332 SWORDS. KNIVES. 



The handle is of huck's-horn, beautifully carved ; and 

 one which I have before me, and which was the 

 property of a Kyan chief, presented to me by the 

 Patingi Abdulrahman of Serekei, is so elaborately carved, 

 as to put one in mind of the ivory of the Chinese, 

 the work being executed so as to resemble the head and 

 open mouth, in which are seen the teeth and tongue of 

 some curious and monstrous animal. 



The handles of all these weapons are ornamented 

 abundantly with human hair, stained of a red colour. 

 The sheath of the weapon above referred to, and which 

 is represented in the plate, is the most beautiful I have 

 seen amongst numbers of them. The iju, or horse- 

 hair-like substance, beautifully plaited, is made to pass 

 under the beautiful carved work on the sheath; this, 

 from the thinness of the sheath itself, must have been 

 a work of great nicety. The carving is executed with 

 the greatest care, and far surpasses the most beautiful 

 specimens of the South Seas ; though it must be taken 

 into consideration, that these people have iron to assist 

 them, which, when the South Sea Islanders excelled in 

 carving, they had not. 



On the inside of the sheath of the ilang, is a 

 smaller sheath for holding the knife used in cutting 

 rattans, and in carving, &c. It is a clumsy blade, 

 about three inches long, and fixed in a handle which 

 is a foot in length ; the sheath which contains it, is 

 made generally of the scape which covers the. inflores- 

 cence of the betel-nut tree, previous to its bursting into 

 flower ; and to it, and not to the sheath, which is made 



