1 Kapar, Klang, Langat: the Pawang (magician) mentions, by way of example, the names of three places on the Selangor coast which he wishes to visit in succession during the day “if the wind will listen to him.” The Pawang who told me this was a Kapar man (’Che ʿAkob). ↑
2 The first two lines are no doubt (as elsewhere) a sort of rhymed memoria technica, intended to “memorise” the accessories required for the rite. The tortoise here would appear to be a symbol of rain, as among the Sakais (wild tribes) of the Malay Peninsula. v. Haddon, Evolution of Art, p. 246. Can the “white” (or gray?) “ones” be the two lizards; and the “black one” the tortoise? The grass lizards are of various colours. ↑
3 The rice-spoon is a favourite weapon against spirits of evil, v. Maxwell in J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 19, which describes how a woman in travail is armed with a [rice-] spoon during an eclipse. ↑
4 Pĕngiran Chĕmcha, which I translate Prince Rice-spoon, appears to be a mock title of Bornean origin. Thus we read that “Pĕngiran” or “Pangeran” is the title of the four Ministers of State (wazirs) in Brunei, one of whom was called Pĕngiran Pamancha, of which the present name (Pĕngiran Chĕmcha) looks like a corruption.—J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 20, p. 36. ↑
5 Inverted (I was given to understand), by way of symbolising the vault of heaven—a good example of sympathetic magic. ↑
6 For other superstitions about the cat, vide pp. 190–192, infra. ↑
7 The mĕranti is a fine hard-wood forest tree. ↑
8 i.e. “May we be well sheltered.” ↑
10 The proverbs referred to are to be found in the collections of proverbs sent by Mr. Maxwell to Nos. 1, 2, and 3 of the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. The numbers are consecutive.
4. Apa guna-nia merak mengigal di hutan?
“What is the use of the peacock strutting in the jungle?”
The idea is that the beauty of the bird is thrown away when exhibited in a lonely spot where there is none to admire it.
72. Seperti ponggok merindu bulan.
“As the owl sighs longingly to the moon.”
A figure often used by Malays in describing the longing of a lover for his mistress. It recalls a line in Gray’s “Elegy,” “The moping owl doth to the moon complain.” [As to the story connected with the ponggok, vide infra, p. 122. Cpt. Kelham, vide infra, supposes the ponggok to be Scops lempiji, Horsf.]
73. Seperti kuang mekik di-puchuk gunong.
“Like the argus pheasant calling on the mountain peak.”
Another poetical simile for a complaining lover. Here he is compared to a lonely bird sounding its note far from all companions.
93. Seperti tetegok di-rumah tinggal.
“Like the night-jar at a deserted house.”
The tegok or tetegok is a bird common in the Malay Peninsula, whose habits are nocturnal and solitary. It has a peculiar, liquid, monotonous call. The phrase is used to signify the solitude and loneliness of a stranger in a Malay kampong.
Elsewhere (in notes afterwards published in the Selangor Journal) (vol. i. No. 23, p. 360) Sir W. E. Maxwell says “The burong tetegok is not a night bird, but flies by day. It can be distinguished by its short rapid note, which resembles tegok-tegok-tegok-tegok.” Apparently Sir W. E. Maxwell identifies this bird with the Malay night-jar (Caprimulgus macrurus. Horsf.) described by Capt. Kelham, in No. 9, page 122 of the J.R.A.S., S.B. None of the Dutch Dictionaries identify it clearly, though Klinkert (probably wrongly) identifies it with the small owl called ponggok, which is taken by Capt. Kelham to be Scops lĕmpiji, Horsf. ↑
11 Gerda meniumur kepah-nia. ↑
12 Another fabulous bird which Maxwell does not mention is the Walimana (which I have more than once heard called Wilmana in Selangor). On the identity of this bird, my friend Mr. Wilkinson, of the Straits Civil Service, sends me in a letter the following note:—“The word is walimana. I have often met it in old MSS. written The ‘wali’ is the same as the second word in Rajawali. The mana is ‘human’; cp. man, manushya, etc. The walimana in old Javanese pottery is represented as a bird with a human head, a sort of harpy. In the Hikayat Sang Samba it is the steed of Maharaja Boma, and repeatedly speaks to its master.” ↑
13 Laksana jintayu menantikan hujan “as the jintayu awaits the rain,” is a proverbial simile for a state of anxiety and despondency. Jintayu = Jatayu (Sanskrit), a fabulous vulture. ↑
The chandrawasi, bird of power,
Is closely hidden among the clouds.
Anxiety reigns in my heart,
Each day that I see not my love.
[To the above I may perhaps be allowed to add that the (dialectal) form chandrawasir is the form generally used in the southern part of Selangor (where the final “r” is still commonly preserved). The regular (Dictionary) form of the word, however, appears to be chandrawasih or chĕndĕrawaseh (the forms chĕndărawangsa, chĕndĕrawasa, and chĕndĕrawangseh being also found). In origin the word is undoubtedly Sanskrit.
