56 
FASCICULI MALAYEFJSES 
natural blades, which are sharply pointed, serrated along the edges, and very 
brittle, so that they cause dangerous wounds. Apparently they are not used 
among the Samsams for spear heads. 
The Samsams of Trang are expert fishermen, their methods and implements 
differing considerably from those of the Malays of Patani. I shall only 
attempt to describe a few that particularly struck me. Much of the fishing is 
done by line, with iron or brass hooks, and an ingenious piece of apparatus is 
used for measuring out the pieces of cord to be used as snoods for hooks of 
different kinds, and for tightening the knots by which the lines are fastened 
together. It consists of a flat board about six feet long and a foot wide, 
in which two or more upright stakes are fastened, the distance between 
them being a gauge of the length of the snoods. Some little way in front of 
them a solid wooden cylinder is supported between two upright pieces of wood, 
inserted near the sides of the board. The cylinder can be rotated by means 
of a stick passed diagonally through it, and the distance between its centre and 
the stakes also acts as a gauge of length. When two pieces of line have been 
tied together, one end of the double piece is hitched over the stick running 
through the cylinder, while the other is twisted successively round the stakes ; 
the cylinder is then made to rotate until the line is drawn taut, so that the 
knot is tightened. My Patani ‘ boy,’ who accompanied me to Trang, told me 
that he had seen a similar piece of apparatus in use among Chinamen at 
Patani ; but there are no Chinese fishermen in that state. Another object 
used in fishing on the coast of Trang, that I had not seen employed elsewhere, 
was a small rectangular screen made of Pandanus leaf, with a plain wooden 
handle. This was carried in the right hand, along with a resin torch, while 
shrimping along the shore at night ; the net being worked with the left hand. 
Its object was said to be to conceal the shrimper from the shrimps and small 
fish ; but more probably it acted as a reflector for the light of the torch, and 
prevented the smoke from getting into the shrimper’s eyes. 
Fish spears with single prongs, three-pronged tridents, and harpoons 
with heads that are detachable from the bamboo shafts, to which they are 
fastened by long strings, are all in common use, the harpoons being chiefly 
employed for hunting the Dugong, which, however, is not very common. 
Though this animal is called a fish, being known by its Malay name, Ikan Duyong , 
yet it is regarded as an animal by the Samsams, in so far that they, like the 
Malays of Patani, will not eat its flesh unless its throat be cut in the orthodox 
fashion. Its bones are much valued as charms against fever, often being made 
into bracelets ; while the tears that it is said to shed when captured, are 
believed to be a most potent love-charm. 
