Penang lawyer

Perhaps a corruption of Penang liyar, the wild areca.

Penang lawyer (plural Penang lawyers)

1. A kind of walking stick made from the stem of the East Asiatic palm (Licuala acutifida).
   • 1901-02, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles:

     It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed, of the sort which is known as a "Penang lawyer."

• “Penang lawyer”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Licuala+acutifida at The Plant List