Kelantan. Actually "PIe" is theNegrito term for these Northern hillmen and is adopted by the groupsadjacent to them, whilst "Temiar" or "Tem3r" is the Semai term forthem and is adopted in areas adjacent to them, as in Pahang, UluNenggiri and in the Ulu Kinta, Perak. Semai or "S-3man," moreover.

is the Temiar term which these southern hill people have adoptedfrom their northern neighbours. The tribal terminology is mutuallyapplicable.On Schebesta's first expedition through Ple-Temiar territory, heapproached from th e Negrito area he had h3en studying and hisroute was up the Temengor, an area where Negrito contacts areconsiderable. He spent a fortnight with a group near Kuala Jemhengand collected materials foOr a grammatical sketch of their language:he then crossed by th e Lanweng into the VIu Panes, a tributary vfthe Yai, and so past Kuala Prias into t1:3 Nenggiri. His secondexpedition was through the Semai groups of the Batang Padang inPerak, and across into th e Ulu Bertam, so following th e Telom downstream t{) the Jelai. This route it will be noticed, once it crossesinto Pahang, follows just south of the Temiar boundary.He devotes a few chapters of his second book "Orang Utan" ofwhich an English translation is not yet available, to the people heme t during these two expeditions. His account of the Ple-Temia,sh-ews strong Negrito influence on beliefs and he describes them as"a large mixed tribe." I do not think that Schebesta's investigationamong the Ple-Temiar or Semai can claim such solid authority ashis truly intensive work among the Negrito groups. As th3 ma paccompanying this report shews, his path lay not through the bulkof out-{)f-contact Temiar territory until he was into the Yai and hisfortnight of intensive study was spent in the Temengor; and it isby no means admissible to regard a single journey in jungle hills ofthis nature as supplying a representative picture of a1\ aspects of thelocal breed and culture. For example, the total number of Temiar

I "Among the Forest Dwa ,rf s of Malaya."2 Orang Utan . P. P . Schebesta, Brockhaus. 1928 and a series of paperspublished in Festschrift P. W. Schmidt. "Anthropos" an d other periodicals.


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journal of the FM.S. Museums [YOLo x i x ~measured by h;m is only thirty. Nevertheless, the account he givesdemonstrates th e advantages of the methods of a trained obse:veiover the unorganised impressions of the ordinary traveller, glventhe same brief period of contact with a people.He was impressed, for i n s t a n c ~ , with ~ h ~ P o l y n e s i ~ n a p p ~ a r a r : c eof manv individuals he encountered \11 the hills; he mentIOns this tWicein his 'published work, though he does not. define any. such type inhis analysis of aboriginal racial -8lements In th e Penmsula.!

The researches of Schebesta first indicate that one aboriginalstrain (Australoid) which characterises the "Sakai" also occursoccasionally among all groups. His definition of a "Pre-Mongoloid"j vpe also among these wavy-haired people, and his Polynesian imprE-s~ i o n s stress the fact that in no group, not even all "Negrito" groups,can culture and b r ~ e d be two entities linked together to form adiscrete tribal unit.My own intensive work, while it may impose a doubt on thl"reality of the Mongoloid element in the terms in which Schebestacasts it and while it ma y suggest a closer definition for th e elementwhich impressed him as "Polynesian," confirms the main point ofSchebesta's heterogeneous analysis.

Th e Present InvestiJ!.ation.My expeditions were of two kinds. I t was first necessary tostudy the pattern of the culture, and for this i ~ t e n s . i v e work I residedfor two periods of three and four months With smgle local groupsin the Ulu Brok Kelantan and the Ulu Plus, Perak. It was thennecessary to plot the distribution of settlements and of the variousphysical and cultural traits . For this purpose several e x p e d i t i O l ~ "were made both west to east across the watershed, and from soutato north along its slopes. Throughout the series of expeditions no permanent staff of carriers was retained, the 02Xpedition recruiting bearers at the local settlements, many ofwhom had never worked for any motive beyond their own immediatefood-quest before. This greatly reduced expense, and it meantmeeting the inhabitants with no traditional prestige on which tocling, but rather as man to man. The permanent field staff consistedsolely of a kamoong Malay as cook-boy and a M o s l e m i ~ e d Tcmiar as

messenger: whilst th e Museum collector. Inche Yeop Ahmat,accompanied me whenever fresh ground was broken in order to mak0a contact traverse of the route taken.The expedition camped in various ways according to thecircumstances; sometimES in patrol tents, sometimes under hastilyconstructed lean-to shelters; sometimes under the lee of limestone rockshelters ; whilst for long- residence with any group a bamboo and ataphu t was built.The cont.act map of th e Perak-Kelantan watershed whichillustrates this paper could not have been made bu t for the goodwilland co-operation of the Survey Department, who loaned instruments:tnd from the first have suffered gladly an amateur at their craft.I An thropological me asurement s in Senwngand Sakai in Malaya by P. R.Schebes ta and V. Lehzelter (Anthropologie Prague VI, 1928) .

The Present investigationThe actual mapping depended on time and compass travtlses of theroutes taken, and bearings, hill-sketching, and clinometric readingsfrom convenient summits. This was carried ou t by Inche YeopAhmat, Perak Museum Collector, who was formerly in the Topographical Surveys.

The map ha s been built up mainly through the spare-time effortsof Captain G. H. Sworder of th e Survey Department, whothroughout coached the Collector and gave every encouragement. fo rthe work. I t is certain that but for the correlations Captain Swordcrworked out with earlier bearings, many of them thirty years old, themap would not have attained the coherence it possesses. I t couldnot, however, have been produced at all had no t the Surveyor-General,agreed to have it mounted and printed at th e Map Office,Kuala Lumpur.Much of the territory of the PleTemiar lies outside Perak.Throughout the expeditions the Governments of Kelantan and Pahanghave done everything in their power to help me. It would be difficultto express sufficient gratitude to those friends, officials and unofficials,on both sides of the range whose houses were th e first I reached aftercrossing th e watershed .Many unnecessary hardships were added to th e expeditions by thl!

propaganda of a very few irresponsible Malays who resented th epresence of somebody who wanted to see the aborigines at first hand.Twice misrepresentations of this sort, which reached groups not ye tknown to me, nearly caused disaster. Such incidents however weremore than compensated for by the co-operation of th e Governmentpenghulus; and the untiring loyalty of my own Malay field staff.Th'lse .vho remain with me have seen seven to eight months in thejungle each year over a period of four and a half years .


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10 journal 0/ the F.M.S. MuseumsPART II .

OUTLINE OF TH E TOPOGRAPHY OF TH EP E RA K - K E L A N T A N WATERSHED.

[VOL. XIX,

The amazing developments during the last quarter of a centuryin Malaya have left few areas which may still be regarded asunexplored. During the last three years, it ha s been my privilege totraverse in many directions, and also to reside in one of the fewremaining blanks on the map. The story of the pioneer discoveriesin Malaya is described by Si r Hugh Clifford in one of his most .absorbing books" Further India." Bu t it was Sir Hugh Clifford whoon another occasion referred to the untouched aboriginal block ofMalayan territory which more or less was centred on the main rangeof th e Peninsula, though it extended in the east to include the Tahanrange and in the south the Benom range. To-day we find that theGap road and its branches has cut across to Kuala Lipis in thesouth: the East Coast Railway now blazes a steel trail between themiddle part of the main range and Gunong Tahan; whilst just to thesouth of the heart of the main range, the Batang Padang road cutshalf across the mountains to reach the vortex of Cameron Highlands.

