The Sakai woman--Conjugal fidelity--A life of labour--Betrothals
and nuptials--Love among the Sakais--Divorcement--No kissing--
Chastity--Bigamy--Maternity and its excesses--Aged before the
time--Fashion and coquetry.
Woman, who has been compared to nearly every sort of animal that flies,
creeps, swims or runs by poets and others of chivalrous sentiments,
amongst the Sakais is simply a woman. In speaking of her those good sons
of the East neither calumniate the dove nor the gazelle, and they do not
slander the tiger and the snake but when they are inclined to praise her
charms they do so with affection and brevity And this is not to be
wondered at when one considers that the female sex in the jungle,
although not beautiful to our taste (but very much so according to the
Sakay criterion) is good, laborious and incorruptible. These three
virtues, if they were better known in our parts would spare poor,
suffering humanity a great deal of prose, as well as poetry, without the
least damage to Art.
It is for this reason that the savages in the Malay States have always
considered, and still consider, the Woman as the faithful companion of
their life and as the mother of their children. They have never imputed
to her the sin committed by Eve, which in other countries, where ever so
little of Sacred History is known, has made her the butt of every
insulting, sarcastic and opprobrious term. They have never discussed, as
at the Macon council, the probability of a woman having a soul or not;
what little is necessary to harmonize with their own they have
recognized without any argument and they have found it in the care and
affection shown towards her dear ones and in her unswerving
faithfulness.
Amongst these uncivilized people there are no chivalrous traditions, it
is true, but neither have their women been driven to seek emancipation,
because, sharing with perfect equality the rights of the men, none
remain for them to claim, and they have no wrongs to revenge!
[Illustration: Boys practising shooting.
_p._ 127.]
The men, for their part, never dream of what Demosthenes said of the
corrupt Athenians of his time, words which are repeated and acted upon
by some of our leading men in this the twentieth century: "We marry a
woman to have legitimate children and to possess a faithful housekeeper;
we keep concubines and pay harlots for our convenience and for the
enjoyments of love".
* * * * *
As I say, among the Sakais the one sex is not the slave of the other.
They live in perfect harmony. The male is considered the head of the
family, although there is nothing to be administered or directed and the
female shows herself sufficiently deferential towards him, but the
custom does not exist among them that one should passively submit to a
will with which his, or her own does not agree.
The man provides food by hunting in the forest, fishing, gathering fruit
and cultivating a little land around; the woman helps him in the work of
agriculture, sometimes follows him into the jungle, prepares his meals
and attends to other domestic duties. She looks well after her children
and is very jealous of them. When they are too little to walk she straps
them to her back with long strips of bark, resting their legs upon her
hips.
This burden does not prevent her from moving about and working. If they
go for a long march the parents take turns in carrying the child.
As soon as a boy reaches the age of six seasons (6 years) he passes from
his mother's to his father's guardianship and under the latter's
guidance begins to make trips into the forest where he catches insects,
picks up fruit and bulbs, learns, little by little, to handle the
blow-pipe and to take part in the hunting and fishing as well as to
distinguish poisons and assist in their extraction.
This is the educational period of the little Sakai.
The girl, on the contrary, remains with her mother and is taught to help
in household (?) work, doing her part with a good will and cheerful
temper.
She goes with her mother to plant and pull up potatoes and yams, to
gather fire-wood, and fill the bamboo buckets with water; she learns to
cook and take care of the little ones.
Quite early she begins a life of great activity. Her arms are still weak
and she can scarcely lift some of the weights allotted her, but they
gradually become nerved for heavier ones.
Her fatiguing duties always increase, and yet as a little girl, a
maiden, and also a woman she accepts it all with a light heart and is
so contented with her hard life that I have often heard one of these
good, laborious creatures declare that she was completely happy. How
many ladies in civilized Europe and America would be prepared to make a
similar avowal?
* * * * *
At about 15 years of age, when our girls are still in short dresses and
are not always dignified by the term "young lady", the female Sakai is
generally a wife.
From her infancy a baby-girl may be betrothed by her parents to some boy
of another tribe. But if when the time comes to unite in matrimony the
two young people engaged from babyhood, one no longer likes the other in
the quality of a life-partner, they exchange a quiet _gne_ (no) and the
engagement is at a complete end.[10]
Neither one nor the other is offended at this refusal for they are of
full accord that it is better not to be bound together unless the desire
is mutual, as heartache and suffering would be the sure result.
