Miscellanea Etlmographica. 



PART II. 



Some Malayan Weapons. (Plates D. and E.) 



I had intended to give with these two plates, which have been awaiting publica- 

 tion for some little time, an account of the various types of the kris which occur in 

 the northern part of the Malay Peninsula ; but stress of additional official work has 

 rendered it impossible for me to devote sufficient time to the scattered literature ' on 

 the subject, and I have therefore decided, in order not to delay the issue of another 

 part of these " Miscellanea" longer, to publish the two plates merely with a brief de- 

 scription of the specimens figured. 



Plate D represents three specimens in my own collection, all from the small states 

 on the east coast of the Malay Peninsula which once formed the kingdom of Patani 

 and are still commonly known as Patani among the Europeans of the Straits 

 Settlements. Figures i and 2 on this plate are drawn of half the true size, and 

 give the outline of two examples of the type known locally as kris tajang and some- 

 times referred to in ethnographical literature as the " kingfisher" kris. The latter 

 name is due to a legend that the handle of this type is a portrait of a Bugis chief 

 (sometimes he is said to have been a Sumatran Malay) nicknamed Kingfisher (Perkaka) 

 on account of his long nose. This type of handle appears to be peculiar to the Patani 

 States and Kedah ; in the British states it is regarded as uncouth and barbarous, and I 

 have seen no specimens exactly agreeing with it from the Archipelago. Both figures 

 show clearly the chief points characteristic of this kris (apart from its sheath, which is 

 represented in Figure 10, Plate E) ; these peculiarities are the elaborately carved handle, 

 which is generally made of some hard wood but occasionally of ivory or even pewter, and 

 the short, straight blade, which is rarely damascened. Properly this type of 

 handle should not be ornamented with silver or brass, but only with gold or suasa, an 

 amalgam of copper and gold. The eyes of the figure should be made of one of the 

 two latter materials, while the flat spaces on the top of the head and the band at the 

 base of the handle should be covered with plain plates ; but frequently these orna- 

 ments are omitted. The carving of the wood (Fig. 1) is often very elaborate. The 

 sheath is always considerably longer than the blade, and is ornamented above with two 

 graceful projections known as <c bull's horns " (tandu lembu). The carving of the handle 

 figured in Plate E, Fig. 10, is unfinished ; specimens are frequently met with in this 

 condition. The carving of the one figured in Plate D, Fig. 1, is so elaborate that I am 

 inclined to believe that it was done by a Chinaman following the conventional Malay 

 design. Fig. 3 on the same plate represents an example of a very unusual type which 



I See especially Newbold's Political and Statistical Account of the British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca (1839) 

 Skeat's Malay Magic (1900). 



