46. Note on a Shrine in the Koh Si Hah, Tale Sap, 



Lower Siam. 



By N. Annandale, D.Sc., F.A.S.B. 



The Koh Si Hah are a group of five rocky islands of lime- 

 stone that rise from the shallow waters of the Tale Sap 

 ('* Great Lake "), a lagoon on the east coast of the northern 

 part of the Malay Peninsula that closely resembles the Chilka 

 Lake in Orissa and Ganjam in many respects. 



The photograph here reproduced was taken in the chief 

 of these islands in 1899 while I was a member of the Skeat 

 Expedition, and is, I think, worth publishing as an illustra- 

 tion of the primitive religion of the people of those parts. 



The people are probably of mixed Siamese, Chinese and 

 Malay descent and obtain their living, at any rate for a part 



calia innominata) 



edible nests of a swift {Callo- 



that honeycomb the islands. The nest-collectors live them- 

 selves in the smaller caves, in which they erect platforms 

 of bamboo whereon to sit and sleep. Their occupation is a 

 hazardous one, for the approach to many of the bird-caves is 

 dangerous and there are yawning cavities to be avoided. It 

 is, moreover, pursued under very strict regulation, the right to 

 collect the nests being leased out to a Chinaman for a consider- 

 able sum every year. The inhabitants of the islands are his 

 servants or hirelings, but judging from their offerings at the 

 little shrines in their village, if it can be called a village, they 

 have some interest in the take. 



The shrine figured was the larger of two situated in natural 

 cavities in the rock above a platform of stone or bricks that 

 had been built near the landing place. The other shrine 

 contained as an object of worship a stone naturally of conical 

 shape. Offerings of edible nests, most of them dirty, contami- 

 nated with feathers and of little value, but a few clean and of 

 the pale yellow colour that delights the Chinese epicure, were 

 made before this shrine. It was approached by several little 

 steps, which were for ornament or for the use of the spirits only, 



only a few feet above the ground. The larger 



was situated 



was 



one had been constructed and was situated rather higher above 

 the platform. It had been formed, so far as it was otherwise 

 than of natural formation, by placing a rough wooden frame 

 of oblong shape at the entrance to the cavity. To this 

 frame were attached, in the Chinese fashion, oblong pieces of 