It means the Bird of Paradise, but in those Malay countries where the Bird of Paradise is unknown, it is also applied to other birds, such as (in Malay romances) to the golden oriole and even to the ostrich. In the Malay Peninsula, too, it is said to fly feet upwards (which peculiarity it shares, according to Mr. Clifford, with the Berek-berek, Pub. J.R.A.S., S.B., Hik. Raj. Budiman, pt. ii. 35), and its eggs are sometimes said, on falling, to develop into the snake called chintamani. It is always considered lucky, and the “Bird of Paradise Prayer,” (doʿa chĕndrawasi) as it is called, generally takes an important place in the formulas recited at the ceremonies connected with the Rice-soul, q.v. For the confusion between the chĕndrawasi and berek-berek (probably due to the fact that the chĕndrawasi, or Bird of Paradise, is not to be found in the Peninsula) vide note on App. xxx.] ↑
15 The baberek appears to be yet another name for the goat-sucker or night-jar (Caprimulgus macrurus, Horsf.) Dawn of History, page 171. ↑
16 As it appears that in Europe, at all events, the legend of the Wild Huntsman and his dogs (or Gabriel’s Hounds, as they are often called) is explained by the cries of wild geese flying overhead on dark nights, it seems most convenient to give the Malay legend in connection with the birds with which the Malays associate him. The explanation to which I refer is to be found in Prof. Newton’s Dictionary of Birds (1893), sub voce “Gabble-ratchet.” I quote in extenso:—
“In many parts of England, but especially in Yorkshire, the cries of some kind of wild goose,17 when flying by night, are heard with dismay by those who do not know the cause of them, and are attributed to ‘Gabriel’s Hounds,’ an expression equivalent to ‘Gabble-ratchet,’ a term often used for them, as in this sense gabble is said to be a corruption of Gabriel, and that, according to some mediæval glossaries, is connected with gabbara or gabares, a word meaning a corpse (cp. Way, Promptorium Parvulorum, p. 320, sub voce ‘Lyche’); while ratchet is undoubtedly the same as the Anglo-Saxon ræce and Middle English racche or rache, a dog that hunts by scent and gives tongue. Hence the expression would originally mean ‘corpse-hounds,’ and possibly has to do with legends such as that of the Wild Huntsman.... The sounds are at times very marvellous, not to say impressive, when heard, as they almost invariably are, on a pitch-dark night, and it has more than once happened within the writer’s knowledge that a flock of geese, giving utterance to them, has continued for some hours to circle over a town or village in such a way as to attract the attention of the most unobservant of its inhabitants, and inspire with terror those among them who are prone to superstition. (Cp. Atkinson, Notes and Queries, ser. 4, vii. pp. 439, 440, and Cleveland Glossary, p. 203; Herrtage, Catholicon Anglicum, p. 147; Robinson, Glossary Whitby, (Engl. Dial. Soc.) p. 74; and Addy, Glossary Sheffield (Engl. Dial. Soc.) p. 83. Mr. Charles Swainson (Prov. Names, Br. B., p. 98), gives ‘Gabble-ratchet’ as a name of the night-jar, but satisfactory proof of that statement seems to be wanting.”18 ↑
17 Prof. Newton here has a note: “Presumably the BRANT, on the rare occasions when, losing its way, it comes inland, for the call-notes proceeding from a flock of this species curiously resemble the sound of hounds in full cry (Thompson, B. Irel. iii. p. 59), though some hearers liken them to the yelping of puppies. The discrepancy may to some extent depend on distance.” ↑
18 Possibly the sounds made by the geese might be attributed to the night-jar by peasants through the latter’s appearing at the time they were made. It is curious that the Malays as well should connect the night-jar with the Wild Huntsman. ↑
19 Selangor Malays add further that his whole body became overgrown with orchids, a conceit which recalls their story of a local hero who went on swimming in the sea until his body became covered with oysters! ↑
20 The Spectre Huntsman is said to butcher (bantai) his game, whenever he gets it, under a kind of wild areca palm (pinang sĕnawar). He then binds it up again with a creeper (akar gasing-gasing), and roasts it over an earth hearth (saleian), the floor (lantei) of which is of the pinang boring (another wild areca palm), and covers it over with wild banana leaves (tudong salei daun pisang hutan) and leaves of the rĕsam bracken. ↑
21 Selangor Malays add that the Spectre Huntsman himself instructed his son how to cure people who were suffering from the effects of his magic. These instructions were: “Take leaves of the bonglei, rĕsam, gasing-gasing, and wild banana, shred and distil them (di-uraskan), and administer the potion to the patient, together with sirih kunta and pinang kunta. Before administering it, however, an augury has to be taken: young shoots of the (wild?) cotton-tree (puchok daun kapas) are plucked and have the sap squeezed out of them (di-ramas). If the liquor is red the patient may be cured; but if it has a black look, nothing can be done to save him.” ↑
