The Semangs
This brief composite item in JSBRAS No. 2 (1878) contains the concluding passage of a mineralogical note by A. H. Everett (Sarawak, 23 November 1878) followed by a letter dated 5 January 1870 from an unnamed Professor discussing the Semangs of the Malay Peninsula.
Summary
The first portion (p. 231) closes Everett’s note on Sarawak minerals, describing a dark blackish-green serpentine variety from the Upper Rejang country worked into ornaments by the Kayans, and correcting an inadvertent omission of silver from his list of minerals outside the Borneo Company’s monopoly.
The letter (pp. 232–233) addresses the racial affinities of the Semangs, aligning them with the Andamaners and Philippine Negritos while rejecting Logan’s “Draviro-Australian” classification. It notes the burial customs of the related Mentra tribe (fire kept at the grave for three days) and reports the safe arrival of a Semang skeleton from the Diomed. The Professor describes the skeleton as belonging to a small race with narrow, large heads and hard, bright bones suggesting a flesh diet, and notes the individual was old — a rarity among “savage” skulls. He announces plans to combine osteological evidence with existing literature from Indian Society Transactions, mentions the acquisition of Dodo bones for the museum, and requests further Semang skeletons should the Raja of Kedah obtain them.