Ye t .we ma y note that the northern half of Clifford's "Abori ginalMalaya," that which lies between Cameron Highlands and GunongNoring, has remained undisturbed to this day. Small roads, like theroads to Lasah and Jalong from Sungei Siput, have, it is true, touchedthe fringes of this country on the west, but otherwise we face aterritory of jungle hills nearly th e size of the state of Selangor.This territory corresponds with th e distribution of an aboriginaltribe called the PIe-Temiar Senoi: from Cameron Highlands south toth e boundary of Negri Sembilan live their cousins the Semai SenoLOn the west the "one inch to one mile" Topo-Survey maps "frame"th e Divide up as fa r north as th e latitude of Grik: on the east theremoteness of Ulu Kelantan has not yet been surveyed on this scale.Four expeditions have left us some information about thenorthern half of the main range. In 1888, Mr. C. F. Bozzolo, then

Collector of the District of Upper Perak, followed up the Plus andthen its tributary the lVIenlik and so got across into the DIu Betis.In 1905, Mr. J. N. Sheffield took a Survey party up the Plus as far asth e Kernam, whence he struck into the DIu Piah and so after arduouswork succeeded in placing a survey beacon on Gunong Grah andtaking readings from th e summit. Later, Major W. A. D. Edwardsreached Gunong Noring in the Ulu Sengoh. In 1923, Pater Schebesta,th e ethnologist, followed up the Temengor and struck across fromone of its tributaries to reach th e mouth of the Prias in Kelantan.During his years in Upper Perak, Captain Berkeley, I.S.0., hadfrequent occasion to visit the DIu Temengor and the Piah valleys.Still earlier than this period, pioneers had penetrated up the riversof th e western slopes, but it must be remembered that their "ulu"would now be regarded as our "kuala" and the real sources of therivers were correspondingly remote. Perhaps the best indication of

Journ. F. M. S. Mus . - Vol. XIX.

The Ulu Jindera. Kelantan.from the Perak watershed.

A highland stream on thePerakKelantan watershed.

Cliffs beside the LowerNenggiri. Kelantan .

A calm stretch of theBeti s, Kelantan.

Plate I.


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1936j An Outltne 0/ the ?erak-Kelantan watershed 11this fact is that on th e map published by St. Pol Lias in his amusingbook U Perak et les Orang Sakey," Ipoh (in very small letters) isdescribed as "village, Sakey ou Malaise." To-day of course, it is in theKinta region that development.reaches nearest to th e Kelantan divide,a:1d the lofty peak of Gunong Riam (Korbu) dominates the mainstreet of the town.

The French ethnologist de Morgan and Dr. Rudolf Martin;Mr. F. W. Knocker, formerly of the Perak Museum, and of courseSi r Hugh Clifford, Si r W. E. Maxwell, Mr. Deane and Mr. H. W. C.Leech also penetrated some way up th e Plus and other tributaries 011the western side.In th e last few years prospectors and others must also havetracke_d up several rivers of the divide for some part of their lengthespecially on th e western side. In such cases the Temiar have alwaysremembered to what point those travellers penetrated, and in otherquarters they said I was the first white man they had seen.Circumstances have enabled the present writer to follow up mostof th e rivers to their sources and to cross th e main range five timesfrom West to East Coast Railway, thereby disclosing the PerakKelantan divide in a perspective which was not possible before. Andit was necessary to view the region as a whole in order to obtain ajust appreciation of th e relativity of man and his environment.The Main Features of the Territory and the Routes of theExpeditions.The observations of the surveyor!' who reached Noring and Grah,and of course Riam, with readings taken from outlying ranges suchas Ijau, Bubu, Kledang and Tahan, give us some idea of the directionof the main range, and reveal, though without popular recognition,a series of sustained heights which ar e remarkable for Malaya. Itis almost certain now that no peak tops Gunong Tahan, ye t Riam andthree other peaks come within a hundred feet of it, and there ar e atleast sixteen peaks of over 6,000 feeLAlthough it is unlikely that undulating land of such continuousextent as we have in the Ulu Telom will be discovered on the PerakKelantan divide, ye t I have, in the course of my expeditions, comeacross many smaller areas some of which might prove sufficientlyadjacent to one another to form other highland areas; and certainlyCameron Highlands form only the southern end of these sustainedheights, separated from the northern ones by the knife-edge of YongBlar.The higher peaks ar e almost dways shrouded in mist. Theheights around Gunong Grah, although lower than the more isolatedGunong Korbu, being so close that th e mist practically never lifts fromall parts of this mass simultaneously; it lies, moreover, not onlyaround the summits but extends to lower altitudes than is the case inthe other mountain groups.


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12 Journal 0/ the F.M.S. Museums tVor.. XIX,The sustained character of th e heights along th e divide give aspecial character to th e climate, and hence the flora. The stuntedtrees weep with tangles of moss, which is a foot deep around theirbase and hangs in decorative festoons from tree to tree. I wasreminded of th e spectrous low trees on the higher slopes of Mount

Lompobatang, the extinct crater about 11,000 fe'8t high, which domi-nates South Celebes. A continuous drizzle at these altitudes swellsthe streams into mountain torrents and the high rainfall is responsiblefor innumerable ravines and countle:'lS streams. The temperature canbe comparatively very low, and in th e neighbourhood of Gunong Grahduring a halt on the Kelantan boundary at midday, fires were neces-sary to promote suffic:ent warmth.

Five rivers drain the western slopes of the range, and run downinto th e Perak river: the Sengoh, thE: Temengor, th e Piah, the Plusand the Kinta. Whilst on the east the Jindera, th e Prias, the Betisand th e Brok join th e Sungai Nenggiri, Kelantan.

The headwaters of all the riverfl drop over falls which are notso much f.pmarkable for their height as for th e long series of step,;over which they cascade. The falls of. the Betis, called Lata Gajah,are the most impressive that I h a v ~ found: though for sheer beautythe falls of the Plus which thunder into a vast kind of "devil'spunchbowl" to join th e Yum, almost surpass them.

When the streams descend to about four thousand feet theygenerally How through a series of alluvial flats, separated at succeed-ing le\'els by waterfalls. As one followed up a river, the steep andarduous scramble up the side of falls was nearly always rewarded bya pleasant walk through a flat valley. In some of these alluvial flats,which will be described when the Various river valleys are treatedseparately, river rejuvenation seems to have taken place, for now thestream moves swiftly on a straight course, often cutting deeply intoth e sandy soil deposited on an earlier meandering course, thus leavinga flat shelf on either side. Some of these fiat valleys are of considerable extent, especially the Talong valley in DIu Sengoh just south ofNoring, and their significance for the population of these mountainswill emerge later.

When the rivers have descended to about two thousand feetthey become navigable by bamboo rafts, though formidablerapids have to be negotiated at intervals, and also they are oftenblocked at narrow stretches by tree logs washed down when the riverwas in spate. Just below thousand foot level-sometimes as onthe Brok and the Sengoh, a considerable distance above the far Malaykampongs-the furthest point upstream reachable by dugout boats isusually situated. But often th e most formidable rapids ar e foundless than a mile from these peaceful stretches of th e river. as fo rinstance on th e Brok, (Jeram Gaiah), the Piah, (Jeram Berhala), andth e Temengor, (Jeram Belanga).

1936] An Outline of the Perak-Kelantan 'Watershed 13rrom th e raftable limit downwards th e bigger jungle begins andfine trunks of merbau, meranti and tualang may be seen f r o ~ theriver. Above this point t.he timber is smaller and very inaccessiblefrom a commercial point of view. Having looked across the junglefrom summits at numerous pOints along th e Perak-Kelantan boundary,I was struck by th e extenSIve areas of undisturbed virgin jungle.

