of the Sakai, and they prefer to wander about in small family groups rather than to dwell together in village communities.
Chêp, of course, was deeply embued with the tradi- tions of her people, and her fancy for Sentul, her ap- preciation of the material comfort with which he would be able to surround her, and her confidence in his ability to protect her, had alone succeeded in nerving her to leave her tribe and to turn back upon the forest country with which she was familiar. A great fear fell upon her when, the last of her known landmarks having been left far behind, she found herself floating downstream through cluster after cluster of Malay villages. The instinct of her race, which bids the Sâkai plunge headlong into the forest at the approach of a stranger, was strong upon her, and her heart beat violently, like that of some wild bird held in the human hand. All her life the Malays, who preyed upon her people, had been spoken of with fear and suspicion by the simple Sâkai grouped at night-time around the fires in their squalid camps. Now she found herself alone in the very heart--for such to her it seemed--of the Malayan country. She gazed with awe and admiration at the primitive houses around her, which were poor enough speci- mens of their kind, but which revolutionized her notions as to the possibilities of architectural achieve- ment. The groves of palms and fruit trees were another marvel, for her experience of agriculture had hitherto been confined to a temporary clearing in the forest. She felt, as the Malays put it, like a
