As with other classical hunter-gatherers, negrito ecological adaptation is characterized
by high residential mobility. Among the better-monitored groups in the
Peninsula,6 the Batek of Pahang are largely still maintaining an alternation between
periods of mobility and sedentariness. There are also Maniq groups in Isthmian
Thailand that apparently are either fully or partially mobile, as well as Jahai and
Kensiw subgroups that regularly travel across the border to join their relatives in
Thailand (Porath 2010: 269);7 not much is known about the mobility patterns of
these groups. Overall, detailed mobility data (e.g., those found in Bahuchet 1992;
Hewlett et al. 1982) are rare these days, possibly because most recent ethnography
is of sedentarized or resettled, thus accessible, groups (e.g., Dallos 2011; Gomes
2007). The Batek data provide one variation and may be useful for broader
generalizations (see Lye 1997: 224–257 for more details).