es, are soon recognised as being widely distinguishing marks.

The Kelantan man is, to the native of Pahang, what the water-buffalo
is to a short-horn. To begin with, to the uninitiated he is wholly
unintelligible. He grunts at one like the fatted pig at the
Agricultural Shows, and expects one to understand the meaning which he
attaches to these grunts. This proves him to be sanguine but
unintelligent. He cannot understand any dialect but his own,--which is
convincing evidence to non-Kelantan Malays that he is a born
fool,--and he is apt to complain bitterly of the accents of strangers,
whereas, to all but his own countrymen, it is _his_ accent which
appears to be the real grievance. He is plain of face, fat, ugly, and
ungainly of body, huge as to the hands and feet, not scrupulously
clean in his person and habits, and, like most very fleshy people, he
is blessed with an exceedingly even temper, and is excessively happy,
good-natured, and stolid. He can break open a door by butting it with
his head, and the door is the only sufferer. [Awang Kepala Kras--Awang
of the Hard Head--who is a Kelantan Malay, backs himself to butt a
trained fighting ram out of time!] He can lift great weights, walk
long distances, pole or paddle a boat for many hours at a stretch, and
can, and does, work more than any other Malay.

This huge mass of fleshy brown humanity is reared on a pound or two of
boiled rice, and a few shreds of fish. To see him eat is to be attacked
with a lasting loathing for food. He takes in his rice as though stoking
a steamboat. The coal shovel is his ponderous fist, and the extent to
which his cheeks are capable of stretching alone regulates the size of
his mouthfuls. He is, in every way, coarser-grained than any other
Malay. He has much less self-respect; is rarely touchy and sensitive, as
are other natives of the Peninsula; and when he is brave, it is with the
courage of the blind, who know not the extent of the danger which they
are facing. An utter want of imagination goes to the making of more
heroes than it is pleasant to think about, since people who cannot
picture consequences, and forecast risks, deserve but little credit for
the courage which they display, but are unable to appreciate.

To his neighbours on the East Coast, however, all the other remarkable
characteristics of the Kelantan Malay are lost sight of, or rather, are
completely overshadowed, by his reputation as a thief among thieves. In
vain h