JAKUN, a Proto-Malayan tribe of the Malay Peninsula. divided into the Orang Bukit or Hill Jakun and the Orang Laut or Sea Jakun. The former include sub-tribes such as Besisi, Badu anda, Mantra, and the latter, including the Seletar among others, are akin to the Mawkhen tribe. They are largely nomadic, though some of the Orang Bukit practise a little agriculture, and hold a marriage carnival at harvest time. They smoke tobacco, chew betel, file their teeth to a point, do not circumcise, but prac tise a form of incision. The general weapon is the blow-gun ; the
spear, and sword or kris are also used. Their huts, built of leaves or bark and raised on piles, are small and flimsy; dug-out boats are used on the rivers. At tribal feasts they sing and dance in imitation of animals. They have chiefs (batin), bury their dead and erect a hut for the deceased's soul.
See Skeat and Blagden, Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula (1906).