FASCICULI MALATENSES 
XXXIX 
Jambu. 1 The capital of Jhering was probably the most thoroughly Malay 
place we visited in the Malay Peninsula, for it was of sufficient size, on the 
one hand, to be something of a centre for local traffic, and too insignificant, 
on the other, to be attractive even to Chinese traders, while Siamese influence 
appeared in 1901 less obvious than in other places in the Patani States. It 
is probable, from what one of us heard in Patani in 1902, that considerable 
external changes have since taken place in the town. In the summer of the 
previous year the place certainly had not more than 2,000 inhabitants, the 
great majority of whom were Malays, and the only building of any solidity 
was the mosque, which betrayed strong traces of Chinese design. A number 
of Malay rajas had houses in the town, for the place enjoyed the reputation 
of being very healthy, probably on account of the sea breezes which reach it 
through the odoriferous casuarina woods ; but these 1 * palaces’ were built for 
the most part of bamboo and palm thatch, though the size of some of them was 
considerable. One, assigned to us as a lodging, belonged to the Raja Mudah of 
Rhaman, at that date (June, 1901) a fugitive from justice, and was extremely 
commodious and cool, our quarters consisting of a large central hall, a room 
of the same width at the entrance for our followers, and a bedroom behind 
for ourselves. There was a well of good water inside the house, and the only 
objection to the place, according to the Malays, was that it was haunted by a 
spirit. 
The surrounding country consists partly of barren, sandy stretches, 
partly of mangrove swamps, the latter following the course of the river, which 
is little more than a tidal creek, and of the many channels into which it breaks 
up at its mouth. The town lies about a mile and a half from the sea, and 
six miles by road from Patani. 
More extensive traces of the old pagan religion of the Malays exist in 
this neighbourhood than at any other point on the coast which we visited, 
and the worship of spirits is carried on quite openly, whereas it is usually con¬ 
cealed. The custom of 4 casting away sickness ’ on little models of ships is 
especially rife, and we were told that a few years ago, when an epidemic of 
smallpox raged throughout the Patani States, many children who were 
attacked by the disease were set adrift on rafts, in order that they might carry 
it away with them out to sea. 
We spent ten days at Jambu, originally visiting it in search of health, as 
we were never well in Patani, probably because of the bad water supply. 
Much of our time was occupied in watching the habits of the * walking fishes’ 
l. The name has been given the town on account of the large numbers of cachew nuts which flourish in the 
sandy tail of the neighbourhood, for this fruit, at well as the rose-apple, i* called jambu in the Patani dialect of 
Malay. 
