FASCICULI MALATENSES 
1 7 
46. Primitive Zither, Malay name, gendang batak . Kampong Jarum, 
Rhaman. 
Bamboo internode, twenty-eight and one-half inches long, closed by a 
node near each end. Five strings, formed by splitting away narrow strips of 
the fibrous surface of the bamboo, leaving their ends still attached near the 
nodes. Bands of cane prevent their tearing away any further. Small bridges 
raise up the strings at either end. Two pairs of strings are joined by small 
rectangular plates of bamboo, the ends of which clip on to the strings near the 
centre. Underneath these plates are rectangular holes into the cavity of the 
bamboo. The instrument is played by twanging the strings with the fingers 
and tapping the little plates of bamboo upon the strings. It was made by a 
Malay, but was said to be used by the Semangs of the district. This method 
of making strings by splitting up portions of a bamboo is very widely spread 
throughout the Malayan region, and occurs also in India, North Africa, 
Madagascar, South America, and elsewhere. 
‘Instruments of this kind are common among the Malayo-Siamese, and 
we did not see them in any Semang or Sakai camp. A slightly different form, 
noted among the Malays at Jambu and elsewhere, has a circular piece of upik 
lightly fastened to one side of the upper end over the node, which is pierced 
in the centre and is not quite at the end in this form. The upik is tapped with 
the fingers very much in the same way as the little plates of bamboo that clip 
on to the strings. The name gendang batak must not be taken to imply that 
the Malays associate either instrument they know by it with the Bataks or 
Battaks of Sumatra, for the word, though also used as the name of this tribe, 
has often quite a general sense, whether primitive or not I do not know, in the 
Pa tan i dialect, meaning “ cannibal ” or ct savage.” The word dayak is used in 
a similar way, but without the association of cannibalism, “ Raja Batak” Is a 
common figure in the shadow plays of the Malays and Siamese, representing 
a woman with the huge canine fangs commonly attributed to cannibals by 
these peoples. 
47. Primitive Zither . Kampong Jarum (PI. XXI, Fig. 21). 
Procured at the same time as the last, which it closely resembles. It is 
of stouter bamboo, twenty-seven and a half inches long, and has seven 
strings, 
48. Primitive Zither . Malay. Kampong Jalor, Jalor (PL XXI, 
Fig. 22). 
Same as Nos. 4 6 and 47, but shorter (only sixteen and seven-eighths 
inches long) ; of stout, thick-walled bamboo. Seven strings, without binding 
bands beyond the bridges. 
