We stayed here for the night, and the next day we returned to Jahore, and crossing the straits reached Singapore about 6 o’clock. In returning down the Scudai river we saw a slender habited pandanus bearing its crimson fruit in clusters among its long glaucus leaves, and in places on the margins of the stream the beautiful red-sheathed areca palm was very beautiful. Although this journey was a singularly unproductive one so far as the discovery of new plants of horticultural or botanical interest were concerned, yet it had taught me much in other ways, and gave me an insight into the habits and customs of the Malays, whose language I had commenced to learn as soon as I landed in Singapore for the first time.
It is unfortunate that this Puloi mountain is not more readily accessible, seeing that at its summit the air is deliciously fresh and cool, and beautiful views are obtainable. A good road thither, and a bungalow or two, are all that are needed in order to make this a valuable sanatorium for residents in Singapore, who are worse off in this respect than the Penang people, who have a cool health station, with bungalows, &c., on the “Hill,” which is only a pleasant pony-ride from the town.
Apart from the Malay and Chinese inhabitants of Jahore, there are tribes of wild men or Jakuns, who are believed to be the descendants of the aboriginal population. These reside in the interior of the country, some of the tribes even construct their rude dwellings in the trees, and wherever land culture is by them adopted it is of the most rude and primitive description. As a rule, their life is nomadic. Dr. Maclay visited these people in 1875, and the following are some of his observations respecting them:—[1]
“These people are thoroughly disinclined to improvement of any kind in their mode of life, intellectually or otherwise, although it is not occasioned by want of opportunity nor from want of brain.
“3. That these tribes are gradually becoming extinct not only the Malays, but also they themselves are fully aware.
“This process of extinction is due mainly to the following causes:—
- “a. The constant advance into the jungle of the Malay and Chinese population displaces the original occupiers of the soil, who retire into greater solitude.
- “b. Owing to frequent intermarriages between the Malays and the ‘utan’ women, the latter race is becoming intermixed into the former, and this mixed race is fast increasing.
“In spite of the almost foregone conclusion with which I set out upon my journey, and after severely criticising upon my return the observations I made, I cannot doubt the fact of the existence of an aboriginal non-Malayan population. Furthermore, previous experience and intimate knowledge of the Papuan race lead me to the conviction that this aboriginal population is not only not of Malay origin, but probably related to the Papuans. Here and there I came across individuals whom I could not consider otherwise than as retrogrades to the main aboriginal type. In most of these cases the hair, though not absolutely identical with that of the pure Papuan type, resembled in texture and in growth that of the Papua-Malay (mixed race) of the west coast of New Guinea, who are by no means inconsiderable in number. In these individual cases the hair was quite different from the curled hair of the other orang-utans.
ORANG UTAN OR WILD MEN OF JAHORE.