Sarong

“ In Kĕlantan, both men and women dress differently from Malays in other States. The men wear neither coats nor trousers, but they bind a sârong and three or four sashes about their waists. The sârong generally comes down to the knee, and, when seated, the knee-caps are often exposed, even in the King's Bâlai,—a practice that would not be tolerated in any other part of the Peninsula. The women also dispense with an upper garment, and make up the deficiency by a lavish use of sârong and scarves. ”

“ The same remark applies to the purchase of sarongs. The ordinary sarong of commerce is manufactured in Lancashire, whence an excellent imitation of the native manufacture is exported. Tourists are also catered for in a native block-stamped variety, which is at least a colourable imitation of the real article. ”

“ The best native sarongs are more expensive than silk, the cloth being overlaid with wax, upon which the pattern is traced, and the dyes applied by hand. The masses use a cheap cotton print manufactured in Europe. One of the striking peculiarities of Javanese life is the adoption of the sarong by the European women for morning wear. ”

“ He was a young man of very dark, but handsomely-formed features, (darker by two shades than the Malays,) about five feet five or six inches in height, of slender form, and attired in the usual native Sarong; a yellow silk Sandalong, or sash, around the waist, in which a Kris, of handsome manufacture, was placed; a close Baju, or jacket, with plated buttons in front; upon his head a turban of white cloth, without any decorations; and gold bangles around his wrists and ancles: his attendants were almost all Moormen, or natives of Bengal and Madras ”

“ This is done by means of a species of sympathetic magic, the medicine-man drawing on a sarong (Malay skirt) of marvellous elasticity, which at first will only cover his great toes, but which he is able gradually to stretch until it covers his whole person. This sarong resembles the hide of a Bengal tiger (being yellow with black stripes) , and the wearing of it in conjunction with the necessary charms will turn the required person into a tiger. ↑
83 Clifford, In Court and Kampong, pp. ”

“ The Dutch ladies vie with one another in their sarongs as much as native women, and their dishabille dress of the early hours has not always economy to recommend it. The battek also appears in the slandang, or long shoulder-scarf, which used to match the sarong and complete the native costume when passed under the arms and crossed at the back, thus covering the body from the armpits to the waist. ”

“ It is an old Indian form of dress, but is now used only by some of the people of the south; e.g. on the coast of Malabar, where it is worn by the Hindus (white) , by the Mappilas (Moplah) of that coast, and the Labbais (Lubbye) of Coromandel (coloured) , and by the Banṭs of Canara, who wear it of a dark blue. With the Labbais the coloured sarong is a modern adoption from the Malays. Crawfurd seems to explain sarung as Javanese, meaning first 'a case or sheath,' and then a wrapper or garment. But, both in the Malay islands and in Ceylon, the word is no doubt taken from Skt. ”

“ Accordingly Pĕnghûlu Mat Saleh lay still until morning.
In a Malay village all are astir very shortly after daybreak. As soon as it is light enough to see to walk the doors of the houses open one by one, and the people of the village come forth singly huddled to the chin in their sârongs or bed coverlets. Each man makes his way down to the river to perform his morning ablutions, or stands on the bank of the stream, staring sleepily at nothing in particular, a black figure silhouetted against the broad ruddiness of a Malayan dawn. ”

“ Malays in red sarongs, Sikhs in pure white Madras muslin, their great height rendered nearly colossal by the classic arrangement of their draperies; and Chinamen of all classes, from the coolie in his blue or brown cotton, to the wealthy merchant in his frothy silk crepe and rich brocade, make up an irresistibly fascinating medley.
The English, though powerful as the ruling race, are numerically nowhere, and certainly make no impression on the eye. ”

“ As our boat drew up to the iron pier that extended from the broad palace steps out into the straits, the guns from the little fort on the hill above the town boomed out a welcome and the flags of our several countries were run to the tops of the poles. A squad of native soldiers presented arms, and we were conducted up the stone steps, to the cool, dim corridors of the reception or waiting room. Malays in red fezzes and silken sarongs that hung about their legs like skirts conducted us along a marble hall to our rooms in a wing of the palace. ”

