jahai Tribe

There is only 900 of us left
We’re the Jahai and we live
In the northern most part
Of Malaysia
In the jungles and we give
A lot back to the jungle
As much as we take away
Its all about respect out there
Whatever people say
And each day as hunters we are
Forced to go out to find our food
There are no shops for many miles
As a people we exude

Confidence
in jungles
We hunt for all we eat
We use the simplest weapons
Which we make now to compete
With the many wilder animals
That frequent the jungle and
Compete really on equal terms
All living off the land

We hunt monkey we hunt squirrels
And some times porcupine
We catch fish in the river
And the community does dine
We share the jungle pastures
With elephants and more
With tigers and with monkeys
And the habitat is our store

Everything comes out of it
Food and weaponry
Clothing we get our medicines
All of it for free
And we use every part of what we get
Waste is not our thing
We cannot raise farm animals
Because Tigers are the king

Pin around this village
And so we hunt our game
We so not use guns only blowpipes
Thats our claim to fame

We are indigenous hunters
We only take what we
Need to feed each other with
And we take it regularly
Our macrobiotic diet
Gives us what we need each day
And its all fresh from the jungle
For that is the jahai way

Hunting is very dangerous
Stealth is our quality
We walk bare foot most of the time
And our eyes can always see
Shelter food and weapons
Are all made by us
We track we use the herbal stuff
And our lives are free of fuss

We always catch the monkeys
About 40per cent we eat
Catching them by poisoned dart
And its very hard to beat
For taste and for nutrition
But we do like porcupine
Which we smoke our of their burrows
And we use their spine

Some city dwellers frown upon the hunter
In this day
But we live in the densest jungle
Very far away
From cities or from built up towns
Our home has always been
Amongst the greenest jungle
Away from the machine

We are the jungle people
Living alongside
Of course the jungle animals
Who generally hide
They live their lives
And we live ours
That is what we do
We take some bush meat every day
And fruits and green things too

We use tree and plant poisons
To catch fish in the streams
And to poison our blow pipe darts
And so reduce the screams
We have to be so careful
When handling the darts
Because if they prick our skin at all
Death quickly imparts

We learn to know the jungle
To walk with silent stride
To only take what we do need
And instinctively to hide
To know the ways of animals
To respect them anyway
To be aware of the Tigers
And the Elephants who stay

We never leave our village
For the cities far away
We have no means of buying
Things or riding anyway
We walk and are self sufficient
In everything we do
We never waste or pollute
Our jungle
Neither should any of you

jungle