But the Jakun are only a few out of many; a single branch of a great stem.
The most convenient term for the members in general of this class is Orang Binua—a term already explained.
The Biduanda Kallang.—The next, then, of the Orang Binua that comes in contact with a British dependency—many others not thus politically connected with us being passed over—are the Biduanda Kallang of the parts about Sincapore. Their present locality is the banks of the most southern of the rivers of the peninsula, the Pulai. Thither they were removed when the British took possession of the island of Sincapore; of which they were previously the joint occupants—joint occupants, because they shared it with the tribe which will be next mentioned. They were an Orang Laut in one sense of the word, but not in another. Orang means men or people, and laut means sea in Malay; and the Biduanda Kallang were boatmen rather than agriculturists. But they were only freshwater sailors; since, though they lived on the water, they avoided the open sea. They formerly consisted of one hundred[209] families; but have been reduced by small-pox to eight.
Their priest or physician is called bomo, and he invokes the hantu, or deities, the anito of the Philippine Islanders, the tii of the Tahitians; and, probably, the Wandong and Vintana of Australia and Madagascar respectively.
They bury their dead after wrapping the corpse in a mat; and placing on the grave one cup of woman's milk, one of water, and one of rice; when they entreat the deceased to seek nothing more from them.
Persons of even the remotest degree of relationship are forbidden to intermarry.
The accounts of their physical appearance is taken from too few individuals to justify any generalization. Two, however, of them had the forehead broader than the cheek-bones, so that the head was pear-shaped. In a third, it was lozenge-shaped. The head was small, and the face flat. The lower jaw projected; but not the upper—so that "when viewed in profile, the features seem to be placed on a straight line, from which the prominent parts rise very slightly."[65]
The Orang Sletar.—The original joint-occupants of Sincapore with the Biduanda Kallang, were the Orang Sletar, or men of the river Sletar; differing but little from the former. Of the two[210] families they are the shyer, and the more squalid; numbering about two hundred individuals and forty boats. Their dialect is Malay, spoken with a guttural pronunciation, and with a clipping of the words.
At the birth of a child they have no ceremonies; at marriage a present of tobacco and rice to the bride's mother confirms the match; at death the deceased is wrapped in his garments and interred.
Skin diseases and deformities are common; nevertheless, many of their women are given in marriage to both the Malays and Chinese; but I know of no account of the mixed progeny.