It was resolved, that the full name of the Straits Asiatic Society shall henceforth be changed to the "Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society."
It was resolved, that it shall be a rule of the Society to request the Governor of the Straits Settlements, for the time being, to be Patron of the Society and that His Excellency Sir W. F. C. Robinson be invited to accept that office.
A paper on the origin of the Chinese Triad Societies was read by W. A. Pickering, Esq.
A conversation upon the actual position and practise of the Tan Tae Höey in the Straits followed.
The Hon. Secretary then read a paper of Mr. N. Maclay's upon, "The Dialects of the Melanesian tribes in the Malay Peninsula."
This gave rise to a discussion upon the identity of the aboriginal races in the North and South of the Peninsula, and the marks of their connection with other Asiatic races to be found in their language, physical peculiarities, &c., and a proposal was made by Hon'ble J. Douglas, and heartily agreed to, that the other Branches of the Royal Asiatic Society in the East should be asked to assist this Branch in collecting Vocabularies and otherwise throwing light on this subject.
At the Monthly General Meeting of the Straits' Asiatic Society held on Monday evening the 3rd Jane there were present, of the Council, Archdeacon Hose, (President), Mr. A. M. Skinner, (Honry. Secretary), Dr. Bieber and Messrs. Miller and Koek; besides 35 members and visitors. Messrs. Tolson and Schomburgk Syeds Maliomed bin Ahmed, and Abu Bakar bin Omar, and Inches Mahomed Seyd, Ibrahim and Mahomed bin Maboob were elected Members. It was announced that H. E. the Governor had accepted the office of Patron to the Society.
The President then read extracts from M. Maclay's paper on the wild Tribes of the Peninsula, translated from the German.
The Honry. Seeretary (Mr. Skinner) then read a paper furnished by W. E. Maxwell, Esq., Assistant Resident of Perak, on the Proverbs of the Malays, exclusive of those to be found in the works of Klinkert, Favre and Marsden; Dr. Dennys' paper on the Snake-eating Serpent (Ophiophagus Elaps) of Singapore, was read by the President, in the unavoidable absence of Dr. Dennys. In the course of the proceedings, it was stated that the Journal is almost ready for publication.
The Meeting then adjourned to the date of its next regular meeting, the 1st July.