Chronicle of Expeditions.Fo r th e p u r p ~ s e s of the demographic survey, I crossed th ewatershed on five main expeditions. The first two started fromLasah, at th e end of the Plus road from Sungai Siput. I marched upthe P.lus as far as Kuala Yum, followed one of its small tributariesnear Its source to ~ e s c e n d int? the Ulu Ber which led me to the Sungai

B r o ~ . I ha d r r ~ v l O u s l : v , . during my first t : : { ~ r i o d of intensive study ofTemiar culture II I th e Ulu Telom and Ulu Brok reached Kuala Berfrom the Ulu Mering, and indeed ha(l traced Brok as far up asKuala Blatop climbing back into the Ulu Telom near Blue Valley

E s ~ a t e (Ulu Ledlad) by a new pass not formerly used by the Temiarowmg to th e graves of several chiefs in the Ledlad. Coming fromth e Plus on this occasion I rafted down the Brok as fa r as Kuala Betisand :eached Gua Musang on th e East Coast Railway si x weeks afterl e a v m ~ Sungai Siput. Of this time, twelve days were spent inmarchmg and three days in rafting.Then came three expeditions covering th e Perak side of thewatershed, one from Ulu Korbu into th e Ulu Plus at Kuala Mu andthen across Gunong Lalang into Ulu Yum again, and so down thePlus to Lasah; a second from Kuala Temor on the Plus across intoth e Piah valley and up into the Vlu Jemheng and down theTemengor and the Perak River to Grik; and a third from Grik intothe Ulu Ringat and up the Temengor into th e Piah val!'2Y, and sodown to th e Perak River to Kenering.

In 1934 wei started from Lasah on my second expedition acrossinto Kelantan, this time taking a line further north by foIlowinO' th eTemor t o w . a r ~ s it s source and so into Ulu Piah, finding the s ~ u r c eof the Betts .lust by Gunong Grah. On this occasion when I arrivedafter twelve marching dayg and tWG raftillg days at Kuala Betis Irafted on down th8 Nenggiri, stopping at Kuala Jindera, and so reachedBert.am, a station on the East Coast Railway-after two days ofrafting. One short expedition from Jalong on the Korbu into th'e DIuPlus at Kuala Mu, lead me up th e Mu to find th e sources of the Brokjust below Yong Blar and so on up the Blatop to Cameron Highlands.

In April 1935, on my return from home heave, I followed the Kintaup to Kuala Penoh and so reached the Telom by the DIu Penoh andth e DIu Terla. Another short journey from Grik to Kenering downthe Perak River enabled me to meet some PIe groups and neighbouringLanoh Negritos on th e Lower Dalli.

On August 8th, 1935, I reached Kampong Temengor once againfrom Grik, intending to get into touch with th e most northerly hybrid1 Mr. K. R. Stewart accompanied me on this expedition.


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14 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums [VOl . XIX,groups of Ple-Temiar, and so find the boundary between this hill tribeand the Jahai Negritos. Striking the Sara, a tributary of the Sengoh,wei turned north up thE:: Cherendong and so over a pass at 4,700 feetfrom which we descended into a tributary of th e Sengoh. We droppeddown into Kelantan to find the sourc:a of the Mpian, a large tributaryof th e Jindera, which we followed down to a point navigable fo r rafts(Kuala Perlong) but had to strike east again over a range of mountainsinto the Ulu Jindera which we reached at Kuala Re!eng. From thispoint we rafted into the Nenggiri again and so came out once more atRertam, eighteen days after leaving Grik, ten of which were spent inmarching and three in rafting .

On September 19th, 1935 I left Gua Musang for Kuala Betis andrafted down to Kuala Yai , and so went up the last big tributary ofthe Nenggiri still remaining to be visited by me. 2 From Kuala PriasI followed north up the Prias fo r a day and then back to the Yai,which was traced to its source, past Kuala Panes, opposite th e sourceof the Temengor. The reconnaissance was thus linked up again atKuala Jemheng with former routesa.

The. River Valleys.The Plus.The Plus becomes a peaceful and oft-travelled waterway after it s

meeting with the Korbu, and soon wends it s way between Malaykampongs to meet the Perak River a few miles north of KualaKangsar. I t is from Kuala Korbu uluwards that the aboriginalterritory proper begins, though streams rising to th e north-west ofLasah must also be included. This area is defined clearly on theaccompanying map, upon which all the aboriginal settlements havebeen plotted. There are two important strategic points above KualaKorbu, from the point of view of topography and hence distribution.Kua.la Temor is th e limit of perahu or sampan navigation and theTemor itself is one of the larger tributaries of the Plus with severalhill groups living in its valleys. I t also provides with it s northernstreams the most accessible p a s s a g ~ into the Piah valley and thence(via Sulieh and the Jemheng) to th e valley of th e Temengor.A path was formerly made along this route joining Lasah andTemengor, bu t I found in 1932 when I had sev'8ral occasions to it ,that most sections of it had been overgrown. Another aboriginaltrack follows up the Temor to reacn th e delectable Ulu Piah, whichis isolated from th e middle Piah,-served by the former route,-bycontinuous waterfalls and precipitous ravines. The Ulu Temorcontains some very attractive J\at valleys one of which, though itselevation was only about 2,500 we traversed for over a mile withoutfinding rising ground . Its extent is perhaps borne ou t by th e factthat though a long series of falls separate it s peaceful reaches fromraft.able stretches of th e lower river, ye t bamboo rafts were seenbeing punted along it.

I MI'. R. B. Black , M.e.s., accompan ied me on this expedition.2 Pater Schebest a had struck the Yai coming down the Panes from UluTemengor.3 Since thi s was \vritten a fifth expedition climbed back into Perak by theUlu Prias and 30 down the Kenyer into the Temengor.

journ. F. M. S. Mos. - Vol. XIX.

Camp at Kuafa Yai, Kef"nt . n .

Shooting the rapids.

Plate II

Expedition on the marchup the Sara, Perak.

Railing on the Plus, Perak.


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1936] An Outline of the Pera!c-Kelantan watershed 15Kuala I.e.gap is th e next strategic point upstream. This is thelimit above which rafting becomes impossible, though even betweenit and Kuala Temor, the jerams Timah and Kerabut, preventundisturbed passage. Kuala Legap is therefure the capital, as it were,of the upper pfus: the river here wends its way slowly between low

gradual slopes with many fiats on them, and on one of these a largesettlement comprising twenty families have their long house, anda large plantation. In Legap. th e Temiar from the furthest sources ofthe Plus, ar e continually gathering: it is a recognised rendez-vous andof great importance therefore to the administration of the area, sinceone night on the way, at Kuala Temor, will bring any officer whoforewarns into touch with all the headmen of the Plus valley, for theheadwaters of th e Plus open up like the fingers of an outstretchedhand with th e tips pressed against the Kelantan divide.The Legap, which rises on the slopes of Gunong Chingkeh is th ejunction of two routes; one down into the PerIop, thence to the Korbuand Jalong, and another up and across a large ridge to Kuala MH.The Temiar wash tin just above Legap at Rengka. A few milesupstream from Legap th e Plus divides off from the Yum, a streamfrom the north which actually rivals the Plus in size. Kuala Yum isvery beautiful; from just below it the Plus may be seen falling inalmost vertical steps in numerous cascades which just fail to be one

mighty fall of water well over a hundred feet in heig-ht. TheYum also runs down precipitously, but upstream a few milesat Kuala Pend uk, it is found to glide slowly over a series of alluvialfiats, divided by precipitous stretches, and in these flats, and up theMenlik which leads into the Ulu Piah and has it s source opposite theJumpes and th e Chular tributaries of the Betis, Kelantan, there area number of flourishing settlements: also one high on the slopes ofGunong Lalang. The Yum valley runs like an index finger intoKelantan, and its UPPH reaches flow through flat hig-hland areas(as seen from Gunong- Lalang and the Ulu Panas, during the firstpassage into Kelantan).

