An inscribed tin-ingot from Kuala Dipang, district of Kinta
Dr W. Linehan, a colonial administrator and historian of Pahang, published this brief note in 1950 describing a unique inscribed tin-ingot of tortoise-shell shape held in the Perak Museum, arguing that such objects were not currency but sacred ceremonial items whose magical significance had been obscured by later misidentification. The article situates the ingot within the broader ethnography of Malay mining ritual and the cross-cultural symbolism of the tortoise in the Malay world.
Summary
The ingot in question was donated to the Perak Museum in 1885 by A. Hale, Inspector of Mines, and was found in a tin mine at Kuala Dipang in the Kinta District. It bears a short, faintly written legend that has resisted definitive decipherment: a Siamese priest in Singapore identified it as a mantra in Burmese characters, while the French epigrapher George Cœdès, working from a cast and photograph, could not read it but concurred that it was almost certainly a mantra, with the script possibly Burmese or Mon. Linehan’s central argument is that the tortoise-shell ingot (kura-kura) was never a form of currency, contrary to the view advanced by Temple in his 1914 study of obsolete tin currency. Drawing on the testimony of the Malay trader Haji Mat Arshat, recorded by Laidlaw, Linehan establishes that these ingots were cast in duplicate as the “eldest-born of the smelting-furnace” or “eldest-born of the mines,” and were used in ceremonies attending the erection of the first pillar of a house and bequeathed as heirlooms.
Linehan further corrects a persistent error in the literature: Laidlaw had described the specimen as being of jongkong (boat) shape, a misidentification that subsequently misled Mrs A. Hingston Quiggin in her 1949 survey of primitive money. The plate in this article makes clear that the ingot is of the tortoise-shell type, which is distinct in form from the larger, heavier boat-ingots. Linehan also notes that the practices associated with these ingots, though sometimes attributed to Chinese miners, emanated largely from Malay medicine-men (pawang) who performed the appropriate ceremonies. The tortoise carried symbolic weight across the region’s cultures—avatar of Vishnu in Indian tradition, symbol of longevity in Chinese tradition—reinforcing its suitability as a vessel for sacred invocation at the commencement of new undertakings.
Key Findings
- The ingot weighs 1 lb. 14¼ ozs., shows no signs of deterioration (indicating pure tin content), and was donated to the Perak Museum by A. Hale, Inspector of Mines, in 1885 (p. 102).
- The inscription is in a script identified as possibly Burmese or Mon; Weera Patana (Siamese priest, Singapore) read it as a mantra, and Cœdès agreed it was very likely a mantra though he could not decipher it (p. 102).
- The ingot is the only known specimen of its type bearing an inscription, and the inscription is unique in being neither Malay nor Chinese (p. 103).
- The date of manufacture cannot be later than 1826, the year James Low expelled Siamese invaders from Kampar, the district in which Kuala Dipang is situated (p. 104).
- In Pahang, during the month of Muharram, the four great chiefs presented tin wrought into the shape of tortoises or other animals at the Ruler’s court in Pekan, confirming the ceremonial rather than monetary function of such objects (p. 102).
- Laidlaw’s 1904 account, based on the testimony of Haji Mat Arshat, records that tortoise-shell ingots were cast in duplicate, used in house-erection ceremonies, and bequeathed as heirlooms (p. 103).
Conclusion
Linehan’s definitive takeaway is that the tortoise-shell tin-ingot was a sacred object, originally cast with a mantra to sanctify the commencement of a new mine or dwelling, and that its magical significance persisted in the Malay world long after the original script and language had become unintelligible to later generations. The object thus represents a material trace of a syncretic ritual tradition in which Malay, Indian, and possibly Mon-Burmese religious elements converged in the tin-mining districts of Perak.
Context
- Linehan held the rank of C.M.G. and was a senior colonial administrator; his earlier work “History of Pahang” (JMBRAS, XIV, Pt. II, 1936) is cited here, and his perspective reflects that of a British official with deep familiarity with Malay court and mining customs.
- The article draws on the Perak Museum collection, the testimony of A. Hale (JSBRAS, No. 16, 1885), Laidlaw’s account in Temple’s 1914 reprint, and Doyle’s 1879 Tin Mining in Larut; its historiographical contribution lies in correcting the misidentification of the ingot’s shape and in arguing against the currency interpretation of animal-shaped tin objects.