FASCICULI MALATENSES 89 
such similarities in detail as mere coincidences, even if we grant the existence 
of a general similarity in the conception of ideas to all savages. Surely some 
more intimate connexion, whether of descent (perhaps even before mankind 
was man) or social intercourse, is necessary. 
Of ancient systems, if not so ancient, relics of matriarchy, still prevalent 
among several primitive tribes of the Malay Archipelago, may be sought in 
the ceremonial return of the bride and bridegroom to her parents 1 home, in 
the independent state of women, and, possibly, in the fact that royal rank 
cannot be transmitted in the male line only—a theory of descent certainly not 
Mahommedan, though occurring among Iranian peoples. As regards 
circumcision, its association with the idea of fitness for marriage becomes the 
more interesting when it is considered together with the greater importance 
of the former rite in the districts where Mahommedan ism has gained the 
slighter hold. Have we here evidence of the origin of circumcision among 
the Malays independently of Mahommedan influence ? Perhaps the curious 
custom prevalent among the Japanese, believed by Adachi 1 to be a survival 
of what once was circumcision, may have its bearing on this question, which 
must remain for the present sub judice . There are many other points of 
interest in the customs of the Malayo-Siamese, such as the restrictions put 
on young men married for the first time and the prohibition against a bride¬ 
groom wearing silk or gold, which might be dealt with at length ; but space 
forbids, and now that these customs are put on record, others more learned 
than myself can see their bearing on ethnology and the history of mankind. 
My thanks are due, as regards the present paper, to Dr. A. S. Gumming, 
who has gone through the manuscript. The illustrations are reproductions 
of careful drawings from photographs taken by myself during the Sk. eat 
Expedition. Their object is, in the case of the Malay tombstones, merely 
to put on record certain forms which might well be discussed at some length. 
N 
1. Zeitsch.fur Morph, umi Anthrep^ vol. V,, p. 351. 
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