My Friends the Savages Part 5

This immigration greatly alarmed the poor Indigenes who cannot easily forget how they were once treated by those not of their own race.

They still remembered with terror how the strangers had plundered their villages, carrying off everything they could lay their hands upon, even their young men and women to serve as slaves and concubines.

The majority of these poor victims, torn from the unlimited freedom of the jungle, unused to any sort of work that was not voluntary, and faithful to their traditions and superst.i.tions did not long survive their separation from kin and tribe. The others, who managed to adapt themselves to their new conditions, as a matter of course, had their primitive simplicity corrupted, and little by little learnt the vices and habits of their masters. For this they were considered by their brethren as inferior beings and were looked upon with grave suspicion, when, taking advantage of the first occasion that offered itself, they fled back to the forest. Although by their return to their own people they foreswore their past moral and material bondage they could not help bringing with them some of the depravity they had seen, or endured, in their exile which clashed with the customs and sensibilities of the pure type of May Darats, remarkable for their sincerity and integrity.

In this way, by degrees, the original Sakai race diminished whilst new clans sprang up around them, formed of those who had been, and continued to be, in contact with comparatively civilized people, who knew their languages and their craftiness, notwithstanding which they frequently became their dupes under the show of good-feeling and cordiality.

The British Protectorate came as a blessing to the Sakais because it officially abolished slavery and shortened their neighbours' talons, that had grown a little too long.

But in spite of the vigilance exercised by their white protectors the others still found the means of depredating and imposing upon these good but ignorant creatures. Instead of devastating their rude homes and arbitrarily taking possession of everyone and everything they pleased, they soon established another system for achieving their end.

They supplied them with goods of the very worst quality, charging them at the highest prices, and as these consisted princ.i.p.ally of tobacco, salt, iron, _sirih_ and pieces of calico they lasted no time, and had to be frequently replaced. As a matter of course this fraudulent manner of trading made the poor Sakais' debts amount to fabulous proportions and then their swindling creditor dictated the conditions he best liked: the man had to follow and serve him or if there was some woman in the family he preferred, he would carry her off either to keep for himself, or privately sell to another.

To better succeed in their roguery they depicted the white man as an incarnate devil, never tired of doing evil, who had come there for nothing else but to ravage their land and disperse its inhabitants. The _orang putei_ was described to the credulent Sakais as the most terrible and cruel enemy that one could possibly imagine.

Thus the real persecutors of this primitive people were regarded by them as true friends, whilst the relation of imaginary and fantastic perils distracted their minds from the more practical dangers of this false friendship.

By instilling in them fear of the white man there was less chance that the wretched individuals, whose good faith and domestic affections had been abused and outraged, would appeal to a British magistrate for justice, believing him to be a worse enemy than the actual one, and if sometimes a complaint was brought before this functionary through a third party, a most distressing scene ensued.

The victim, under the influence of his injurer's glance and presence, would acknowledge whatever misdeed, debt, and even crime was attributed to him, responding to the demand if what his accuser said was true, with the invariable and laconic words: "What he says is true".

I may here cite a case in which I took an active part when I was the Superintendent of Sakais under the British Government.

One day a family of these Sakais who have dealings with other races, rushed wildly into my hut, crying desperately. The parents, sobbing, told me that a Chinese, to whom they owed a great deal, had seized and led away their daughter.

I set myself to find the blackguard and after some difficulty succeeded.

I rescued the girl and restored her to her relations and then sent in a report of the incident to the Magistrate. A case for abduction was made out, and the English law does not jest on such matters. The Chinese declared that as his debtors could not pay him his due he had agreed, if the girl consented, to take her as his wife or servant, and so cancel their debt towards him.

Whilst he spoke he never took his eyes off his accusers. The father and mother of the young woman were interrogated and although they were in my presence they replied, after a momentary hesitation:

"What he says is true".

The girl was then asked if she had followed the Chinese of her own free will or if violence had been used in taking possession of her and she too repeated like an automaton:

"What he says is true".

Nothing availed to get other words than these out of the poor wretches'

mouths, nor the magistrate's clever cross-questioning, nor my entreaties to tell the whole truth. I re-called to their memory the pitiful state they had been in when they ran into my house, crying and invoking justice. It was all in vain; but fortunately for them the legal officer himself was convinced that the Chinese--who stood by with a sarcastic smile upon his lips--was guilty, and closed the process by condemning him to six months' imprisonment.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A forest shooting-box.

_p._ 54.]

I made up my mind to go to the bottom of the affair if only to discover why the Sakais, by nature so far removed from falsehood, had denied the truth.

My investigations proved that the Chinese had threatened to revenge himself by utterly destroying the whole family if they made any complaint about his way of proceeding, and had also terrified them by stories of the inhuman tortures to which they would be subjected by the British magistrate if they spoke against him.

The confession came too late because, if they had spoken in time the scoundrel would have had a much heavier sentence.

