53 
PART II. THE COAST PEOPLE OF TRANG 
N. A. 
T HE coast of the Siamese State of Trang and the small islands lying off 
it are occupied by two tribes, which appear to belong to distinct races; but 
the Siamese themselves, on the West as on the East coast of the Peninsula, 
are not a coast people. In dealing with these two tribes a difficulty in nomen- 
clature at once arises, for they both call themselves Orang Laut , or Sea Folk, 
being distinguished by the epithets, Islam (‘ Mahommedan ’) and Kappir 
(‘Kaffir’ or ‘Infidel’). Now, the name Orang Laut has already been 
applied by various authors to two distinct tribes, one of which may be 
identical with, or nearly related to, the Infidel Sea Folk of Trang ; though 
the other, at most, has no more than a remote connexion with the Mahom- 
medan Sea Folk of the same state. Leaving the Trang people out of the 
question for the moment, we find that at one time the coasts of the south of 
Malay Peninsula were infested by hordes of purely nomadic Orang Laut , who 
were most probably of Malay stock. Their boats — for they made no dwellings on 
land — -were particularly numerous off the State of Johore and the Island of 
Singapore, and they were often called Orang Selatar. 1 Colonies of this tribe, 
now settled in houses and probably much mixed with other races, still exist, 
notably on Pulau Brani, opposite the docks at Singapore. Here we have our- 
selves visited them. They are a comparatively tall people, of dark complexion, 
and usually with straight hair, which, in the case of the boys, who dive for 
coppers for the amusement of passengers on board the steamers, is sometimes 
bleached almost to tow colour, though its natural tint is a rusty black. The 
Orang Laut belonging to the other tribe hitherto described are Sakais, and 
live on the coast of Selangor, not, however, being seafarers, but merely living 
near the sea. A family of this tribe came up to the State Museum at Kuala 
Lumpor while we were there. So far as we could judge, by merely looking 
at them, they were racially identical with the Orang Bukit of the same state. 
To return to the coast people of Trang, I have thought it best to retain 
the name Orang Laut Kappir for the non-Mahommedan tribe, having pointed 
out that all Orang Laut do not belong to the same race, and to call the self- 
styled ‘ Orang Laut Islam ’ Samsams. They themselves agree that the dialect 
i. Or, by Portugese writers, Celletes ; both forms are derived from the Malay Selat, a ‘strait.’ 
