i6 
FASCICULI MALATENSES 
rectangular stops towards the lower end, the lowest being only three-eighths 
inch from the bottom. The use of the nostril in blowing upon wind instru¬ 
ments is very widely spread, and may have arisen* independently* in some of 
the less connected areas. This form of nose-flute, with the sound-orifice at the 
extremity, resembles that of the Kayans and Kenniahs of Borneo, the island 
of Nias, Sumatra (Battaks), the Caroline Islands, etc. 
1 In the Malay Peninsula, nose-flutes appear to be characteristic of the 
true Sakai tribes (not the * Sakais ’ or bastard Scmangs of Upper Perak), as 
distinct from the true Semangs, who, as far as 1 could discover, only use 
mouth flutes. These, on the other hand, are probably unknown to the true 
Sakais. The nose-flute forms an interesting connexion between the Sakais 
and other primitive tribes of at least partially Mongoloid origin in the Malay 
Archipelago/ 
C. Stringed Instruments 
45. Mono chord- Malay name, gendang batak . Kampong Jalor, Jalor 
(Fig. 8). 
Fig. 8 
The string is formed of a strip of cane, six feet three inches long, tied at 
each end to a pointed wooden peg, ten inches long. The pegs are driven 
into the ground, so as to stretch the string to its full length. A pot-shaped 
hollow is dug in the ground below the centre of the string, and over this is 
laid a sheet of upik (areca palm flovver-spathe). A short stick rests upright 
upon the upik and serves as a bridge, over which the string is strained. In 
playing, the performer squats on the ground in front of the instrument and 
taps the string, on either side of the bridge, with two little strikers of wood 
or rattan. He also strikes the surface of the upik, which thus acts as a kind 
of drum. 
1 This form of monochord is common among Malay children in parts of 
Jalor and Rhaman, but we did not hear of its existence in any Sakai or Semang 
tribe. It appears to.be quite unknown to the Malays of Hulu Kelantan, and 
I was unable to ascertain its occurrence in Upper Perak/ 