From this simple episode one can understand what an amount of energy, boldness, and resolution the English Authorities need in order to liberate the poor Sakais from the moral tyranny that still oppresses them. But the British Government is quite equal to the task it has undertaken, and there is no reason to doubt that before long it will have reduced to impotency these dregs of Society who creep in amongst the Sakai tribes, that are far removed from civilization and justice, there to work out their wicked schemes and practise their crafty wiles.

I have written the word "dregs" on purpose, as of course peoples in a collective sense cannot be held responsible for the bad-doings of a small number of their countrymen, and I wish it here to be distinctly understood that when I speak of the villainous acts and thievish propensities of these latter (who being too well-known and despised in their own place, to be able to succeed in their base tricks go elsewhere in search of victims) I do not mean to offend, or cast a slight upon Malays, Chinese, or Indians in general.

On the contrary, I have the highest esteem and respect for all three, especially those who faithfully follow the ways of Progress, and have certain virtues peculiarly theirs.

After this rapid glance into the past it is not difficult to understand with what inquietude and uneasiness the Sakais saw their little settlement invaded by those they feared.

The new-comers, though, no longer found such a credulous and frightened people as they had been accustomed to on other occasions. Their calumnious stories of the white man (whose vigilant and not very lenient control troubled them a great deal) made little or no impression. They knew the white man by now, he had been among them for some time and they had even come to look upon him as a good protector.

So by mutual agreement we let our unwelcome visitors choose their sites and erect their huts, allowing them to enjoy the ecstasy of a vigorous abuse of the humble Sakai village and everything they could find within reach; then one fine morning, to their infinite wonder, we left them to their own devices and betook ourselves to the heights from whence flowed down the little river Bidor. This sudden change of locality did not cause me any serious sacrifice as the spot where we had been living was not very healthy owing to the frequently stagnant condition of the stream and, apart from hygienic motives, I was not altogether sorry at being thus compelled to seek new quarters as I was anxious to get well acquainted with the whole district, studying its products and its fitness for colonization, hoping in the end to succeed in inducing the Sakais to abandon their nomadic life for one of honest work, in the field of agriculture. Besides so teaching my good friends the value and the n.o.bleness of labour I should have a useful occasion myself for employing latent energy.

We selected a beautiful place in the forest for our new encampment, and the men set to with a good will to cutting down the splendid timber and luxuriant climbers within the circle drawn out for the clearing. The thick interlaced boughs and bushy underwood were alive with reptiles, and our advent, with the noisy and destructive blows with which we broke the drowsy stillness of the air, brought an indescribable panic in that little centre of animal life.

Our huts were quickly raised and we were soon able to resume our habitual occupations.

Some time pa.s.sed without our camp being disturbed by any sort of incident when one day a tiger was seen to stealthily approach our clearing and s.n.a.t.c.hing up a dog in its mouth, it fled back into the forest, the poor little beast yelping pitifully as it was being carried off.

The fact was a graver one than the mere loss of the dog would have made it seem because if the animal had been constrained to commit such an audacious act by the pangs of hunger, it would most probably return again, and who could say that there would always be a dog ready for its meal? It is however well known, that this dreadful feline creature does not devour its prey all at once but invariably leaves a part of the flesh sticking to the carca.s.s, reserving the picking of its bones for the following night. Therefore there was a good chance of speedily liberating ourselves from our ferocious enemy, if the Sakais had not regarded the tiger with superst.i.tious respect, for a reason which I will explain later on, a vague belief in metempsychosis that also has the effect of making them fond of their domestic animals.

I had the greatest difficulty in convincing my ignorant companions that the tiger must be killed if we wished to remain in peace and safety. It was a long time before I could overcome their reluctance and terror at my proposal.

At last they consented to let me rid them of their dangerous friend and built me a small house up one of the trees we considered to be in the best position. Armed with a first cla.s.s _Martini_ I took my place there with two or three Sakais.

What I had expected came to pa.s.s: at dead of night the beast returned.

We could see it crawling cautiously through the high gra.s.s. I took careful aim and fired. The sharp report was instantly answered by a fearful roar, and the formidable creature, after giving a tremendous jump into the air, once more disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

The Sakais were awed and dismayed by the thunder and lightning of my gun.

We could still hear the furious laments of the wounded animal so we thought it advisable not to stir from our posts until morning.

At the first streak of day, as the groans of the evidently fallen tiger had not ceased, some of the men went to ascertain its refuge whilst I, with my loaded rifle, kept myself prompt to defend them in case of an unlikely attack.

The beast was soon found, stretched out on the turf In spite of its fury it was unable to move as one or two of its legs had been shattered by my lead.

I finished it with another shot. Its skull now displays its beauties at the Ethnographic Museum at Rome.

Not much later on I was obliged to repeat the same sport.

Another tiger had stolen a dog, and we had found its half-eaten body.

Knowing that the rest would be devoured within a few hours by the same beast of prey we made a little shelter of leaves and branches up a tree close by and remained there to await his majesty.

At nightfall he punctually arrived and was received, according to his merit, by my rifle. My shot did not miss its mark and he rushed off howling with pain and rage. All night long the forest echoes were awakened by his horrible cries but towards morning we managed to trace him out and he too was finished by a second shot.