REPORT ON A COLLECTION OF MUSICAL 
INSTRUMENTS FROM THE SIAMESE 
MALAY STATES AND PERAK 
By HENRY BALFOUR, M.A., F.Z.S. 
CURATOR or THE FITT RIVERS MUSEUM,, OXFORD J PRESIDENT or THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE 
fellow or txnrft college, oxroaD 
T HE musical instruments collected by Messrs. Annan dale and Robinson 
in the Siamese Malay States and Perak may, for description, con¬ 
veniently be divided into the usual three main groups, viz., 
(A) percussion instruments, (B) wind instruments, (C) stringed instruments. 
While many of the instruments in the collection are of types already well known, 
others are, as far as I am aware, new, while others, again, have not, I believe, 
been recorded from this region. In the following list I have kept the instru- 
ments belonging to the wild tribes (Sakai, etc.) separate from those of the 
Malays and Siamese. As regards the specimens described, the greater number 
were acquired by Mr. Annandale for the Pitt Rivers Museum at Oxford, 
where they now are, and I am indebted to him for information regarding 
their use and provenance. A few belonging to Mr. Robinson were kindly 
lent me for examination and are included in the list, being distinguished by 
having (‘ Robinson coll.’) appended. The collectors notes 'are enclosed in single 
inverted commas, 
L INSTRUMENTS OF THE CIVILIZED TRIBES 
A. Percussion Instruments 
i. Childs Rattle, Samsam. Ban Pra Muang, Trang. 
Merely a hollow staff of cane with the nodes very close together. The 
upper internode has a rough lateral perforation, and contains a small pellet, 
which rattles when the staff is shaken. 
4 Deformed pieces of cane of the kind are regarded as lucky by the 
Malays, Siamese, and Sakais, all of whom believe that such deformities f< have 
■ ■. »» » 
a spirit. 
2 . Clapper-rattle or sistrum. Malay name, rau-rau, Malay. Jujul, 
Patani (Plate XX, Fig. i). 