The next centre up the Plus proper ':which, after Kuala Yumturns almost a hairpin bend until it is running from south to north)is Kuala Mu. The junction of the Mu with the Plus takes place onanother fine area of gradual slopes. and is th e site of a flourishingsettlement. So fa r to the sl)!.!th is Kuala Mu, that only a night on theway, will bring one over the steep slopes of Gunong Chingkeh intoJalong on the Korhu. Just below Kuala Mil, at Bakau on the Teras,washing for tin is carried on.

There is no doubt that the Mu much bigger than the parentstream when they meet. It follows a long and tortuous course fromthe Kelalltan boundary, and there is an aboriginal track which willtake you into the Ulu Brok, the Sungei Nenggiri. Kelantan within,"each of lofty Yang Blar and lJlu Kinta. There ar e severallarge areas in the Vlu Mu; including one (called for mythical reasons"ben dang raja") which contains a thriving settlement. It is so flatas to be boggy in some places.


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16 JouriuLl of the F .M.s. Museums [VOL. XIX.From Kuala Mu, th e Plus, by now a small stream can be followed

up to (he Kelantan boundary in a .few hours. It ~ l s o runs .throughundulating hills, and at it s source IS the only gap In th e mal!1 range~ o u t h of Noring, which provides a "pass" of great s ~ r j l . t e g I c .valuewhen communications between Kelantan and Perak ar e m questIOn.

We now return to follow the Plus' largest tributary, the Korbu,whose drainage area may be likened to an elongated trough. TheKorbu upstream to Jalong is a beaten ~ r a c k and th e scene ofelephant patrol bu t in the large valley Just upstream (Chabang) ISsituated one of the largest and most sophisticated Temiar groups,from which the successful elephant patrol is recruited. These menar e adept "gembalas,"or elephant drivers, and ~ l s o . have a. l a ~ g eplantation of most foodstuffs suitable fo r dry c u l t I v a ~ l O n . ThIS lm eof border s e t t l e m ~ n t s forms a kind of aboriginal f r o n t I e ~ . At ~ a l o n groad-head is met again and there is a Chinese commumty of timbercutters. Not far from Kuala Korbu is th e flat valley of th e Perlop.

Above Jalong, the Korbu is already a swift mountain t o r r e ~ t ! ' a n dfrom Kuala Larek upst.ream it runs through narrow preCIpItousravin-es, and it is only when we climb above Kuala Kuah. thatmeet peaceful slow moving waters. The Korbu curves n o ~ t h and .ItSsource is close to the Ulu Mu and the headwaters of th e Kinta, whIchstreams cut it off from th e Kelantan boundary.The Kuah curves round the south of Gunong Chingkeh, fromwhose slopes, and from th e lofty heights near Gunong R.iam on . itsother flank, it receives a number of swift streams. There IS a t y p I ~ 1hill 'long house' perched on a narrow ridge in t h e U l ~ ~ u a h from whichhigh peaks with sharpened summits may be seen rIsmg to south,though the Korbu main peak is screened by closer mountams aln:ostas high as itself. There is howeVer a tolerably easy. route over mt oth e Ulu Mu which thus connects with the Ulu Nenggm, Kelantan, and,further a f i ~ l d the DIu Telom. And there is actually much intercoursebetween that ' part of Temiar Pahang and Jalong, which sets th e sealon Jalong's significance as the test centre from which propagandamay reach the furthest fields and serve a sphere which transcendseven the Ulu Plus; for we have alre&dy noted. that the sourC2 of thePlus itself and th e Mu ar e most rapidly reached from Jalong over th eChingkeh !Jloc.The Piah.

The Piah rises under Gunong Grah in a series of headwaterswhich contain several open valleys with gradual slopes, formed bythe accumulation of aU uvial flats. Just below Kuala Pi-es, I foundsome pleasant smooth-featured country at about thr.ee ~ h o u s a ~ ? fivehundred feet altitude (Kalong). Eu t between thIS saucer andKuala Sulieh which I reached twice on my way to and from theTemengor the Piah rushes headlong down impassable ravines. Along day'S' march downstream from Kuala Sulieh .takes one KualaPuoi from which stream the Piah is raftable, but Just before It wendspeacefully into the Perak River. it goes through a long gorge aptlynamed the "Jeram 13erhala," below which rafts may have to be

1936] An Outline of the Perak-Kelantan watershed 17constructed anew. The Piah valley is never wide, and the Puoi is th eonly tributary of any size below Kuala Sulieh.The Temen[lor.

The T e m e ~ g o r , like the Jind.era, flows north and south, more 01'less pa:allel WIth th e general lme of the main range, unlike th eother rIvers of the watershed. I t first becomes a considerable andraftable river at Kuala Jemheg'N; th e Jemheg'N, being almost aslarge as the Temengor when they meet. The Temengor itself riseson th e slopes of Gunang .Grah beside the source of th e Yai, fo r itcur.ves round east of the hIgher mountains (Bieh and Sepat) formerlybelIeved to be the watershed. I have been both up and down th eJemheg'N which Jehds into the habitable middle Piah valley, and wetraced th e source of th e Temengor itself climbing back from Kelantanup th e DIu Yai. After Kuala Jemheg'N there is one bad rapid th e" Jeram. Belanga,"' and the further north th e Temengor flow; th efu!ther moves from the watershed so that it receives two largishtrIbutanes, the Kenyer and th e Kertei before it reaches the isolatedPatani settlement of Kampong Temengor. .The Sara and Ulu Sengoh.

We struck down into the Sara after two days march fromKampong Temengor i!1 a direction roughly north-east first followingth e T e m p ~ k and Re.ndah and camped at Kuala Heng.' At this pointthe Sara IS not naVigable fo r rafts, but it is particularly full of fish.A: half day's march up th e Sara, which revealed fine flat land on eitherSIde, took us to Kuala Cherendong. Here we left th e Sara itselfwhich rises, so we were told, south below Gunong Karang (7 120 feetand hitherto unnamed on the map of Malaya, thouO'h it is th e fifthhigbest peak in th e peninsula), and followed up th e Cherendong in aneast-north-easterly direction camping- at th e foot of a range whichtook us a long day's strenuous climbing before we reached th e passat 4,700 feet. We descended towardfl nightfall, stumbling across the'tracks of elephant (which the PIe said were very numerous in theDIu Sengoh, as also tiger and other game further downstream) tofind ourselves in a long flat valley vI about 4,000 feet altitude whichwe were astonished to find was the Talong, another tributary of theSengoh, wruch apparently rises fa r south and flows parallel with theedge of the watershed fo r a number of miles. An hour's walk thatevening, and two hours of easy walking the next morning gaveus neither th e downstream nor upstream limits of this fine land.The stream and it s tributaries glided along without a murmur oversand, with patches of green water plants here and there, its windingssuggesting some breadth to the valley as well as length. Regretfullywe left the Talong an d only a five minutes scramble UP a low slopegave way to a descent on the other side. Only when I saw a littlebrook running- swiftly did I realise, and receive confirmation. that wehad struck the source of the Mpian, a tributary of the Jindera, andwere in Kelantan. S(luth of NOlin:!. it appears, there is a kind ofelevated elongated "saucer" of land with the barest rim, on the eastside of which th e land falls steeply away to th e ra-vinei! and torrentsOf mu Mpian,


