FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81  
82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   >>   >|  
Sakais pitied the poor vagabond and had often tried to make him stop with them as a brother or a guest but he always resolutely refused whatever proposal they made him and they were of opinion that not even old age would have any effect upon the misanthropy of this poor inoffensive being who isolated himself so obstinately from all his kind. I thought to myself, is the poor fellow wise or mad in thus seeking to live alone as Nature produced him, in the unlimited liberty of his native jungle where he is secure from delusions and sorrows? Men, little less savage than he, feel compassion for him as he passes by. Nobody would dare to laugh at or injure such a harmless soul and so he is allowed to ramble from hut to hut undisturbed, his eccentricities and his odd behaviour being his safeguard. It is not always so amongst people more advanced in civilization! CHAPTER VIII. An official appointment--A tour of inspection--Lost in the forest--I find a philosopher--Lycurgus and his laws--A contented mind is a continual feast--A night among the tigers--On the Berumbum--I sleep with a serpent--The last of many--Safe from trap and arrow--The coronation of King Edward VII. Having established a regular trade in forest products and attempted something in the way of plantations, I felt a strong desire to explore the whole country inhabited by the Sakai tribes to better estimate its riches and at the same time to know more thoroughly the character of this people of whom I knew only a limited number. From the Bidor I passed into Sunkei Selin and Pahang, and when, in 1901, I happened to be at Tapah I was offered the Government post of Superintendent of the Perak Sakais. The proposal was such as to gratify a little ambition of which I had not really been conscious before. I therefore accepted it with great pleasure, the more so as I felt flattered that the British Government should repose so much confidence in an Italian. My first official act was to make enquiries about a serious quarrel that had taken place amongst the Sakais living in the plain, and that had resulted in several deaths. The fact was so uncommon and extraordinary considering the good nature of the people, that it was quite worth the while of an investigation. Two Bretak Sakais descended from the heights which bound Perak and Pahang, and found hospitality in a family of those Sakais who are in constant contact with strangers. Seei
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81  
82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
Sakais
 

people

 

forest

 
Government
 

Pahang

 

official

 

proposal

 

happened

 
desire
 
explore

strong

 

attempted

 

products

 

Superintendent

 

plantations

 

offered

 

estimate

 

character

 

riches

 
tribes

country
 

passed

 
inhabited
 

limited

 

number

 

Sunkei

 

repose

 
nature
 
investigation
 

deaths


uncommon
 

extraordinary

 

Bretak

 

constant

 

contact

 

strangers

 

family

 

heights

 

descended

 

hospitality


resulted

 

pleasure

 

flattered

 
British
 

accepted

 

ambition

 

conscious

 

regular

 

quarrel

 

living