Wonderful philosophy, in all its simplicity, that liberates the little
Sakai world from an enormous number of martyrs, and sensational crimes.
The girl is left free in the choice of a husband. Of course advice is
readily given her, favourable or otherwise to the suitor, but nobody can
compel her to wed a man she is not inclined to.
This total absence of coercion is no marvel, however, for in the forest
there are no fortune-hunters, dowries being unknown, and there are no
Dianas to join in the chase after a rent-roll. There is no ambition with
regard to title, position or lineage because all are equal. They are
human creatures, made in the same form and invested with the same right
of living. There is no difference of blood amongst them for it is always
red.
* * * * *
The young Sakai that wishes to form a family, accompanied by some near
relations (grandfather, father or brothers) leaves his own village and
goes to a more distant encampment.
It often happens that hunger, dusk, or some other circumstance
determines this Pilgrim of Love and his companions, to stop at one hut
rather than another.
They enter, as is their custom, without saying a word; they sit down on
their heels and eat what is offered them.
In the meantime the young man looks about him and carefully eyes the
girls, should there be any and if there is one that pleases him he
points her out to one of his companions who immediately rises and tells
the fortunate damsel what his relative desires.
The young woman, when she does not utter a curt _gne_, murmurs, "_Eh!
eh! ngot_" (Yes, I am willing), a phrase which seems a hiccough but is
not.
Then the gallant youth draws near the girl and offers her a necklace of
glass beads, and, if he has any, some brass wire to make bracelets,
receiving in exchange from his future bride a quid or two of betel.
Without any delay the father of the girl and that of the young man, or
some one who represents them, commence the more prosaic part of the
business, that is: they decide upon the sort of presents that the
bridegroom must give the parents and sisters of his spouse on the
wedding-day, to compensate them for the girl he is taking away.
They discuss if the gifts must consist of only one earthen-ware
cooking-pot (an article of luxury in the jungle where bamboo utensils
are in common use) instead of two, and if a pair of _parangs_
(woodcutter's knives) should be added; then there must be some coloured
beads, brass wire and perhaps even a piece of bright coloured calico.
These very important matters being settled, the wedding-day is fixed,
after which the affianced couple part without either tears or sighs, the
young man returning with his relations to their own habitation.
The great day comes.
The bridegroom accompanied by all the men of his family and by some of
the women, betakes himself to the far-off hut of the bride, carrying
with him the promised gifts.
There is a large gathering of Sakais from every part, because joys and
pains, plenty and famine are equally and fraternally shared by them.
The Elder gets up and says in a loud voice:
"Hearken! hearken, all you who are here assembled: they who were at a
distance are now together; they who were separate are now united".
The bridal couple then take each other tenderly by the hand, and some
rice is presented to them upon a leaf. The woman takes up a few grains
and puts them into the mouth of her husband and then they both partake
of that light, symbolical repast from the same leaf. The nuptial
ceremony finishes here, without the intervention of _Alà_ or any sort of
ecclesiastical or civil authority. How they are to be envied!
A banquet immediately follows and the company cram down everything that
they find eatable. The _menu_ consists of every sort of edible article
known in the Sakai cuisine, and when they have stuffed themselves to
their utmost, they dance, sing and draw from their instruments the
sharpest notes that ever rent the human ear whilst the furious beating
of bamboos give out the sound of wooden bells. Terminated in this way
the wedding festival, the newly-made husband and wife return, with the
relations of the former, to their own group of huts, where a new one, a
nest of love, has been prepared for them.
* * * * *
Love among the Sakais never becomes a passion or a delirium. It is a
quiet calm sentiment, a physiological necessity such as the good soul of
Schopenhauer interpreted it, to the great scandal of a certain class of
lovers.
Men and women are united from a feeling of cordial sympathy, by a
spontaneous act of their own wills which would never suffer the least
restraint.
No personal or family interest suggests or determines the important
step. The only thing that may be said to inspire love (and bring about a
marriage) in the jungle is that supreme and inviolable law of nature for
the conservation of the species.
But what is to be admired in the unions of these good, simple people is
the fidelity which follows them throughout life.
