Though The Malay
Builds His Dismal Little Mosques On The Outskirts Of Malacca, He Shuns
The Town, And Prefers A
Life of freedom in his native jungles, or on
the mysterious rivers which lose themselves among the mangrove swamps.
So
In the neighborhood of Malacca these kampongs are scattered through
the perpetual twilight of the forest. They do not build the houses
very close together, and whether of rich or poor, the architecture is
the same. Each dwelling is of planed wood or plaited palm leaves, the
roof is high and steep, the eaves are deep, and the whole rests on a
gridiron platform, supported on posts from five to ten feet high, and
approached by a ladder in the poorer houses, and a flight of steps in
the richer. In the ordinary houses mats are laid here and there over
the gridiron, besides the sleeping mats; and this plan of an open
floor, though trying to unaccustomed Europeans, has various advantages.
As, for instance, it insures ventilation, and all debris can be thrown
through it, to be consumed by the fire which is lighted every evening
beneath the house to smoke away the mosquitoes. A baboon, trained to
climb the cocoa palms and throw down the nuts, is an inmate of most of
the houses.
The people lead strange and uneventful lives. The men are not inclined
to much effort except in fishing or hunting, and, where they possess
rice land, in ploughing for rice. They are said to be quiet,
temperate, jealous, suspicious, some say treacherous, and most bigoted
Mussulmen. The women are very small, keep their dwellings very tidy,
and weave mats and baskets from reeds and palm leaves. They are clothed
in cotton or silk from the ankles to the throat, and the men, even in
the undress of their own homes, usually wear the sarong, a picturesque
tightish petticoat, consisting of a wide piece of stuff kept on by a
very ingenious knot. They are not savages in the ordinary sense, for
they have a complete civilization of their own, and their legal system
is derived from the Koran.
They are dark brown, with rather low foreheads, dark and somewhat
expressionless eyes, high cheek bones, flattish noses with broad
nostrils, and wide mouths with thick lips. Their hair is black,
straight and shining, and the women dress it in a plain knot at the
back of the head. To my thinking, both sexes are decidedly ugly, and
there is a coldness and aloofness of manner about them which chills one
even where they are on friendly terms with Europeans, as the people
whom we visited were with Mrs. Biggs.
The women were lounging about the houses, some cleaning fish, others
pounding rice; but they do not care for work, and the little money
which they need for buying clothes they can make by selling mats, or
jungle fruits. Their lower garment, or sarong, reaching from the waist
to the ankles, is usually of red cotton of a small check, with stripes
in the front, above which is worn a loose sleeved garment, called a
kabaya, reaching to the knees, and clasped in front with silver or
gold, and frequently with diamond ornaments. They also wear gold or
silver pins in their hair, and the sarong is girt or held up by a clasp
of enormous size, and often of exquisite workmanship, in the poorer
class of silver, and in the richer of gold jeweled with diamonds and
rubies. The sarong of the men does not reach much below the knee and
displays loose trousers. They wear above it a short-sleeved jacket, the
baju, beautifully made, and often very tastefully decorated in fine
needlework, and with small buttons on each side, not for use, however.
I have seen one Malay who wore about twenty buttons, each one a diamond
solitaire! The costume is completed by turbans or red handkerchiefs
tied round their heads.
In these forest kampongs the children, who are very pretty, are not
encumbered by much clothing, specially the boys. All the dwellings are
picturesque, and those of the richer Malays are beautiful. They rigidly
exclude all ornaments which have "the likeness of anything in heaven or
earth," but their arabesques are delicately carved, and the verses from
the Koran, which occasionally run under the eaves, being in the Arabic
character, are decidedly decorative. Their kampongs are small, and
they have little of the gregarious instinct; they are said to live
happily, and to have a considerable amount of domestic affection.
Captain Shaw likes the Malays, and the verdict on them here is that
they are chaste, gentle, honest and hospitable, but that they tell
lies, and that their "honor" is so sensitive that blood alone can wipe
out some insults to it. They seclude their women to a great extent, and
under ordinary circumstances the slightest courtesy shown by a European
man to a Malay woman would be a deadly insult; and at the sight of a
man in the distance the women hastily cover their faces.
There is a large mosque with a minaret just on the outskirts of
Malacca, and we passed several smaller ones in the space of three
miles. Scarcely any kampong is so small as not to have a mosque. The
Malays are bigoted, and for the most part ignorant and fanatical
Mohammedans, and I firmly believe that the Englishman whom they respect
most is only a little removed from being "a dog of an infidel." They
are really ruled by the law of the Koran, and except when the Imaum,
who interprets the law, decides (which is very rarely the case)
contrary to equity, the British magistrate confirms his decision. In
fact, Mohammedan law and custom rule in civil cases, and the Imaum of
the mosque assists the judge with his advice. The Malays highly
appreciate the manner in which law is administered under English rule,
and the security they enjoy in their persons and property, so that they
can acquire property without risk, and accumulate and wear the
costliest jewels even in the streets of Malacca without fear of robbery
or spoliation.
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