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18 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums [VOL. XIX,The Ulu Nenggiri, Kelantan.There is little doubt in my mind t ha t ' Nenggiri' it5 wor? negeri' nasalised in the manner so habitual with the T e m l ~ r Se.no!.Above Kuala Betis it is called by them the Brok' (MalaYlsed m ~ t ~Berong) and they assured me that it was th e .. ~ u n g e i ibu NengenKelantan, itu-Iah." The Nenggiri is a fa r larger river t ~ a n the. Galasat their junction and Malays about there refer .t o their meetmg.. Kuala Sungei." The naming of th e Kelantan rivers as elsewhere mthis country, is just what would fcllow from a people who spreadinland from th e sea. I t seems as if the Malays of Ulu Kelantan havean origin different from those on the alluvial plain near the. sea.They are the descendants of Moslemised Temiar, artd Malay c o l ? l 1 l s e ~ sfrom the Jelai district in Pahang. The descendants of Chfford sTo'Gajah, one of th e PHhang rebels, ar e ~ t i l l living the B ~ o k ,ab?veKuala Betis. It is still possible to exemplify habit, of mtI ud:ngMalay of misnaming rivers: one of the bigger t n b u t a r ~ e s o.fNenggiri is called by the local Malays" the Prias" and Its biggesttributary the Yai. But the TemiaI" inhabitants of these ~ t r e a m sregard the Yai as the parent stream; and indeed it is the bigger attheir junction. ,The Nenggiri is still from it s source to it s mouth a predommantlyaboriginal river. The "orang MiHayu" along it s total Iength do !lotreach a thousand souls, and most of these are kin of the Temlar,who reach anything from four to five thousand m number.The Brok.The parent stream. called th e Brok by the T e m i a ~ even as fa rdown as Kuala Jindera, rises just opposite the Ulu .Kmt a from theeastern slopes of Yong Blar, not morc than twelve. miles as the crowflies from Ipoh. Just before it meets th e Galas It flows u ~ d e r therailway bridge near Bertam station. Like the parent ~ r o k , Its ~ h r e emain tributaries all flow down eastwards from mam r a n ~ e , anddownstream from Kuala Betis, it does not dram an,Y consl.derablet 'butarv from it s right bank. I t is the Brok which drams theshield-like' enclave' between Perak and Pahang just n o r t ~ fromCameron Highlands. It receives the Terisuk and the Rengll. fromthe north just under the southern headwaters of th e P I ~ s (Sungel Mu).and th e Plaur, the Tauu and the Blatop from th e rIm of ~ a m e r o ! 1Highlands. All theSle rivers ar e like mountain torrents, rushmg downsteep ravines except at one or tw o points such as below Kuala Ledladon the Blatop, and the Brok itself above Kuala Blatop. Bu t frO!IlKuala Blatop down to abouf three miles above K u a l ~ Ber. Broksweeps down between steep- and rocky hill sides Which admit of notrack at all.The Ber is th e Brok's biggest , rihl!-tary. It s source lies j ~ s topposite the central headwaters of ~ l , i e _ lus, and after c ~ s c a d m gswiftly down th e steep eastern slopeS.' _ot Yong Yap. on which vastlandslides ar e visible from th e north, it glides leisurely g r ~ d u a l l ydown through fine wooded country to join th e Brok which I? alsobegiiming to repent of its rapid course and now ha s become naVigablefQr raftg, -

1936] An Outline 0/ the Perak-Ketantan watershed 19Kuala Be r lies in a region of numerous ho t springs, great scarsof rock open to the sun, The hot springs begin two miles up the Berand persist for about a mile and a half up th e Brok. Either bank isdotted with them until well below Kuala Mering. The Mering itselfwhich rises opposite the Rening and th e Misong in Ulu Telom is alovely river which shortly after leaving th e low watershed glidescrystal-clear over golden sand se t with rocks, from under which thetraveller sets shoals of fish darting to find new cover. The ho t springsbegin about five miles up the Mering, and there must be a faultrunning right by the Misong and so ~ o u t h to th e constellation of themaround the Ulu Tekal and Ulu Jelai Kechil in Pahang.These hotsprings are the focus of game of all kinds, and I havefound deer, kijang, elephant, seladang and wild pig more plentifulhere than anywhere else on both slopes of th e main range northwards, in spite of the proximity of the Temiar.A day's rafting from Kuala Ber brings one to a great black gorgecalled Jeram Gajah which is about a quarter of a mile in length.After the torment of these rapids the Brok meanders peacefullybetween low hills and the first Malay settlements are passed side byside with the Temiar.The Betis.The Betis rises just under the peak of Gunong Grah opposite the

Ulu Piah from which river I climbed into its source. Just above KualaJumpes, the Betis .flows for miles through undulating land belowfour thousand feet altitude. About two miles above Kuala Telour,it descends swiftly between steep hill sides and it s precipitous courseends about a mile below, with a beautiful fall, called Lata Gajah,where the Betis, by now a considerable volume of water, drops over ashelf fo r about eighty feet and then drops again in a series of smallerfalls. There ar e several hotsprings at the very head of these falls,and evidence of plenty of game.Below Lata Gajah, the Betis takes a slower and more circuitouscourse all the while receiving few streams of note on its north banknor on its south, until the Enchin which has barely finished its abruptdescent from the hills when its waters pour into the Betis. A longbend on the river brings one to the mouth of the largest tributary,the Perlob, on which most of th e Temiar population is settled. ThePerlob has it s source just opposite the Yum (Ulu Plus). Large herdsof elephant3 seem quite recently to have invaded the Perlob valleyand are devastating the crops of the Temiar.lBelow Kuala Perlob2, the Betis runs by th e side of abrupt wallsof dolomitic formation, which stand out of th e jungle like massivefortresses.From Kuala Betis, the Nenggiri flows northwards as fa r as KualaJindera, dropping barely ten feet on th e way and few rapids breakit s even course. Near Kuala Peralong, a stream of no great size, therear e several hotsprings near it s banks and game tracks becomeplentiful again. -------_._-

1 There is reason to believe that these new herds, which since this waswritten have invaded the Prias, are part of the herds which, until the ElephantPatrol disturbed them, used to do much damage on th e Lower Plus.2 or Perolah.


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iou?'nai of the F.M.S. Mus eums ['VOL. XIX,The PriM. .About :.:ight miles aLove Kuala Jindera, the Prias joins the Betis.This river is unlike the other big trilutaries of the Nenggiri, in thatth e hills do not stand back from it s hanks for the last. stretch aboveits mouth.

From Kuala Yai to the mouth, it flows at great pace on a steadydescent. It risEs just south of Gunong Karang . I t is a beautifulrivEt', it s course being marked by a series of rocky pools which ar cfull of fish , klah and seberau being especially plentiful. The Yai andits tributary, the P a n - : rise near Ulu Temengor. The Ulu Yai runsthrough a large area of flattish land of about 4,000 f(let abovesea level.The Jindera (Tem:a?' "JendTol") .

The Jindera is the last great tributary of the Nenggiri. It ssource is on the southern slopes of Gunong Noring opposite the UluSengoh . We climbed into the source of it s largest tributary, theMpian, which rises under the rim of the high plateau of the Talong.I t rushes precipitously down in narrow ravines as does its otherheadwater, the Bertak, which seen from the ridge between the twoappears to be one vast series of falls from first to last; th:! power in. those waters must be considerable. Below Kuala Bertak, th e Mpianslows' down in a more open l a n d s c ~ p e and along these beautifulstretches, it is possible to raft . At Kuala Perlong we had, however,to turn aside and c1imh eastwards over a high ridge into the Jindera .