“ Yesterday I paid a visit to the governor, who resides in an old hut, repulsively dirty, about two miles from the spot where I landed. Although this is the most important place in Saraburi, this wretched dwelling, and a few scattered huts belonging to agriculturists, are all the houses I have seen; there is no bazaar, and no floating shops. From time to time petty merchants come to sell or exchange salt and other articles of absolute necessity; or a few Chinese with small stocks of langoutis, arrack, cloth, Siamese dresses, and bowls, which they barter for skins, horns, or rice. ”

“ The consequence of this was, that several poor Malays had been carried off from their rice-fields, and at least a dozen unfortunate Chinamen from the neighbourhood of some tin mines a few miles away.
“I never meant to enter into such an extensive affair, gentlemen,” said the resident to Major Sandars and Captain Horton after dinner one day, when they had all been entertained at the mess-room. “I almost think we ought to draw back before it is too late.”
“Well, I don’t know,” said Major Sandars. “It will please the sultan if we take a lot of men, and this is rather a stagnating life. ”

“ These rumors are spread by the Sariki people, to induce the Sakarrans to quit their river and take refuge in the interior of the Rejong; and once there, the Sakarrans would be in a very great measure at the mercy of the Sariki people. This is a perfect instance of Malay dealing with the Dyaks; but in this case it has failed, as the Sakarrans are too much attached to their country to quit it. I am inclined to believe their professions; and at any rate it is convenient to do so and to give them a fair trial. ”

“ Before night I arrived at Saraburi, the chief town of the province of Pakpriau, and the residence of the governor.
SARABURI.
Saraburi is a place of some extent, the population consisting chiefly of Siamese, Chinese, and Laotian agriculturists; and consists, like all towns and villages in Siam, of houses constructed of bamboo. They peep out, half hidden among the foliage along the banks of the river; beyond are rice-plantations, and, farther in the background, extensive forests, inhabited solely by wild animals. ”

“ Speak the truth, and quickly, or verily, thou son of a dog, my sword will taste somewhat of thy jellied flesh."
"This is the truth," said the man. "The missy sahib was in the city of the king, but she escaped the killing by the aid of an ayah and a khitmutgar, who took her to the housetop of a man that was friendly to the sahibs. But there were some that suspected he was not faithful to the true king Bahadur Shah——"
"Dog, remember that I serve the sahibs, and name not that master of cut-throats to me."
"Have mercy, O right-hand of the sahibs, we are but poor men. ”

“ Yesterday, after a detention on the bar, we steamed up the broad, muddy Selangor river, margined by bubbling slime, on which alligators were basking in the torrid sun, to Selangor. Here the Dutch had a fort on the top of the hill. We destroyed it in August, 1871. Some Chinese whose connection with Selangor is not traceable, after murdering nearly everybody on board a Pinang-owned junk, took the vessel to Selangor. ”

“ No; there was not much real harm in men: and all the time a shadow marched with him, slanting on his left hand--which in the East is a presage of evil.
. . . . . . .
"Can you make out the clump of palms yet, Serang?" asked Captain Whalley from his chair on the bridge of the Sofala approaching the bar of Batu Beru.
"No, Tuan. By-and-by see." The old Malay, in a blue dungaree suit, planted on his bony dark feet under the bridge awning, put his hands behind his back and stared ahead out of the innumerable wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. ”

“ There is no doubt that the two tribes of Sakarran and Sarebus are greatly addicted to head-hunting, and consider the possession as indispensable. The more a man has, the greater his honor and rank; nor is there anything without to check or ameliorate this barbarous habit; for the Malays of all classes, on this coast, take the same pride in heads as the Dyaks themselves, with the exception that they do not place them in their houses, or attach any superstitious ideas to them. ”

