54 
FASCICULI MALATENSES 
they speak is the bahasa Samsam or 4 Samsam language/ and I found in 
several instances that the people of one village called those of a neighbouring 
village 1 Orang Samsam/ though the latter considered the title an insult; 
the fact being that Samsam means i half-bred Siamese/ and that no Malay or 
Siamese is willing to admit that his ancestry is mixed. The justness of its applica¬ 
tion, however, to these Mahommedan Sea Folk of Trang is indubitable ; there 
is no physical difference, so far as 1 can judge, between them and the 1 Malay 1 
or 1 Samsam * population of the north of Perak and the adjacent parts of the 
Siamese Malay States, and though it seems probable that a wedge of a purer 
Malay, or Arabo-Malay, element may have established itself in the district 
surrounding Alor Stah, the capital of Kedah, yet the people, both to the south 
and to the north of the region so occupied, are known to be very largely 
of mixed origin. 
Curiously enough, the word does not appear to be known in those 
states on the East Coast the majority of whose population consists of a mixture 
of Malays and Siamese ; but in Perak and Kedah it has the sense indicated, 
both in Malay and in European circles. In the former it is compared to 
Seram (‘ Nazarene/ i.e. y Eurasian), which means of * mixed European and 
Oriental ancestry/ 
(/ 4 ), Samsams (Plate XIV) 
In May last I spent a week in the villages of this race on the coast and 
islands of Trang, Much of my time was occupied in attempts, often frustrated 
by bad weather and contrary winds, to reach the islands occupied by the Orang 
Laut Kappir. 
The Samsams are considerably taller than any race we have yet described ; 
the mean height of fifteen adult males being above i,6oo mm. Though rather 
slightly built, they are fairly muscular, and they show no indication of a dis¬ 
proportionate development of the upper part of the body. Their complexions 
are clear, varying in tint from dark olive to pale yellow, but generally having 
a yellowish tinge. In ten out of fifteen instances the eyes were reddish-brown, 
the remaining five individuals having them black. The hair was in all 
individuals seen, who numbered at least two hundred, black, without a reddish 
tinge, straight, coarse, and lank. It was rarely even moderately abundant 
either on face or body. The epicanthus was sufficiently developed in one 
case to cover a half of the caruncle ; in five it was vestigial, while in nine it 
was absent. The face was short and broad, rather flat, and pointed towards 
the chin. The nose was, in most cases, straight, but with negroid alae ; 
prognathism was usually absent, never more than slight. 
