8 
FASCICULI MALATENSES 
A long, narrow blade-like wooden lath, cut in such a way that the planes 
of the surfaces on either side of the centre are at a slight angle to one another, 
after the fashion of the blades of a screw-propeller. At the centre this fits over the 
squared end of a small cylinder or socket of bamboo, which can rotate freely 
upon the narro wed-down end of a stick, the socket resting on the shoulder of 
the stick. At the end of each blade of the windmill a small bamboo tube, closed 
at one end and bevelled off at the other, is lashed tranversely. These tubes, 
which produce the musical sound, are practically single syrinx pipes, and are 
sounded by the wind against which they are driven. To direct the air against 
the sharp sound-producing edge a small mass of wax partially closes the 
orifice. Length of the rotating bar, twenty-four and a half inches. 
e These musical windmills are used by Malay children in different parts 
of the Patani States and Perak ; they are held in front of the body while the 
children run against the wind, which causes the lath to rotate rapidly and the 
bamboo pipes to give out loud-humming sounds. The pipes are often 
omitted, the toy being, of course, silent in this case. A baling is frequently 
fixed on the top of a high tree near the entrance to a village, in the belief that 
its notes call the wind, and so the rain. A similar practice obtains on the tops of 
mountains. In these cases the instrument is decorated with a palm leaf or 
stick, projecting at right angles to the lath on an inclined plane, from which 
bunches of cloth or grass depend, and it seems to be regarded as representing 
some kind of bird, of which the palm leaf or stick is the tail (ekor),' 
21. Whistle, Malay name, sernei ; Siamese name, win. Ban Sai Kau, 
Nawngchik. 
Fig. Scale = f. 
Roughly made of wood, consisting of a plain tube, two and seven-eighths 
inches long, having a cylindrical bore. Externally, it tapers towards the 
mouthpiece. At the narrower end the surface is cut flat on one side, and a 
small hole is pierced through the flattened portion. There is no duct for 
directing the breath, which is guided against the edge of the hole by the lips 
of the performer. Inserted into the tube is a rough, short stick, which can 
be slid up and down the bore, and by this means the pitch is raised or lowered 
at will. The unusual feature of a slide for varying the pitch is noteworthy, 
the method being an uncommon one among the musical instruments of 
