SEMANG  , an aboriginal

people of the Malay peninsula, found in northern Perak, Kedah, Kelantan, Trengganu and the northern districts of Pahang . They are a fairly pure branch of the woolly-haired Negrito race, which includes the natives of the Andaman islands, the Aetas of the Philippines and the dwarfs of Central Africa . The men average about 4 ft . 9 or 10 in., while the women are 32 in. shorter . Their colour is a very dark brown or black . The shape of the head is round, or intermediate between round and long . The forehead is low and rounded, and projects over the root of the nose, which is short, depressed and pyramid-shaped . The eyes are wide open and round, showing no obliquity, the iris being of a very rich, deep brown . Lips vary from moderate to full, the mouth is rather large, the chin feebly developed, and the jaws are often slightly projecting . The hair is very dark-brown black, never blue-black as among Chinese and Malays . It grows in short, spiral tufts, curling closely all over the head . The arm-stretch is almost always greater than their height .

The feet are usually short and splayed, with a remarkable inward

curve of the great toe, and are very prehensile . The Semangs live in caves or leaf-shelters formed between branches . A waistcloth for the men, made of tree bark hammered out with a wooden mallet from the bark of the terap, a species of wild bread-fruit tree, and a short petticoat of the same for the women, is the only dress worn; many go naked . Tattooing, or rather scarring, is practised, by drawing the finely serrated edge of a sugar-cane leaf across the skin and rubbing in charcoal powder . They have bamboo musical instruments, a kind of Jews' harp and a nose flute . On festive occasions there is song and dance, both sexes decorating themselves with leaves . The Semangs bury their dead simply, food and drink being placed in the grave .