The Sakais are not, I repeat, very ardent spirits, nor are they
excessive in sacrificing to Venus perhaps because sensual satisfaction
arrives when physiological development imposes it, instead--as too often
happens in civilized society, with great damage to morality and race--of
after a long and wearisome vigil, always waiting for financial
conditions to permit the formation of a family.
It is a fact to be noted that neither the men nor the women feel drawn
toward other than their rightful partner, which naturally contributes a
great deal in maintaining faithfulness between the two.
Sometimes, but very rarely, one may find a couple whose difference of
character renders cohabitation impossible.
There are no scenes of fury, no violent quarrels and, still less, no
reciprocal blows.
The two interested parties merely declare that his or her heart suffers
too much from a life of such perpetual misunderstandings and they decide
to part good friends, hoping to find better luck next time.
They will then separate with the best and most sincere wishes for each
other's future happiness.
The woman only takes away with her the youngest of her children who have
most need of her care, leaving those over six years of age to the
father, and she returns to her own place where she is affectionately
received.
She often finds another husband, even in the first days of her
separation; her new companion adopts her little ones and considers them
as his, after which the relationship with their real father is annulled.
* * * * *
Divorce, as is here seen, is performed without the intervention of
others. The Sakais are as free to marry as they are to part when they
find that they cannot live in peace and quietness. They attribute to the
heart the same impulse of union as of separation. It is then Sentiment
that takes the form of Law amongst them and regulates their acts. How
much it is to be deplored that a similar law is not recognized in
civilized countries, where that imposed by legislature creates so many
unhappy beings and provocates so many tragedies and so much infamy.
[Illustration: Sleeping children.
_p._ 135.]
And yet, in spite of this facility in obtaining a divorce, there are
very few who recur to it, a circumstance that ought to have weight with
those persons who fight furiously against a measure so conducive to the
real defence of the family, defence in the sense that its condition and
functions would be improved without the crushing and suppression of
those rights (by a prejudice that is made to pass as a religious
precept) which the soul itself asserts.
Nowadays the holy state of matrimony is viewed by the majority with
sceptical diffidence, almost as an abyss that swallows up freedom,
energy, scruples of honour, morality, will and every kindliness of
sentiment that has survived the shipwreck of many hopes and illusions.
Among the Sakais no such feeling prevails. The men voluntarily bind
their own existence to that of a woman and sanctify their new state with
the sincere virtues of fidelity and chastity.
But--these virtues belong to savages and I am a savage to speak of them!
Let me then, briefly finish up the argument. Divorce cases are rare
because they are almost exclusively based upon incompatibility of temper
or persistent sterility.
Neither the man nor the woman can reconcile themselves to stay without
children; if their union is without fruit there is no longer need for
them to live together.
In an exceptional case it sometimes happens that the two parties do not
agree over a divorce, in which circumstance the decision is left to the
Elder who pronounces a sentence without the possibility of appeal.
The immediate consequence of an annulled matrimony is the return of the
presents given by the husband to the family of the wife. The latter at
once abandons the tribe to which she belonged after her marriage and
becomes a stranger to those who, a short time before, were her closest
relations.
This is not the end of a love-dream but the calm and reasonable decision
of two beings who, finding that their characters do not agree and that
they no longer feel pleasure in each other's company, are not
sufficiently cruel towards themselves and their better or worse halves
(as the case may be) as to simulate and continue a union which renders
them unhappy.
In our parts the question of divorced people's children serves as a
weighty argument to the opposers of divorce and gives to its partisans a
difficult problem to study. To the Sakais the solution is easy enough.
The age of the children decides with whom they have to remain, and those
left to the father's charge are taken care of by the womenfolk around,
who from a pure impulse of maternity and without any hope of reward,
treat them with motherly tenderness. It is as though their mother was
dead and their natural female guardians become the sisters or mother of
the father. In default of these close relations the man is free to
contract a second marriage at once, his term of mourning being condoned.
Any way, the little ones always become the object of affectionate
interest to all the women of the village.
* * * * *
The Sakai people do not kiss each other. They know neither the kiss of
Judas nor that of Romeo. They express their sympathy and love by some
rough fondling or the scratching of each other's nose, neck or chin.
