Poisoning the arrows.
p. [214].
The tract of land inhabited by the Sakais is, at a rough guess, comprised between 3° 50' and 5° 50' North latitude and 101° and 102° East longitude (Greenwich). But for such an extension they are very few in numbers because in the year 1903, passing from one village to another in 25 days, I could not count more than 6800 persons camping round the durians at the ingathering season.
Reckoning the women left behind because of a recent confinement, the old and infirm and the little children I do not think that altogether they can be many more than 10,000 souls. It is truly the case to say: "rari nantes in gurgite vasto!".
It would be impossible to take a real census of the Sakais owing to their distrust of everything they do not understand and the difficulty their nomadic life presents.
The climate where they live, although damp, is good, for the thick foliage of the forest and the breezes that often hail from the mountains mitigate the heat of the sun's rays.
There are no alternations of seasons as in temperate zones but only the distinction of dry and rainy ones, the former being determined by the monsoon blowing from the east, and the latter from that coming from the west.
It is not unusual for the heat at noon to surpass 40° (centigrade) but to the torrid temperature of the day follows a cold night and the hotter the day is, the colder the night. From 40° it easily falls under 20°. The Sakais who possess no garments, or rugs and whose huts are very open and airy, sleep all huddled together (to keep each other warm) round a large fire but they frequently suffer from these variations of temperature.