6i 
CUSTOMS OF THE MALAYO-SIAMESE' 
By NELSON ANNANDALE, B.A. 
U NDER the above heading I propose to put on record the notes 
obtained by Mr. Robinson and myself regarding the practices that 
centre in birth, death, circumcision, marriage and the social system, 
among the mixed Malay and Siamese population of the Patani States and 
Senggora, As we spent nine months among these people (for whom we have 
coined the name Malayo-Siamese to distinguish them from the true Malays of 
the southern half of the Peninsula on the one hand and from the Samsams of 
the West Coast on the other) we were able to obtain fuller information about 
their customs and ideas than was the case with any other tribe whose ethnography 
we investigated ; but it is natural, seeing that we spoke Malay and not Siamese, 
that we should regard these customs and ideas from the Malay (*.£., the 
Mahommedan) rather than the Siamese (/.<?., the Buddhist) point of view, and 
it would need a very much longer stay and a far more intimate relationship 
with the people to know their customs thoroughly and in detail. I can merely 
offer an imperfect, but I trust an accurate, outline. 
Birth Customs 
Our information about birth customs was chiefly obtained at Kampong 
Jalor from the statements, made to Mr. Robinson and myself, of two rival 
Mdan , or midwives, both Malays, but both in practice among Siamese women 
as well as those of their own religion. There is reason to believe that in 
many details these customs are very local, and that what is true of the country 
districts of Jalor is not necessarily true of the town of Patani. On main 
principles our informants agreed, but they differed in minor details, having 
had different teachers (juru ). We did not find it possible to be sure that 
they were telling us the truth with regard to the plants they used as druys, 
such knowledge being a jealously-guarded trade secret, i have, therefore, 
omitted such information of dubious accuracy as we were able to obtain 
i* Thi* piper must be regarded as a section of Part IV of our 1 Contributions to the Ethnography of the Malay 
Peninsula,’ My colleague's absence in Malaya ha* rendered a <ub-riivision of labour neceiiary, He will deal with 
our series of measurements on the living Malayo-Siamese, and also with their dwellings, etc. ; while, in addition to 
the present paper, I propose to describe the collection of skulls and skeleton*. 
