Ancient Indian Colonies in the Far East (Vol. I: Champa; Vol. II: Suvarnadvipa) v2.c13.45

v2.c13.45

(1) The *Semang* and the *Sakai* of the Malay Peninsula may be taken as fair specimens of the wild tribes that inhabited the region in primitive times. The Semang Negritos belong to the earliest stratum of population which has survived in the peninsula. They now occupy "the wooded hills in the north of the peninsula, in Kedah, Perak and northern Pahang : with occasional communities like the Temo in Ulu Bera and Ulu Rompin in south Pahang". "They are dark, with woolly hair, and flat, spreading noses, feeble chins, and lips often everted : and sometimes they are almost pigmies in size. But for a bark loin-cloth, they are naked......They have no form of agriculture whatever, and live upon jungle produce and by hunting, fishing and trapping. Their distinctive weapon is the bow and poisoned arrow. They live under over-hanging rocks or leaf-shelter and build no houses.”