The Jindera, where we carne upon it at Kuala Releng, was alreadya considerahle stream and, from a mile or two above, its waters werenavigable for rafb;. The Jindera soon passes into an open landscapese t with great dolomitic pinnacles, whose cliffs make the views alongthis river very lovely. The scenery becomes very stern in the rockytrough in' which the Mpian joins it, whose formerly peaceful watershave gathel'ed speed in a final fling before pouring themselves into theJindera. From Kuala Mpian till it s mouth, the Jindera flows throughlow land, t hough in several places it carves its way under thedolomitic cliffs.

From Kuala Jindera, the Nenggiri turns sharply eastwards.After Kuala Uias, it turns south round th e steeps of Gunong Berangkatand just after this passes close to the great rock of Keldung, whichth e Tem..iar recognise as the boundary stone of their country. FromKuala Betis to below Gunong Berangkat there are no Malay settle.ments, bu t now a few isolated houses ar e found again. Th e s tretch ofthe Nenggiri about Ku,la Lah is studded once again with the ruggeddolomitic cliffs (loose\) termed "limestone") which break the eventone of the greer. jung!e wall on either bank. One of these BatuBayan, on the right bank is very striking, a long cave being rent abouttwo hundred feet up in the cliff.

Bu t if this is the country of the Malays, it is also, as on thePerak side. the beginning of the beat of the Negrito nomads fo rbands of the Menri tribe move around in the Ulu Lah and ' U!nBertam and also on the lower Galas, in which river, below the railwayat Bertam. the greater waters of th e Nenggiri attain anonymity.


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18/61

22 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums [VOL. XIX,The prohibited degrees of relationship within which mating maynot occur ar e defined by the ancestral law of Incest: "those whohave drunk the same milk may not sleep together." Even cousinsar e debarred, and eligible mates are not found within the extendedhousehold, except in certain cases w h ~ n his relatives may follow a

y ~ u n g man who has married into another household and thus providemates for other members of tl:e hous-ehold.Preliminary bargaining between the two groups represented bythe lovers ma y be complicated: yet there is no ceremony to initiatematrimony. Courtship involves premarital intercourse, bu t contented .co-habitation is the seal of marriage. Temiar are no less faithfulthan most to the marriage pact: unions are contracted young and aresoon cemented by the breeding of several children who form a tiethat is rarely severed. Either husband or wife may find temporarybed-mates, but these do not affect the union. A younger brotherwill often sleep with his elder brother's wife in the latter's absence.Whilst on a journey it. is permitted for a ma n to spend th e nightwith any female relative of hi"! wife. Such accommodations usuallybecome known to the real husband but it is bad form to show jealousy.Custom allows two wives, although one is the more general:in some areas polyandry occurs. A man must be diligent enough tosatisfy the parents of a girl whom he wishes to make his secondwife. Attempts to marry more than two wives ar e very rare and

ar e regarded with the utmost disfavour. During the period of hiscourtship the bridegroom begins to pay visits to the household ofthe girl's people, and it often happens that he may be one of severallovers. I f the girl favours him, he becomes her habitual companion,striving to please her with the product of his hunting during th e dayand sharing her sleeping ma t at night . I f such a union is consummated the girl's parents arrange that it should p ~ r s i s t . A younghusband resides for the period of a ladang's cultivation with hiswife's household. He returns to his paternal household withwife from time to time, and finally settles down with one or the other.The extended households ar e always changing as fa r as the youngerunions ar e concerned.The Maintenance of Order.

Duty towards one's neighbour is for the Temiar duty towardsone's relative. The child grows up to recognise the bonds of kinshipand the duties, privileges and behaviour which they imply. Familyenvironment, which for the Te)1liar is the only environment, with itsscheme of relationships and th e doctrine of mutual responsibilitywhich binds relatives together. precludes almost entirely those individual variations from the norm which might endanger thesolidarity of the kindred .Authority, therefore, is largely the voicing of common opinion,and in so far as it is vested in one man it rests with the eldest sonof each generation, the middle generation in its maturity having thebalance of leadership. Leadership in certain food-quests whichdepend for their success on organisation, above all lends authority toa man. Beside this the power of thl) medicine man is less executive,

and only becomes prepotent at certain times.

Journ . F. M. S. Mus . - Vol. XIX. Plate III .

Fell ing. Burning off a new clearing .

Planting maize. A large tapioca root.


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1936] B1'eed and Culture 23Succession of an eldest son not always being possible, it is by no

means rare fo r an able-bodied industrious son-in-law to take ov-erthe leadership of an extended household, when his wife's father hasbecome too old; which proves that a man becomes a full member ofhis wife's group. In the course of generations the extended familiesmay become large enough to split UIJ into two separate households,and in the process of descent this is continuous; thus a kindred groupmay be composed of several such extended famili.es, but the traditionof senior status in a' generation of the extended family is alwayspreserved in the wider kindred grouping. Such a process is traceablE'everywhere in th e tables of relationships and genealogies collected.

The office of "penghulu" or "batin " is alien to Temiar societyand is the result of appointment fron: th e mikongs. These mikongsare the hereditary liaison betw?en the Temiar hill-p-2ople and theMalay kampongs towards the ulu. There are now only two of themleft, one at Kampong Temengor in Perak and one at Kuala Betisin Kelantan. These two ar e related, being cousins. They wereoriginally Siamese and ar e relics of the Siamese domination of th enorth of the Peninsula. Their ancestors married hill womenand thereby, according to the story told by the Malays, gotto understand th e lore and magic of the hill people. Certainly theyar e feared as much by the Malays who live in their kampongs as bythe hill people who claim a r'3lationship which is admitted by them.The Datol, Mikong at Kuala Betis is much loved by the Temiar,and from their point of view, he is their intermediary and ally.The To' Pangku at Lasah, Alang Untong, who ha s recently died,served the same function for the Temiar on th e Plus and Korbu, aconsiderable area. He also was originally Temiar, and was relatedto all the "ketua" of the Plus Temiar.The extension of kinship bonds, and the differential treatmentand reciprocal obligations which relationship implies leave smallscope fo r individual offences. Where so much is temporary and it sownership shared, the conditions which make theft possibJ.e areprecluded. Crime and legal procedure are confined practicalIy toquarrels arising ou t of abuse of the marriage contract. These aff:>.irsnecessarily do not affect "blood-!un," bu t affines, or relatives by

marriage.A hushand whose wife has run away and is living permanentlywith another man, may either revenge himself indirectly by gainingthe aid of a sorcerer or d i r e ~ t l y by blowpiping or spearing the manwho has su;:planted him. Three groups may become involved in sucha dispute. The principle is that the responsibility for individualoffences must be shared by the offender's group, while the victim'sgroup will likewise regard the injury as common cause and demandcompensation. Guilt is fixed on the heads of alI relatives in thekindred group to which the offender belongs. The relatives of theinjured man will try to stop what must start a blood feud and forceth ei r kinsman to submit the quarrel to the assembly of all groupsconcerned. Each group then puts forward a representative whoplaces their case before a neutral party; the persons directly affectedkeep silent and appear quite unconcerned. It is largely a questivn

of fixing the fine to be paid.