Yonder, in the jungle, there are no poets, novelists, dramatists or
painters; a new (and original) field would here be opened to the
excellence of their arts. Can you not imagine, kind reader, how
irresistible the effect would be if, at the most passionate point of
their love scenes, instead of "their trembling lips meeting in a
thrilling kiss" the hero and heroine were to furiously scratch each
other's noses?
Although, now and then, in the interest of true Art, it might be a good
thing for some of our pseudo artists to go to that distant land in
search of strong inspirations that would, at least, increase the glory
of common sense in civilized places, I would certainly not advise them
to emigrate into the Malay forest for it would be like condemning them
to death by starvation as there they would find no sort of tool or
material with which to do their work. There are no suicides, murders,
robberies, adultery, coveted legacies and suppressed wills, forgeries,
lost women and illegitimate children, there are no alcohol drinkers,
opium eaters etc.
It would be utterly impossible for even a "Sherlock Holmes" to satisfy
the cravings of appetite if he had been created in those parts.
But let us return to my good friends the savages after this involuntary
ramble.
* * * * *
The Sakais manifest their love and gallantry by scratching nose, chin or
neck but when they want to express a milder sentiment, such as sincere
affection or friendship, they do so by a smile, at the same time
embracing each other.
I have sometimes noticed both men and women, when far from their other
halves, indulge in a few caresses and a little nose-scratching, as also
young men not engaged, but I can affirm with the fullest certainty that
these demonstrations of tenderness go no further; they finish where they
begin.
It may seem strange, but it is true. Both sexes are in continual
contact. In the cold nights they will all sleep close together to keep
themselves warm and yet nothing wrong results from this promiscuous
proximity.
As I have already said, chastity is a natural virtue among the Sakais,
and even that which relates to legitimate love is veiled in a coy
mystery. Neither the male or the female are given to sexual caprices.
If a young man should happen to be in love with a girl before he can
handle his blowpipe with dexterity and profit, or is able to procure the
wedding presents prescribed by habit, he will perhaps persuade his
sweetheart to meet him in the forest.
It is extremely seldom that any harm comes to the girl through such an
appointment, because it is not in their character to give way to lust,
but should this occur, and the fact become known, a marriage is arranged
without any loss of time. The woman who will not consent to a matrimony
with her lover or who is known to have been on intimate terms with more
than one young man is held in great disdain by the rest of her people.
There are very few spinsters to be found in these tribes but those who
do remain in the single state owe it to some moral or physical defect.
Such persons live with their nearest relations.
Polygamy is never thought of by the Sakais but bigamy is not an absolute
exclusion although it very rarely takes place because as soon as a woman
sees that her husband is enamoured of another she is the first to
propose a divorce and no recriminations follow her suggestion.
"Your heart" she says "suffers with me, when with her it would be glad.
Well, then, let us separate for I feel that I could not live happily
with another wife of yours".
Should a woman, however, be contented to share the nuptial bed with a
rival you may be quite sure that the very best harmony would reign in
that _menage à trois_.
* * * * *
The Sakai women are born with the instinct of maternity and will never
renounce nursing their own babes unless scarcity of milk or a weak
constitution compels them to do so. These exceptions are, however
extraordinarily rare and they are at the height of their pride when
their little ones are drawing life and strength from their breasts.[11]
There are very few cases of complete sterility or excessive fecundity
amongst them. Hardly ever does a woman have more than four or five
children.
She nurses and takes care of them with great tenderness, delighted at
seeing them grow strong and healthy.
Children are weaned at from seven months (reckoned roughly by the moon)
to two years of age (two seasons of fruit) but generally when they are
about a year old (one season).
The first food given to the baby is a well-cooked pap made with a
certain bulb and the tender leaves of a little plant whose names I do
not remember.
When the little fellow has become accustomed to his new food (whether he
likes it or not) or begins to babble a word or two, he is given a name
that usually recalls the place where he was born, some particular event
of the moment or the way he may have of making use of a word often, or
of pronouncing it badly.
* * * * *
The good-heartedness and maternal kindness of the Sakai woman is
extended even to young animals that have been deprived of their mother.
They will adopt them and bring them up with the same care they bestow
upon their own children or human orphans.
One day a she-boar was caught in a trap, and, as a matter of course, was
cooked and eaten, but soon after a litter, belonging to the victim, was
found and the tiny beasts, only just born, were taken and nursed by the
women of the village.
