Royal tabus in Negri Sembilan
This short note by R. O. Winstedt catalogues the types of house, dress, weapons, and head-dress styles that were pantang larang (tabu) to all except the Yamtuan of Negri Sembilan in former days (p. 454).
Summary
The text enumerates specific architectural features—carved dripboards, kitchen annexes, central beams, projecting floors, folding doors, verandahs, turrets, tiered platforms, and others—that were reserved exclusively for the Yamtuan’s use (p. 454). It then lists prohibited articles of dress, including yellow clothes, specific skirt colours, silk cummerbunds with a creese thrust through them, scarves worn over the shoulder, ivory-inlaid creeses, gold- or silver-adorned divan mats, and ornamented head-cloths (p. 454). Prohibited weapons included creeses with bamboo or sago-palm sheaths, gold hilts, and plated daggers (p. 454). Finally, certain styles of tying the head-dress and the practice of entering palace precincts with an umbrella, scarf, or betel-set carried over the shoulder were also forbidden to non-royals (p. 455).