FASCICULI MALATENSES 
75 
Women, as a matter of practical experience, are not subject to the pro- 
hibitions of the fish cult, because, as several fishermen explained to me, they 
do not go to sea. It was hard to discover exactly in what way the cults are 
hereditary, as differences of opinion existed on this point among the fishermen 
questioned themselves. Some said that the prohibitions were only hereditary 
on the mother’s side of the family, while others thought that a son should 
inherit his father’s Datoh, and a daughter her mother’s, so far as women were 
liable. It was pretty generally agreed, however, that when a man who did not 
belong to a fish family married a woman who did, he was liable to the prohibi- 
tions of her family, seeing that he became a member of it ; and that in the case 
of a couple belonging to different fish families, the husband should practice 
the cult of both. In this connexion it may be stated that it is customary for a 
bridegroom to spend the first fortnight of married life in the house of the 
bride’s parents. At the end of fifteen days his own parents come and conduct 
the couple back to his old home, where they live together until he can afford 
to have a house of his own. It is the duty of grandfathers, both maternal and 
paternal, to instruct their grandchildren regarding their Datoh. The families 
are, strictly speaking, neither exogamous or endogamous, but a prejudice exists 
among their members, as is often the case among Malays, against allowing 
girls to marry out of the family. 
Only two fish families now survive in Patani, those of the Ikan Lelayang 1 
(i.e., Ikan Layang-layang , or ‘ Swallow Fish ’) and the Ikan Lemuk , 2 or ‘ Fat 
Fish,’ but others are said to have existed formerly, notably that of the Ikan 
Paus, or ‘ Whale.’ Both families tell the same story of the origin of their cult, 
but there is a slight variation due to individual narrators. Once upon a time 
the ancestor of the family, who was a Bugis raja, was shipwrecked, and all his 
companions were drowned. He clung to a mast, until he saw what he thought 
was a log, upon which he leapt and was carried ashore. The supposed log 
was the Ikan Lelayang, or the Ikan Lemuk. Having thus been saved by the 
fish, the ancestor called together his children and grandchildren, and made them 
swear never to eat the flesh of his saviour, telling them that sickness would 
fall upon them if they did. Another version of the legend has it that it was 
the fish itself which spoke and made the ancestor swear on behalf of his 
descendants. 
I do not believe that these fish cults are confined to Patani, but think it 
probable that they are spread, or have been spread until lately, all round the 
coast 3 of the Malay Peninsula, if not in the Archipelago. Those that still exist 
1. Trichyurus spp. 
2. Lactarius delicatulus. 
3 . Cf. the story, from Leyden’s Malay Annals , of the Indian prince and the Ikan Alu-alu , discussed by 
A. O. Blagden in a ‘ Note on the word Kramat,' appended to Malay Magic. 
