NOTES OX THE MANUFACTURE OF DAMASCENED 

 SPEAR AND KNIFE BLADES IN THE MALAY STATES. 



Bv r. H. EVANS, D.A., 

 Assistant Curator axu Etiixoukaphk al Assistant, F.M.S. Muskcms. 



''PHE writer had recently the good fortune to come across a Malay 

 kris-smith"s forge. The art of damascening as applied to the 

 blades of weapons is rapidly dying out in all parts of the Peninsula, 

 and is vii-tually extinct in so far as the Fedei-ated Malay States are con- 

 cerned ; therefore, such facts as can still be gathered concerning an 

 industry for which Malay craftsmen* of old were not unjustly 

 celebi-ated should be put on record without delay. These- notes 

 consist entirely of personal observations, but those who wish to 

 consult other papers should read the excellent account of kris making 

 by ]\[i'. R. 0. Winstedt in the series of monographs on Malay sul)jects 

 published by the Federated i\Ialay States Government, and an article 

 by Mr. W. Rosenhain in Vol. XXXI of the Journal of the Anthro- 

 pological Institute, which deals largely with the microscopical aspect 

 of the damascening as well as with the manufacture of blades. Both 

 these communications are founded on notes taken by Mr. W. W. Skeat 

 in Ti-engganu. There is also a paper by Mr. L. Wray in No. 3 of 

 Perak Museum Notes " On the Malay Method of Colouring Kris and 

 other Blades with Arsenic," which gives an account of the chemical 

 combinations into which the arsenic enters with the different qualities 

 of steel and iron of which iMalay kris blades are composed. 



It is interesting to note that in spite of the prohibition forbidding 

 the wearing of weapons in public places, the Malay in many 

 districts has not by any means conquered his passion for a handy 

 weapon. The consequence of the ordinance merely is that instead 

 of carrying a kris in his waist-sash, which fi'om its very openness 

 promotes good behaviour and politeness, he now wears a venomous 

 little dagger, either tinnhuJc lada, hadelc or diminutive kris, concealed 

 beneath his clothes. These small daggers were l)eing turned out in 

 numbers by the smith above mentioned and liis brother. 



The former, a young Patani f Malay named Awang, had set up 

 his forge at Lenggong in Ujjper Pei'ak, and in his company the 

 wi'iter spent several days in January, 1913, watching the processes 



* Though Malay smiths of former days were undoubtedly skilled in kris- 

 making, probably many of the very finest blades found in the Peninsula are of 

 Javanese, Sumatran, or Bugis origin. 



It is more than doubtful if any considerable manufacture of weapons was 

 ever carried on in any of the West Coast States, though large numbers were 

 tiu'ned out at Trengganu and to a less extent in Kelantau and Patani. — H.C.R. 



t " Patani " as used in Upper Perak may connote anything coming fi-om the 

 Monthon Patani, known to Malays as the " Tujoh buah iicgri," as the district is 

 made up of seven small States. The Upper Perak Patani Malay is usually from 

 Rhamau or Legeh, not often from the small coastal district of Patani to which 

 the name is nowadays contined. — tJ.C.E. 



