■ON NATURAL HISTORY AND ETHNOGRAPHY I OF MALAY PENINSULA. 393 



Natural History and Ethnography of the Malay Penviisula. Report of 

 the Committee, consisting of Mr. C. H. Read (Ghaii-man), Mr. W. 

 Crooke (Secretary), Professor A. ]Macalister, and Professor W. 



RiDGEWAY. 



The Committee have received the following report from Mr. W. W. 

 Skeat, the leader of the expedition : — 



Report on Cambridge Exploring Expedition to the Malay Provinces of 

 Lotver Siam. Drawn up by W. W. Skeat. 



This expedition was organised to carry out a scientific survey, in which 

 Ethnology, Zoology, Botany, and Geology should all have a share, of the 

 little-known Malay provinces of Lower Siam, and especially to extend 

 the scope of the ethnographical collections and observations referred to in 

 the Fourteenth Annual Report of the Antiquarian Committee to the Senate 

 (June 6, 1899). 



The party comprised Messrs. R. Evans, of Jesus College, Oxford ; E. F. 

 Laidlaw, of Trinity College, Cambridge ; D. T. Gwynne-Vaughan, of 

 Christ's College, Cambridge ; R. H. Yapp, of St. John's College, Cambridge ; 

 N. Annandale, of Balliol College, Oxford, and myself. 



The inhabitants of these provinces are, for the most part, Malay, but 

 Siamese influence becomes gradually predominant to the northward, and 

 the process of fusion between these two antagonistic elements presents 

 some curious racial problems. But the most interesting subject for 

 investigation in these provinces is perhaps presented by the very primitive 

 jungle tribes of the interior, about whom much valuable information was 

 obtained. 



Yet another interesting tribe, of whom no account seems to have yet 

 been published, is the sacred tribe of the Prams, who claim to have come 

 over from India, and to have established themselves in the country 

 anterior to the coming of the Siamese or Malays. What truth there may 

 be in their statements will (it may be hoped) now be ascertainable, as a 

 copy of their sacred book, containing an account of their origin, was 

 obtained by the expedition. 



But the special interest of the territories traversed centres, perhaps, in 

 the fact that they have hitherto formed a species of ethnical backwater, 

 but little, if at all, affected by the ideas of a higher civili.sation. These 

 ideas, however, are already taking root, and many of the manners and 

 customs witnessed by the expedition are becoming obsolescent or are 

 already obsolete. 



It is hoped that when the results are known the present expedition 

 will be found to have achieved results to some extent comparable with 

 those obtained by the important expedition sent by the Dutch Government 

 to Mid-Sumatra in 1877-9. The results obtained should also be of value, 

 for purposes of comparison, with the results of the very successful 

 Cambridge Anthropological Expedition of Dr. Haddon to the Torres 

 Straits, Sarawak, and New Guinea. 



Owing to the uncertainty as to the probable reception which the 

 expedition would experience at the hands of the inhabitants, the good 

 offices of the Siamese Government were bespoken by the Foreign Office ; 



