BUPRESTIS GIGAS.
MALAY PIRATES.
CHAPTER XX.
THE MALAYAN RACE.
Physical Conformation of the Malays—Betel Chewing—Their Moral Character—Limited Intelligence of the Malays—Their Maritime Tastes—Piracy—Gambling—Cock-fighting—Running A-muck!—Fishing—Malayan Superstitions—The Battas—Their Cannibalism—Eating a Man alive—The Begus—Aërial Huts—Funeral Ceremonies—The Dyaks—Head-hunting—The Sumpitan—Large Houses.
Unlike the apathetic Indian hunter, whose wishes are bounded by the forest or the savannah, where the chase provides him with a scanty subsistence, or the good-humoured Negro who, fond of agriculture, and attached to the soil on which he was born, never thinks of wandering of his own free will to distant countries, the roving race of the Malays has scattered its colonies far and wide over the Indian Archipelago.
The colour of the various tribes of this remarkable people is a yellowish-brown, and varies but little throughout the numerous islands extending from Sumatra and the peninsula of Malacca to the Moluccas. The hair is black, coarse and straight, the beard scanty. The stature is below the average European size, the breast well developed, the limbs meagre. The face is broad and somewhat flat, with high cheek-bones, a small nose, a large mouth with broad lips, and black eyes with angular orbits. The children and young people of both sexes are often really handsome in face and graceful in figure, but as they advance in age their features become hard, and frequently present a repulsive appearance.
Like most nations in a rude state of society, they are in the habit of permanently disfiguring parts of the body under the idea of ornament. Considering blackness a becoming colour for the teeth—for dogs, they say, have them white—they file the enamel so that the bone may be tinged by the juice of the pungent betel, which, wrapped round the nut of the areca palm, and mixed with lime, they are in the habit of chewing from morning till night. This combination, besides discolouring the teeth, has the disgusting property of dyeing the saliva of so deep a red that the lips and gums appear as if coloured with blood; yet it is in universal use throughout the whole Indian Archipelago, and, as excuses are never failing to justify bad habits, is said to have tonic effects and to promote digestion.
The Malays are not a demonstrative people; their behaviour towards strangers is marked by a reserve, a distrust, or even a timidity which inclines the observer to tax with exaggeration the wild and bloodthirsty character which is generally ascribed to their race. The feelings of astonishment, admiration, and fear are never openly expressed, and their slow and considerate speech shows how careful they are not to give offence.