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MAY, 1897.]
SELUNGS OF THE MERGUI ARCHIPELAGO..
125
the islands in the Archipelago abound. As the common village dog is seldom an adept at, or inclined to receive instruction in, hunting, when he first gets into the hands of the Salones, he is subjected to very severe training. Fresh from the streets of Mergui, or other coast town or village, he is deposited by his new master on the first convenient uninhabited island presenting itself. He either dies of starvation, if too indolent to hunt for his subsistence, or soon learns to catch his prey. In a couple of months he is sought for, and if found alive is reclaimed and taken home. The dogs seem, with the exception of being badly fed, to be kindly treated after their initiation into Salonese life, and I was amused at Paway by seeing them following their masters into the water, when they approached wading to my boat. On my landing every woman might be seen holding a child or two under one arm and a dog under the other, the precaution being adopted in the case of the latter to prevent any noisy demonstrations or misbehaviour.
Do Pay states that he is not aware of any specific violence towards the Salones on the part of the Malays, and ignored all dread of them. His statements are at variance with those of the Salones I have previously had intercourse with, and if the Malaye ure really innocuous, it is difficult to explain the cause of the consternation which is apparent among the Salones when they first find a strange boat in their neighbourhood. At Paway the whole settlement took to the jungles as soon as it was evident that my boat was coming to theirs, but wben we were sufficiently close to enable them to discover who we were, dogs, women, and children again emerged from the jungle ; questioning them as to the cause of their besty concealment of themselves, they told me that they had mistaken us for Malays, by whom they had only ten days previous been plundered.
The costame of the Salones scarcely supports the maxim that "simplicity adorns." That of the males is the familiar dress of the Madras catamaran men; that of the females is scarcely more elaborate or decent; a strip of dirty cloth wound once round the waist and between the legs completes it. Oo Pay had evidently, whon coming to me, either bought or borrowed a set of clothes which fitted him ill and made him very uncomfortable, and his putsoe gave him is much trouble as did his belt of office.
That the Salones do not progress in civilization I think I may presume, for if they have done so, they must have commenced from a lower degree in the scale of humanity than is compatible with their supposed ameliorated condition after 30 odd years of occasional intercourse with ourselves and those subject to our influence, as they are atill low in the list of uncivilized sa vages.
It seems rather a reproach to us that ench a nation shoald exist under our rnle nncared for and unnoticed, but at the sanie time it is not easy to suggest what efforts to improve thern wonld prove most effectaal. There have been no failures or successes to aid us in forming an opinion on this head that I know of,
I think that one step towards reform would be to prevent their falling into the hands of Chinese sharpers, when they visit Mergai, by forbidding the sale to them of opium or shamshoo. At present with them a trading excursion here ends in a debauch, and they equander in an hour the fruits of days of toil, besides steeping themselves in degradation. If it is worth while to keep Oo Pay in pay, the plan might be adopted of also nominating the other headmen Government servants, giving them lower rates of pay, three or four Rupees a munth, anything sufficient to induce thern to come to Morgui to receive their pay, and the difference in pay would elevate 0o Pay in their eyes and increase his influence. He is, as far as can be learnt, of stendier habits than the generality of his tribe.
Deprived of the opportunity of spending his earnings in drink, the Salone might learn in time the value of money by finding himself the possessor of articles he would consider as luxuries. As his household goods increased in quantity and value, it might occur to him that
