SARAWAK ETHNOGRAPHICAL COLLECTION. 5 



1 Tanjong — Busoi and Aran. 



a. (Plate I, fig. 1, upper specimen). 



The busoi is a slightly bowed slat of hard black wood 93-6 

 cm. long and 4*4 cm. broad about its middle. One end is fretted 

 and moulded and forms the handle, the other end has one border 

 slightly excavated in the way shown in the figure. A strip of 

 split rattan is strung through a hole near the handle and laced 

 through two holes near the other end. 



The aran is a disc of wood, 28 cm. in diam. with a large 

 hole in the centre : the border for a depth of 2.5 cm. has been 

 sloped down and a dog's tooth pattern is cut in low relief on 

 it, the back ground being stained black with soot or indigo. 



Catalogue No. 59. Brooke Low collection. — This speci- 

 men has been figured in " The Natives of Sarawak and British 

 North Borneo" by H. Ling Roth, 1886 Vol. II p. 260, and in 

 "The Natural History of the Musical Bow" by H. Balfour (1899 ) 

 p. 69, fig. 49 : the latter illustration is taken from a photograph 

 of this specimen in the possession of Sir Hugh Low. 



b. (Plate I, fig. 1, lower specimen). 



The busoi is of soft white wood, 82*3 cm. long and 4 cm. 

 broad in the middle. The concave side has a geometric pattern 

 cut in bas-relief, the outstanding background being stained 

 red with dragon's blood ; the handle is unstained, it is moulded 

 and fretted forming an S-shaped curve ; the opposite end has its 

 borders notched and curved, it is staiued with dragon's blood 

 and has a rosette (buah trong) cut in it. A strip of rattan is 

 strung through a hole near the handle and laced through two 

 holes near the distal end. 



The aran is a disc of wood 30 cm. in diam. with an incised 

 phyllomorphic pattern surrounding a central rosette ; it is not 

 perforated. The rattan plectrum is 31 cm. long. The pot over 

 which the aran is laid is a common bazaar pot of Chinese make, 

 light-blue in colour and glazed; 22*5 cm. diam.: 13 cm. high. 



Catalogue No. 1230. ^Hon. H. F. Deshon, [P. i. 03] 



Class II.— Fiddles and Guitars. 

 This main class may be subdived into two sub-classes : — 



R. A. Soc, No. 10, 1904. 



