FASCICULI MALAYENSES 
XXI 
Patani 
Of late years much confusion has arisen from the very varied meaning 
given in the Straits, in Europe, and in Siam to the term, ‘Patani,’ and it may, 
therefore, be well before commencing a description of the country in which 
the greater part of our time was spent, which was the original goal ot out- 
expedition, to explain the three different senses in which this term is used. 
i. Until about a century and a half ago the kingdom of Patani, which was 
frequently governed by a female sovereign, appears to have been one of the largest 
and most powerful in Malaya, exceeding the modern states of Perak, Pahang, 
or Kelantan in size. It comprised the whole watershed of the Patani and 
Telubin Rivers, a part of the Upper Perak valley, and probably some of the 
northern tributaries of the Kelantan ; but very possibly it consisted rather of 
a confederation of petty native rajas under a powerful chief than of a single 
state, and Malay domination may never have extended much north of the 
Patani River, except immediately along the coast. 
At the end of the eighteenth and the commencement of the nineteenth 
century the Siamese finally conquered the country, which had long owed them 
a feebly defined and easily broken allegiance ; and ‘Patani ’ was divided into 
seven minor states, each independent of its neighbours, and each under a 
Siamese nominee, who was in some cases a Malay and in some a Siamese. It 
is from these Siamese governors, who were tributary to the Chinese governor 
of Senggora, himself a vassal of Siam, that the present Malay rajas of the 
seven states are descended. The names of the seven states are Nawngchik or 
Tojan, Patani or Tani, Jhering, and Sai or Telubin, along the coast ; and Jalor 
or Yala, Rhaman, and Ra-nge or Legeh, in the interior. During the greater part 
of our visit their local administration was kept separate, each state being under 
a Malay raja nominally and a Siamese governor or commissioner practically, 
except Nawngchik, the governors of which never became Mahommedans and 
which was entirely under Siamese rule. In 1902, however, the seven states 
were reunited, with the title of the Division of the Seven Provinces, under a 
commissioner resident in Patani town but responsible to the High Com- 
missioner of the Ligor Circle, who resides at Senggora. 
The term ‘Patani’ is usually held in the Straits to include these seven 
provinces, which are indicated when we talk of the ‘ Patani States.’ We are 
indebted to the High Commissioner of the Ligor Circle for the following 
particulars regarding their population and that of the neighbouring states. His 
Excellency regards the figures as substantially correct, and if they are only 
moderately accurate, the curious and unexpected fact is shown that, even 
including the nominally independent principality of Johor, there are more 
Malays under Siamese than under British rule in the Malay Peninsula. 
