Sakais pitied the poor vagabond and had often tried to make him
stop with them as a brother or a guest but he always resolutely refused
whatever proposal they made him and they were of opinion that not even
old age would have any effect upon the misanthropy of this poor
inoffensive being who isolated himself so obstinately from all his kind.

I thought to myself, is the poor fellow wise or mad in thus seeking to
live alone as Nature produced him, in the unlimited liberty of his
native jungle where he is secure from delusions and sorrows?

Men, little less savage than he, feel compassion for him as he passes
by. Nobody would dare to laugh at or injure such a harmless soul and so
he is allowed to ramble from hut to hut undisturbed, his eccentricities
and his odd behaviour being his safeguard.

It is not always so amongst people more advanced in civilization!

CHAPTER VIII.

An official appointment--A tour of inspection--Lost in the
forest--I find a philosopher--Lycurgus and his laws--A
contented mind is a continual feast--A night among the
tigers--On the Berumbum--I sleep with a serpent--The last
of many--Safe from trap and arrow--The coronation of King
Edward VII.

Having established a regular trade in forest products and attempted
something in the way of plantations, I felt a strong desire to explore
the whole country inhabited by the Sakai tribes to better estimate its
riches and at the same time to know more thoroughly the character of
this people of whom I knew only a limited number.

From the Bidor I passed into Sunkei Selin and Pahang, and when, in 1901,
I happened to be at Tapah I was offered the Government post of
Superintendent of the Perak Sakais.

The proposal was such as to gratify a little ambition of which I had not
really been conscious before. I therefore accepted it with great
pleasure, the more so as I felt flattered that the British Government
should repose so much confidence in an Italian.

My first official act was to make enquiries about a serious quarrel that
had taken place amongst the Sakais living in the plain, and that had
resulted in several deaths.

The fact was so uncommon and extraordinary considering the good nature
of the people, that it was quite worth the while of an investigation.

Two Bretak Sakais descended from the heights which bound Perak and
Pahang, and found hospitality in a family of those Sakais who are in
constant contact with strangers. Seei