Sakais

Amongst those Oriental peoples not yet civilized the Sakais are the least known, and yet I firmly believe that they could surpass the others in intelligence -- as they undoubtedly excel them in solid moral qualities -- if they were to be made the object of assiduous care and benevolent interest.

My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) Giovanni Battista Cerruti 1882

[Illustration: A group of Mai Darats, called "Sakais".

My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) Giovanni Battista Cerruti 1882

The natives of the Andaman Islands, the Kalangs and the Sakais of Java and neighboring regions, and the Aetas of the Philippine Islands agree in a dwarfed stature of four feet or a little over, in their yellowish brown skin color, a round head, and woolly reddish-brown hair.

The Doctrine of Evolution Its Basis and Its Scope Henry Edward Crampton

The primitive Negritos, living in these parts, as those also living on the island of Negros and in Mindanao, are of unknown origin -- unless they are allied with similar types of pigmies, such as the Sakais of the Malay Peninsula, or the Mincopies of the Andaman Islands in the

The Great White Tribe in Filipinia 1914

For the rest, though, the Sakais, like all those on the same par in intellectual capacity, do not trouble their heads at all over whatever natural phenomena.

My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) Giovanni Battista Cerruti 1882

Evidently the Sakais, well aware of the lethal effect of a bite from a serpent, think that by introducing into the wound, by means of their dart, a tiny portion of the organ which determines this effect, an equal result will follow.

My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) Giovanni Battista Cerruti 1882

The utter impossibility of saving a creature that has fallen a victim to this terrible poison has given rise to a superstition among the Sakais that an evil spirit hovers over, or goes into the mixture when it is being prepared and for this they do not set themselves to the work without taking numerous precautions.

My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) Giovanni Battista Cerruti 1882

By straining my gaze into the darkness of the forest I discerned that some fires were lighted not very far off, a sure sign that the Sakais were still near us.

My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) Giovanni Battista Cerruti 1882

Those rare ones, whose appearance would be rapturously hailed by our youths as the forerunners of a possible mustache or beard, are plucked out by the Sakais in their spare time!

My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) Giovanni Battista Cerruti 1882

The monster pulls, jumps, writhes, sometimes giving such sudden springs as to make the tenacious Sakais run here and there to keep their equilibrium and to stay out of its reach.

My Friends the Savages Notes and Observations of a Perak settler (Malay Peninsula) Giovanni Battista Cerruti 1882