Note on the Cover Design
The colours used on the cover of this book are those recognised as “Royal” colours in one or other of the Malay States. Throughout the Peninsula yellow is the special colour worn or used by those of Raja birth. By the ancient Malay sumptuary laws the lower classes were not allowed to wear yellow garments, nor to use this colour in the decoration of furniture of their houses. These laws are no longer rigidly observed, but in most Malay States the use of yellow fabrics is confined to the Raja class.
It is a universal practice to put letters addressed to Malay rulers (when they are of Raja birth) into covers of yellow cotton cloth or yellow satin, while those addressed to Rajas who have no official position, or to chiefs of importance but not of Raja birth, are stitched into covers of white cotton.
In some of the States the royal flag is yellow, in others it is white or black, while in several of the more important States of Sumatra (as for instance in Acheen), black garments are the special privilege of the Raja class.
In Perak the three highest native authorities in the State, the Sultan, his heir (styled Raja Muda), and his Wazîr (the Raja Bĕndahâra), fly flags of white, yellow, and black respectively, and these three colours united have, for the last twenty years, been adopted as the Perak State flag.
The three daggers on the cover are good types of the Malay “kris,” the favourite national weapon. The originals of these particular specimens are in the Perak museum and were photographed for this design.
F. A. S.
Xmas day, 1895.