90 
FASCICULI MALAY FUSES 
the scriptures) will perform the ceremonies that other professing Mahommedans 
perform almost daily with great profit and even credit to themselves, com¬ 
mencing their incantations by reciting the Mahommedan profession of faith 
in Arabic, and then calling upon half-a-dozen Hindu demi-gods, and as many 
native spirits, in Malay. I was told in Patani that the most famous medicine¬ 
man in the country had started, some years before our visit, on the pilgrimage to 
Mecca. He had been so revered in Patani that, whenever he came to town—he 
Jived in a small village some miles up the river—the Raja and the nobles went 
out to meet him on the water; but when he came to Mecca, a mysterious in¬ 
fluence prevented him entering the holy city. Returning pilgrims brought back 
news that he was still encamped without the walls, praying that his witchcraft 
might be taken from him, though he had never practised * evil * magic, which 
is quite a different thing from the work of the ordinary medicine-men. 
These instances illustrate the position taken up towards Mahommedanism 1 
by the people of the Patani States generally ; but it would be unfair not to 
note that there are certain villages whose inhabitants are so strict that they 
cast out from among them any person who does not conform to the Agama 
Islam in all respects. Such communities centre in some venerated baji t who 
has gathered round him a school o f pakai t or pious youths, who have entered 
his service in return for his tuition, performing the most menial offices for him, 
and renouncing gay clothing in favour of white. 
It is probable that about half the inhabitants of the State of Nawngchik 
profess Buddhism, belonging nominally to the orthodox Siamese sect, and calling 
themselves, irrespective of their ancestry, ‘ Siamese 1 (Kong Tai ) ; but south of 
the Patani River, Buddhism hardly exists as a flourishing growth. In all those 
districts in which it has sufficiently numerous or rich enough votaries, 
monasteries have been founded in the vicinity of the larger villages wherein 
the Siamese boys are taught reading, writing, and manners by the ascetics—it 
is hardly accurate to call them either priests or monks—to whose service their 
parents dedicate them as children, and whom many of them join for a period 
before marriage, donning the yellow robe as part of their education. Never¬ 
theless, it is very doubtful whether even the most learned ascetics have any 
true idea of the philosophy of Gautama, and Buddhism, as in so many places, 
i. The official religion* organization of these state* is very simple. Those villages which have a mosque— 
and their number is not great—have also an imam t and each state hat a single kali or 1 kathi 1 {kadi) t who Is 
recognized by the Siamese authorities at judge in civil cates concerning marriage betwee n Mahommedans, or inheritance 
when the defendant is a Mahommedan. ( Regulation far the Administration •/ the Division t>f the Seven Provinces for 
the Tear 120 (1901), § ja, p. 14, Bangkok), It ts said that when an imam transgresses the law, he is liable by 
custom to twice the punishment of another, while the kali should only be brought to justice by a popular uprising. 
Instances are reported in which a kali who has misbehaved has been ducked in the mosque tank by an indignant 
mob. The kali is appointed by the raja, and appoint* the imam. 
