after the death of a king the use of the title which he bore during his life. A new title is
invented for the deceased monarch, by which he is ever afterwards known. The existence of a
similar custom among other Indo-Chinese races has been noticed by Colonel Yule: “There is
also a custom of dropping or concealing the proper name of the king. This exists in Burma and
(according to La Loubère) in Siam. The various kings of those countries are generally
distinguished by some nickname derived from facts in their reign or personal relations, and
applied to them after their decease. Thus we hear among the Burmese kings of ‘the king
dethroned by foreigners,’ ‘the king who fled from the Chinese,’ ‘the grandfather king,’ and
even ‘the king thrown into the water.’ Now this has a close parallel in the Archipelago. Among
the kings of Macassar, we find one king known only as the ‘Throat-cutter’; another as ‘He who
ran amuck’; a third, ‘The beheaded’; a fourth, ‘He who was beaten to death on his own stair-
case.’” Colonel Yule ascribes the origin of this custom to Ancient India. [Journal Anthrop.
Institute.] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 9, p. 98. ↑
46
Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 288, note. ↑
47
The bakong is a kind of lily; the sirih is the Malay betel-vine. ↑
48
J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 17, p. 93. ↑
49
Touching hands is done with both hands together. If you touch hands with a man who is
somewhat your superior in rank, it is proper, in drawing back your hands, to bring them at least
as high as your chest; and if the other is decidedly your superior, even as high as your
forehead, bending forward somewhat while doing so. ↑
50
Cliff., Stud. in Brown Humanity, p. 175. ↑
51
Cliff., In Court and Kampong, p. 113, and compare the following:—“Visitors to Jugra may
often in the evening see a party of some 30 or 40 men coming along the road with His
Highness” [the late Sultan ʿAbdulsamad of Selangor] “walking a few paces ahead of them.
Should a native meet the little procession he will squat down at the side of the road until the
Sultan has passed, for according to Malay ideas it shows a want of respect in a subject to
remain standing in the presence of his Raja” ... “on replying to His Highness natives place the
palms of their hands together and so raise them to their forehead, by way of obeisance, and this
is done even by his own children.”—Selangor Journal, vol. i. No. 1, p. 5. ↑