“ Selangor is a most wretched place—worse than Klang. On one side of the river there is a fishing village of mat and attap hovels on stilts raised a few feet above the slime of a mangrove swamp; and on the other an expanse of slime, with larger houses on stilts, and an attempt at a street of Chinese shops, and a gambling-den, which I entered, and found full of gamblers at noonday. The same place serves for a spirit and champagne shop. Slime was everywhere oozing, bubbling, smelling putrid in the sun, all glimmering, shining, and iridescent, breeding fever and horrible life ”

“ Meanwhile, each, according to the usual preference for one’s own things, began to boast the superior excellence of his gift, till the wise Sarron demonstrated that his thumbstall united in itself the fulness of all the other miraculous gifts: “To me,” said he, “both cellar and kitchen stand open in the house of epicures; I enjoy the privilege of the house-fly, to eat out of the same dish with the king, without his being able to prevent me; I may also empty the coffers of the rich, and it is even in my power to appropriate all the riches of Hindostan if the journey is not too irksome for me.” ”

“ The station at Limbang is situated at a bend of the river on its right bank below the range of the Kaban Hills. In coming up the river one first passes the Malay town, built as usual on piles, the houses being either near the water’s edge or, as the Malays seem to prefer, actually over the running water. Here were several sago factories. Later we passed the bazaar, or Chinese quarter, for nearly all the shopkeepers in Sarawak are Chinamen. ”

“ Selangor thrives, if it does thrive, which I greatly doubt, on tin and gutta; but Klang is a most misthriven, decayed, dejected, miserable-looking place.* The nominal ruler of Selangor is Sultan Abdul Samat, but he hybernates on a pension at Langat, a long way off, and must be nearly obliterated, I think. [*Kwala Lumpor is now the most important mining entrepot in Selangor, and in 1880 the British Resident and his staff were removed thither.] ”

“ I will quote the Sarawak Gazette of September 1, 1894: ‘Some months back a most unaccountable scare took possession of the Asiatic population of Sarawak Proper—Malays, Chinese, Dyaks and others being similarly affected. It was at first rumoured that the Government required human heads to place under the foundations of the new high level reservoir at the waterworks, and that men were sent out at night to procure these.... Other equally absurd stories followed and were fully believed, many natives going so far as to assert that they had met with these head hunters about the native town at night. ”

“ The sardar thus addressed him:—
"Babuji, do you know us?"
"How can I know you?" groaned their victim. "Your faces are blackened and concealed by your turbans. Gentlemen, I implore you to spare my life! I never injured any of you."
"Indeed!" replied the sardar sarcastically; "you have been the ruin of us all. ”

“ The country is traversed by fine rivers. The Rejang, four fathoms deep two hundred miles from the mouth, the Batang Lupar, and the Sarawak are the largest, and the great highways of the country; along the banks of which are [241] cultivated clearings and Dyak villages, but beyond these extend dense jungle which even clothes the sides of the mountains. Besides the before-mentioned rivers are many smaller ones which are still noble streams—the Sarebas, Samarahan, Sadong, Lundu, etc. It is indeed a well-watered country, and only requires the industry of man to develop its riches. ”

“ The tribes of Sarebus and Sakarran, whose rivers are situated in the deep bay between Tanjong Sipang and Tanjong Sirak, are powerful communities, and dreadful pirates, who ravage the coast in large fleets, and murder and rob indiscriminately ”

“ Jan. 3d.—I have mentioned that the Sanpro had been attacked from Sadong; and I now learn that, at the time, the men were out of the village, and thus the women and children alone suffered; twenty-two have been carried away into slavery. The village was burned after being plundered, and the unfortunate people have since been living in the jungle, with only such food as they could get there. The head of the tribe and about [166] six of his followers came down the river on a raft to ask assistance from me, and I had the story from them. ”

“ Accept, then, our kingdom; come and rule over our people, and we will honor you as our Khan and your companion as Grand Vizier to the end of our days!”
The crowd had by this time grown silent, listening, and at the end of the speech they set up a shout that echoed to the very clouds. Seizing Schalu and Saran in their arms, they bore them with laughter and singing to the palace, where Schalu was crowned with all pomp and ceremony, and Saran was made his chief adviser. ”