420 REPORT — 1901. 



was assured was formerly manufactured into kitchen utensils, though un- 

 fortunately the smith had long left the neighbourhood, and I could get no 

 further information about it. The Malay smith makes all sorts of 

 weapons (chietiy daggers and knives) as well as agricultural implements 

 (axes and hoes). 



Copper-^oork. 



The manufacture of copper vessels which I witnessed in Kelantan and 

 other places is effected by the cire-joerdue process, of which my notes con- 

 tain full details. Photographs were taken at various stages of the 

 operation, and the specimens include copper vessels in all stages, from the 

 making of the mould to the finished article, as well as specimens of tools 

 used by the operator. An alloy of tin, which is called by the Malays 

 ' white copper ' ' (for which it may be merely an inferior trade substitute, 

 in which case the name may be a mere tradition of tutaneg, or 'tooth- 

 and-egg ' metal, as it is sometimes called in the trade), is cast by an almost 

 identical (cire-perdue) process. 



Tin-worJc. 



The trade of the tinsmith (which consists largely in the making of tin 

 oil lamps) is almost exclusively in Chinese hands, but certain branches of 

 it form special industries. Thus the casting of chains to serve as 

 weights for casting nets is a Malay industry, and is effected by means 

 of a very ingenious mould, which after casting a first series of links 

 can be taken to pieces and reversed so as to enable a second row to be 

 cast through the first, the combined series thus forming a chain. ^ Another 

 very important allied industry consists of the manufacture of the tin 

 coins or ' cash,' of which every petty State on the East Coast once had 

 its own type, but which are fast becoming obsolete in most localities. A 

 very interesting and important point (referred to above) about the manu- 

 facture of these ' cash ' is that they are cast in the shape of trees, which 

 are called 'cash trees,' three specimens of which I was fortunate in obtain- 

 ing ; a fact which may possibly give fresh meaning to the ' shaking of the 

 pagoda-tree,' which was formerly so familiar a phrase with Englishmen. 



Gold and Silver Smith. 



A set of goldsmith's tools, goldsmith's balance and weights, goldsmith's 

 crucible, and other articles used in his work were obtained for the expedi- 

 tion, making a very interesting series. An excellent photograph of the 

 goldsmith at work, showing his small portable furnace and bellows, was 

 also taken, and details of the methods ascertained which in this case at 

 all events are clearly of Indian origin. The most interesting process (of 

 which full notes were taken) was perhaps that of reddening the gold, 

 which is effected by artificial means, and gives it a greatly enhanced value 

 in the eyes of Malay buyers. 



Carpentry {Houses and Boats). 



Photographs and notes were taken of the building of houses and of 

 boats. The information collected under this latter head is being incor- 

 porated in a monograph upon the boats of the Malay Peninsula by IMr. H. 

 Warington Smyth, the material being based upon my notes and the large 

 collection of Malay boats and boat-building models now in the Cambridge 

 University Museum. 



' White metal. - Used, to weight casting nets. 