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24 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums [VOL. XIX,Should blood-shed occur, both the kindred concerned ultimat01ymake a pact whereby th e group whc ha s lost th e g r e a t ~ r numberis prmitted to level up by claiming even victims, and thence

forward the feud must stop. Property.The spirit behind Temiar notions of ownership may be ' 2 x p r e s s ~ dthus "where a man has given his work, there he ha s a share :nownership." Owing tt) their system of "shifting cultivation" I.wn

the Iotation of junior families from ~ o u p to group" an . : : ! ~ t e n ? e dhousehold is constant only for th e penod of a ladang s cultIvatlOll.Thus all the families whf) make up the extended f a m i ~ y must s h a ~ ethe duty of clearing, planting, f ~ n c i n g and harvestmg; and thISimplies the r i ~ h t to eat the crops thereon. Owr::;rship of the l o ~ ghouse or the "ladang" is thus only temporary. Permanent ownershIpis bound up. with the clearly recognised territory of j u ~ g - I e withinwhich the senarate extend-3d families who make un kmdred mavplant their larlang-s. This e c o n o m ~ c o ~ b i t , . ~ ~ k a . IS the p r o p ~ r t yof the whole kindren. each g-er:!ratlOn mhentmg It from the prevl?us('ne. The T(>Tl1iar thus speak of the produce of the ~ u r r o u n d ' n . Q "iunde, . it s hills, streams. trees, fruit and all ll;nimal .Iife th -s lrsaka as being- part of their herital!e. There IS no m c o n s l s t e p ~ v ,therefore when an ~ n r l e d family in th e process of oescent. sohtslin -into s ~ n a r a t e households. for the saka remains freelanrl ?f ~ ! ! ,whilst each household is regarded as h o l d i ~ g - i,: . i o m t - o w r . ~ r s l l l p , It'!particular ladang for the period of its cultIvatIOn.

Individual ownership is not entirely absent from the sch('me.Private nroperty follows upon private :;ndeavour. A man makes orbarters for his own blownipe and auiver. loin-cloth, hean-dress. b e ~ , t ~ann othel deroration . Indivic!11al effort deriving- w e a l t ~ from outslrie,such as bv bartering or selling- rotans, creates pnvate property.But thiR effort is usuallv an affair of seoarate families. I f a manp-oes fishin!!" he invariably sharp.5 his catch first w ~ t h his family 3:7rithen if it if; abundant wit.h the household. I t IS th e ~ a m e wJJ"!animals caught in traps. So much i5 this custom of sharmg everythi.nJ! with one's fellows t a k ~ n for granted, that the habit of k e e p i n . ~food to himself was quoted to me as the chief symptom of a c e r t ~ myouth's insanity.. The staple crops in the ladang ar e planted and eaten by all alike.Individual familie5 may however obtain and plant new vegetables,such as pumpkins or papayas. in plots o f t h ~ i r own . A l t h . o u ~ ~ thesurrounding sa1ca belongs to the kindred as a whole, If a!l l ~ d I V l d u ~ 1di5covers a new fruit.tree off the teaten track, he can claIm It as hISown. and when the season of fruiting a p p r o a c h ~ s he m u s ~ clear thepatch of jungle around it to assert and renew hIS ownershIp. Whenon the hunt a bird or animal is killed, it is regarded as the .propertyof the man who first sighted it, and if a companion follows It up ul'.daffects the kill, he expects only a share of the meat as a reward forhis co-operation.

Economic Organisation.I t is essential to grasp the fact that th e Temiar dep end mainlyon the crops which they plant in their l a d a n ~ s , anq the ladang must

la36] BTeed and Culture 25be considered the fundamental economic unit . Their economicorganisation is however framed within th e saka, th e orbit of junglewithin which the extended families of a kindred may plant theirladang; and the vegetarian diet is supplemented with tl1.8 producecf collecting, hunting, trapping and fishing in the surrounding jungleof the saka.

The clearing, planting and care of th e sillai (iadang) is theoutcome of organised joint effort on th e part of the cons tituentfamilies of the extended household. The staple food of the Temiarthe tapioca root (ubi kayu) and at some seasons hill rice, milletand maize ar e planted also. In the case of rice, the whole processirom planting to husking is organised as joint effort; tapioca andmaiz8 ar e however gathered daily by each family, the women goingup into the ladang every morning.

Alongside of these staple crops, the individual families cultivatelittle crops of supplementary food stuffs and other plants. Pumpkins,marrows, spring onions, keladi ' , keledek2, peppers, bananas, papayaand sugar cane ar e thus planted; also "sumba" for dyeing and decoration; a flax plant from which twine for fishing nets is obtained,tobacco (mun) and some medicinal plants. These private crops arealso gathered by the women in the mornings.

The Temiar in th e hills practise a modified shifting cultivativl1.Each kindred must however not make its clearing outside the limitsof the saka. Moreover, the Temiar plant each successive ladangadjacent to th e previous one and stay for some years in one locality.Certain groups (Pahulu Jagor at Kuala Cherus, Ulu Brok, Kelantan;Long Ji m at Kuala Mu, Ulu Plus; To' Dalem on Sungai J emheng,Ulu Temengor: and Long Bintang at Jalong, Sungei Korbu) havenow settled down permanently.

The several extend0d households which form a kindred planttheir ladangs according to a pact. In anyone season one householdmay plant padi, another maize, another millet together with theirtapioca, and th e produce will be exchanged. Each household migratesto each ladang in turn to assist in th e clearing, planting and laterhan,::sting. Sometimes the system will involve several wh.olekindreds over a large area. This confirms th 2 rrinciple of sharirgwork and ownership of the crops.

Th e surrounding jungle supplies the Temiar with vegetables ,such as mushrooms, tender bamboo shoots, certain palms and leavesand edible roots: with fruits such as kundang. ramiJutan, prah ,tam poi, langsat, duku3 and. many others: with medicines such as thesap of certain trees (prah), the w:lter of aerial roots, and variousplants (lebak 1imba, etc.): rotans, bamboos, atap and wood forbuilding houses, making traps, weapons, household receptacles,bridges, rafts and musical instruments: poisons, such as theinoh for th e blow-pine darts: tuba fruit 4 , and "lai" made fromI Colladium or taro (colocasia antiquorum).2 Sweet potato.3 Bovea macrophylla, Nephebium lappaceum, Elateriospermum tapos , Baccaurea malayana, lansium domesticum, and the oval and sweeter variety (duku) .4 Diospyros toposioides.


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26 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums [VOL. XIX.th e leaves of wild banana fo r stupefying fish: bark-cloth, fibres,ieaves and grasses for clothing and decorative purposes: r u s h e ~ al'rlother plant>; for plaiting mats and baskets. All these a c t i ~ i t i e s ofcollecting ar e done by the family groups separately, except In some

Spring traps are set for wild pigs, deer and bamboo rats, andthese again are separate family activities. Bu t in the case of th e" prah " house and th e "pagar" for pigs and deer, joint activitiesar e again operative.Fishing is don-e with the line, or else with a casting-net weightedwith stones; traps are also made for fish, especially during the rains.These ar e individual family affairs; but in the fish drive with the juiceof the tuba fruit to stupefy the fish, when the fruit ha s to be gatheredand pounded in the rIver and special darns constructed, there is jointeffort, sometimes involving hundreds of Temiar from kindr,eds formiles around. The weapon of the class is the blowpipe (blau) andthe spear (bamboo-bladed, or iron forged by themselves or traded upfrom th e Malays). The poisoned darts from the blowpipe bringdown all kinds of birds, monkeys, apes, squirrels, flying foxes, flyingsquirrels, rats and musang. Formerly the weapon of organisedoffence was the bow, as opposed to the blowpipe which was theweapon of the chase. The arrows were tipped with st-eel, made inprimitive' bamboo forges, one of which is now in the Perak Museum.