I once saw a big boar that followed a Sakai tribe with wonderful
docility even allowing the children to play tricks upon it; it had been
brought up by the women.
I have also seen rats, that have been reared by these foster-mothers, go
backwards and forwards from the hut at their will, and I remember that
one night when I had taken shelter in one of these cabins and had
selected a particular corner for my night's rest, the dark lady of the
house, without raising any objection to my choice, warned me that during
the night a rat would return to repose in the same spot and begged me
not to do any harm to the poor thing, as he was one of the family, but
to call her if it gave me any disturbance.
In fact I was fast asleep when some warm fur softly caressed me, and
waking up I understood that the dissolute rodent--almost bigger than a
cat--had returned home in the small hours, just as if he had been
provided with a latch-key.
I hastily called the woman who tenderly took it up and carried it away
to sleep with her.
It was an adopted child!
Is not this the acme of maternal feeling? And does it not approach
foolishness?
* * * * *
The birth, and subsequent suckling, of her first child put an end to the
grace and bloom of a Sakai woman.
[Illustration: A child being tattooed.
_p._ 140.]
She fulfils with incomparable zeal the functions confided to her by
Nature, but as she has, at the same time, to attend to the heavy duties
allotted her by man she becomes over-worked and worn-out with excessive
fatigue.
When thirty years old she looks almost as old and withered as one of our
hard-worked countrywomen does at fifty, and the poor creature cannot in
any way conceal this premature falling off because of--the extreme
lightness of her attire.
"The tailor tree of our great father Adam" has no leaves for the
inhabitants of the jungle, for both male and female only wear a strip of
bark (well beaten to render it flexible) wound round the body and
fastened on the hips.
That worn by the men never exceeds four inches in breadth, but the women
use lists of from six to eight inches wide. Another piece of bark-cloth
is passed between the legs and tied, in front and behind, to this belt.
The women, although daughters of the forest, are not without a certain
amount of coquetry and will often decorate their girdles with flowers or
medicinal and sweet-smelling herbs, but they never think of making a
chaste veil of large leaves with which to cover those parts of their
persons that ought to be kept secret from the public gaze.
The costume that they are wearing in the photographs was prepared by me
in order to present these ochre-coloured Eves to my readers in a more
decent state, or rather, a little more in accordance with what civilized
society requires, because "to the pure all things are pure" and in my
opinion the perfect innocence in which these women go about naked is
preferable to that consciousness of their natural form which leads so
many of our society ladies and other females, to resort to artificial
means that they may deceive their admirers, and gain a name for beauty.
The men, too, are even to be envied, for in the total absence of
nether-garments their better-halves can never claim "to wear the
trousers" as sometimes happens amongst us.
Necklaces are very much worn by Sakai girls and women. They are made of
beads (which are considered the most elegant) serpents' teeth, animals'
claws, shells, berries or seeds.
The men, instead, finish off their toilet by loading their wrists with
bracelets. These are of brass-wire, bamboo or _akar batù_ which it is
believed preserves them from the fever.
Their faces are always disfigured by coloured stripes or hieroglyphics.
They have not the custom of wearing rings through their noses but only a
little bamboo stick that is supposed to have the virtue of keeping off I
don't exactly know what sort of malady or spirit.
The mother bores a hole through the nose cartilage of her child with a
porcupine quill and then takes care that the wound heals quickly,
without closing. Afterwards she passes through a light piece of this
reed.
The same operation is made upon the ears, which from being generally
well-shaped, become deformed, as the hole through the lobe has to be
very large. It is not sufficient to pierce the tissue with a quill; a
little bamboo cane has to be at once inserted; the day after a larger
one is substituted and so on until it is possible to hang from the ears
pendants made of bamboo and ornamented with flowers, leaves and perhaps
even cigarettes.
A strip of _upas_ bark twisted round the head bestows the finishing
touch to the Sakais' toilet. Happy people! They have no tailor's,
dressmaker's or milliner's bills to pay!
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 10: _Gne_ would be pronounced in English as _neay_.
_Translator's Note._]
[Footnote 11: In chapter XIV speaking of the superstitions of this
people I have mentioned those which refer to the birth of a child and
the strange ideas they have concerning this event.]