Note 200 — Chapter VI · Magic Rites as affecting the Life of Man (continued 3)

The national and favourite weapon of the Malays is the k’ris,200 a short dagger usually with an undulating or wavy blade set in a handle of peculiarly carved pattern, as to the probable origin of which some allusion has already been made,201 and furnished with a sheath which is generally of wood and quite plain, but sometimes of metal chased, hammered, and set with gems in the most elaborate and lavish style. The blade is quite different in appearance from the steel or iron blades to which we are accustomed, being prepared in a peculiar way by a process of “damasking” which produces a variety of designs on the roughened surface. To the shape of these designs much importance is attached, as will appear from the following passage extracted from Newbold’s British Settlements in the Straits of Malacca:—