SARAWAK ETHNOGRAPHICAL COLLECTION. 49 



5. Sarawak Malay — Kromong. (Plate IV fig. 12), 



A set of eight small brass gongs, each with hemispherical 

 boss and slightly raised central area. They rest on strings 

 fastened to the cross-pieces of a long wooden frame and are 

 struck with two wooden beaters. Diam. of largest gong 19*6 

 cm., of smallest gong 17*8 cm. ; all are 6*5 — 6 cm. deep. 



Catalogue No. 1209. [Pd. xii. 02]. 



These Kromong were cast in Kuching. The process is 

 much the same as that previously described ; the wax is spread 

 thinly over a wooden model (chnan) pitted all over with small de- 

 pressions, the purpose of which is to give an appearance of 

 hammer-marks; the old Javanese Kromong were all melted and 

 beaten into shape and distinctly shewed the hammer-marks all 

 over their surface, and the same appearance is simulated in the 

 modern article. The wax is peeled off the wooden model as 

 already described and enclosed in a mould of clay mixed with 

 sand (tanah balut) with a spout for the exit of the melted wax 

 and the entry of the molten brass When the gongs are 

 removed from their clay moulds they are roughly smoothed 

 down with a file and are set in a row on a frame like that shewn 

 in the figure, the maker then tunes them by tapping them with 

 a hammer and finally blackens them with a mixture of copper 

 sulphate and an extract of lining a plant used also medicinally 

 for skin diseases. 



Class III. Bells. 



1. Brunei Malay — Grunong, cow-bell. 



A spheroidal brass rattle flattened from side to side, cast in 

 brass, hollow with a slit running half way round the lower 

 border ; the handle of the rattle is in the form of a bird with a 

 ring springing from its back, on each side of the rattle is a 

 snake in bold relief and an outstanding ring ; there is a ring just 

 above each end of the slit running round the lower border of 

 the rattle. A small brass sphere inside the hollow of the rattle 

 acts as a clapper. 



R. A Soc, No, 40, 1904, 