Groups down river will buy goats, pigs, beads, trinkets, brasswire, cloth, chains for the jala (casting nets) and exchange them forbamboo, shafts for blowpipes and fowls upstream. There is a systemof deferred payments. I have traced some beads bought by a Malayfrom Chinese in Kuala Lipis, who took them to th e Semai Senoi livingup the Jelai, thence they went up the Serau in Pahang, up the Brokin VIu Ke!antan, into th e Ulu Korbu and finally reached the Plus inPerak. These articles traded up become private property and pla.'.'no small part in the bride-price.

Fowls and goats ar e bred and traded to the road again. Rotans.jeJutong, and some love potions (such as chindawei) fo r which theMalays and Chinese pay highly, ar e also a source of wealth. ManyTemiar groups in Diu Plus and elsewhere wash tin.

Material Culture: Arts and Crafts.To describe th e material culture of the Temiar is to tell theuses to which bamboo may be put. Bamboo is indispensable to themfo r houses, household utensils, vessels, tools, weapons, fences,baskets, water-pipes, rafts, musical instruments and ornaments.

The general shape of the dwelling occupied by an extendedfamily is "oblong"; bu t we ma y term the dwelling "long house"provided that it is not presumed to have reached th e specialiserllength of some types of long house of Borneo or New Guinea. Temiarhouses ma y attain ninety to a hundred feet in lenth. Some households ma y number sixty p-ersons. Temiar houses ar e of the Muruttype, having the corridor in the middle, and th e family compartmentson both sides.

Journ F. M. S Mus. - Vol. XIX,

Building a long houseco-operative effort.

Plate IV.

Completing the roof. A Temiar extended family house.


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,Breed and Culture 27

T\vo convenient trees are chopped aud trimmed to the rightheight to form the end posts, to support the central beam ofroof; the framework of fioor, walls and roof is formed of strolJgpoles tied in place by rotan. The 1"001' is made some eight to ten feetaoove the ground. The roof is made of nibong ibul* gatheredand plaited by the women. The flooring is made of long strips ofsplit bamboo in terwoven so as to allow dirt and scraps to filter throu ghto the ground where th e dogs and goats wait. The walls mayeither be of baml:oo fixed horizontally l:ke a fence or else ofbertam stem; bu t at either end the atap thatching may be continuedvery nearly to the fioor, whilst at the sides th e roofing e x t e n d ~well beyond the central floor, and it is under this overhanging partthat the separate families make their small compartm,mts. Atintervals along the sides there may be two or three compartmentRfor storing grain and foodstuffs, whilst on the raft,ers th e blowpipes.weapons, tools and baskets of each family are stored.Each family has its own hearth of beaten earth bound aroundwith split bamboo, which it is the work of the women to fashion .1'he central fioor, on the other hand, is associated with group activities such as the pr eparation of a feast, rice-pounding and thevarious dances and ceremonies. I have spent many nights inTemiar hou&es.Each family makes a raised bamboo platform and screens itoff at the sides. In some cases a dais may also be made in frontor at the sides of the hearth At one end of the house there isusually a dais for the use of guests.In some ladangs, a long wdter- pipe cons isting of bamboo slitat the nodes conveys the water from a distant stream to th e house.

The Temiar ar e still capable of satisfying most of their need"except salt without deJ:ending on trade : whilst fire may still bemade by the sawing-thong method, a rotan being pulled backwardsand fonvards against a piece of bamboo held down by the feet.A hole is pierced in the middle of th t bamboo, a small piece of the"down" used to wad the dart into the blowpipe is placed over thehole, and a flame soon arises. Trap..;, spears, blowpipes, dart quivers,mats, baskets and clothing and d2corations can all be made at homefrom materials either grown on th e ladang or else found in the jungle.On the Sungai Nenggiri, the Piah and the Temengor, thereare Temiar who work iron, whilst many of them make bamboo raftsand dug-out canoes; they havc also learnt from th e Malays to makesampans. Most rivers are for


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28 Journal 0/ the F .M.S. Museums [VOL. XIX,The Spiritual Flement in Tel1uar Life.

To the Temiar .the whole of nature is impregnated by spiritualforces, many of them personified in the form of evil spirits. Behindall such beliefs there is the notion that man's society must maintainthe balance between itself and its environment. The healthfulcommunity is the one which by medium of the hal a (medicineman) can make use of Nature without offending he r susceptibilities.A full account of this important aspect of Temiar life will bepublished later.Here it is only neceSl'ary to point out briefly how th e beliefin these spiritual forces serves to maintain the solidarity ofgroup life.

The "hala" is. the intermediary between man and the world ofspirits. Bu t he does not only serve to combat with the aid of"possession" by his tiger-familiar (gunig) th e agency of the ~ v i lspirits of whirl'. indignant nature is full. Many of th e hala-danceshave a positive function, namely the preservation, and the reinforcement maybe, ' of the morale' of the group, in the words of th eTemiar themselves, of the "ruwai" or 'soul' of the group. Just ascertain dances are perfoi'med to honour and renew th e "ruwai"of the many fruits and plants of the jungle on which the Temiardepend, so also th e luck of the group-ruwai is ascertained. Whenthe "hala" attains in his dance a state of "dissociation"-when he"forgets his own self" as they say -he is believed to be possessedby his "gunig" or familiar. I t is this "gunig" which makes thehala "powerful to heal sickness". He takes a handful of tapioca(the staple food of th e group) cu t up into small pieces, and assuminga posture of great tension throw,> with his half-open hand. The"luck" of the group is considered to be good or bad according towhether an even or an odd number remains in th e hand. I f it is anodd number, the lurk of the group is not good, and a special halaperformance is necessary. These dances therefore. and others suchas the "kananyar" or the "chanachit" play a vital re-creative partin Temiar life.

I t is important, however, not to miss th e social l;>asis for theTemiar system of ethics. Society is a family affair, and dutytowards one's neighbour is conditioned by the fact that one's nearneighbour is usually related by birth or through marriage, and aseries of reciprocal duties and privilege ar e binding between eachand all. These are regulated by the fact that th e bonds unite potmerely individuals bu t groups of relatives who ar e social equivalents,and anyone stands to lose in privilege where he fails in obligation.

THE BREED.The Temiar Senoi are not a homogeneous grouo. Broadlyspeaking there is a hill stock living in th e headwaters of the rivers,and a hybrid populat.ion living down-river who for the presentI propose to term the "older strata." This zoning must not beregarded as rigid, for even in the remote hill groups "older strata"types ma y occur, whilst "hill stock" types ar e also to be found among

the border population . This is not unexnected, for all types speaka common l a n g u a ~ e a n d s h ~ r e loca.l v ~ l ' i a t i o n s , and intermarriage

Journ . F. M. S. Mus . - Vol. XIX. Plate V.

:>


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1936] Breed and Culture 29occurs. Nevertheless, if one penetrates up any of the rivers whichflow from the eastern or western slopes of th e main range, thechange fro:u one type to another is remarkable, but it is gradual.Moreover, the Temiar are surrounded as we have seen, west,north and east by nomad Negrito tribes, and between thes2 and theborder "olde!" strata" Temiar intermarriage has taken place. ThisNegrito admixture is readily seen among the down-river population.

I t is quite cbar that when previous investigators relied onassembling a horde of Temiar at some accessible spot whether inPerak or Kelantan, the individuals they observed would be predominantly "older strata" types with marked Negrito admixture.Judging by the literature this was what misled anthropologistsand interested travellers alike into assuming that the older strataelements versisted throughout the Temiar breed .Thus, Low is impressed by th2 contrast between the slim palebrown Senoi of the Batang Padang and the short dark -skinnedNorther

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H. D. None, 'Settlements and Welfare of the Ple-Temiar Senoi of the Perak-Kelantan Watershed'

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