22 The sickness which results from crossing the path of the Spectre Huntsman (kalintasan) has choleraic symptoms (vomiting and voiding) and is quickly fatal; that resulting from his challenge or summons (katĕgoran) begins with persistent fever (dĕmam salama-lama-nya), but does not prove so rapidly fatal. ↑
23 As to this, vide App. xxx., note. ↑
24 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 12–18. ↑
25 Vide App. xxx., lines 13, 14, 15, and 16. ↑
27 I was once stationed for about eighteen months in a small out-of-the-way village on the Selangor coast, where three subordinate officers of the Government (foremen of works) had died successively, at comparatively short intervals. The last of these men, I was informed by the local Malays, received a kick from the Spectre Huntsman (di-sepak uleh Hantu Pĕmburu) as he was going down the hill to the village in the morning. He took no notice of the occurrence and proceeded down the river in a boat. Three hours later he vomited mangrove leaves(!) and was brought back dead! Cp. N. and Q., No. 2, sec. 32 (issued with J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 15). ↑
28 From J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 9, pp. 129, 130, “Malayan Ornithology,” by Captain H. R. Kelham, who adds:—
“I asked Mr. Low, H.B.M. Resident of Pêrak, if he could give me any information as to which species of Hornbill this legend relates to, and he writes—
“‘It is the largest Hornbill which is found in Pêrak, bigger, I should say, than the Rhinoceros Hornbill, but I have never seen it except flying, or on very high trees. The legend about it is very common, but I do not know the scientific name of that particular Hornbill; but it is not that you refer to, viz. Berenicornis comatus, Raffles; nor is it the Rhinoceros.’” ↑
29 Vol. i. No. 23, pp. 360–363. ↑
30 If Sir W. E. Maxwell is right this must be another name for the night-jar (vide p. 110n. supra). But the identification is at least doubtful. ↑
31 Vide supra, p. 109, note. ↑
32 Cp. Swett., Mal. Sketches, p. 160. ↑
33 Swett., Mal. Sketches, pp. 159, 160. ↑
34 In Selangor I have heard a similar story; but in this case it was a red-crested hornbill which supplied the buttons, which latter were said to turn green on the approach of poison. The only solid-crested hornbill is, I believe, the Rhinoplax. ↑
35 The amount of luck which goes with any particular bird of this species depends on the number of scales on its feet, for counting which certain verbal categories (like our own “tinker, tailor, soldier” formula) are used. Forty-four is the luckiest number of scales for one of these birds to possess. An example is: “Manuk (3), Manumah (5), Sangkesa (6), Desa (1), Dewa (4), Raja (2),” which has to be repeated as the scales are counted (beginning with the lowest scale). The numbers after the words indicate the order of the luck which the birds are supposed to bring; a ground-dove of the first order bringing luck worth a ship’s cargo (tuah mĕrbok tuak sa-kapal). I have kept these birds myself. ↑
36 Cp. the Malay pantun:—
“Tĕkukur di gulei lĕmak
Sulasi di-bawah batang
Lagi lumpor jalan sĕmak
Sĕbab kasih maka-nya datang.”
37 In Sel. Journ. vol. iii. No. 6, pp. 94, 95. ↑
38 Dissemurus platurus, Vieill. ↑
39 Haliætus leucogaster, Gm. ↑
40 An old Malay (in Selangor) once told me that the hornbill was the king of the birds until dispossessed by the eagle (Rajawali). If, as seems probable, the hornbill was taken as a substitute for the frigate-bird in places where the latter did not exist, this may be important. ↑
42 Corvus enca, Horsf., the Malay crow. ↑
43 I believe that a similar story exists in Siam, the Siamese, however, making turpentine play the part of the ink in the Malay story. ↑
44 Besides the hut, the necessary apparatus consists of: (1) Three rods (called ampeian or pinggiran) laid across the top of short forked sticks at a height of one or two feet from the ground. The whole space enclosed by these is called King Solomon’s palace-yard (halaman). (2) The buluh dĕkut, or bamboo pigeon-call, from 6 to 8 ft. in length, called “Prince Distraction.” (3) A rod with decoy-bird attached to it (by means of a string and noose at the end of the rod). (4) A rod with fine hair-like noose at the end, for snaring the wild pigeon, and dragging them into the hut. There is a door at back of hut as well as a small door or opening in front of hut, called pintu bangsi (mangsi or mansi). ↑
45 Bujang Sibor literally means the “Bachelor (i.e. solitary) Scooper.” The name has no doubt been chosen because it is thought to be lucky, possibly because it suggests “scooping in” (birds). ↑
47 Kapor, Puding, and Sarap, are the names of three varieties of pigeon, generally styled “princesses” in the charms used by pigeon-catchers. Their names are also given as Bujang Kapor, (the Solitary Kapor), Lela Puding (?), and Dayang Sarap (the Handmaiden Sarap). ↑
48 The mĕngkudu is a Malay forest tree (Morinda tinctoria). ↑
49 An alternative version runs:—
Caller, bamboo caller,
Caller of the wild doves,
Over the seven valleys, seven knolls of rising ground,
Re-echo the voice of my decoy.
Come down, Queen Kapor, Queen Puding, Handmaid Sampah,
With one hundred and ninety others.
Come down to this spot I stand on.
Come down from the north,
Come down from the south,
Come down from the east,
Come down from the west.
50 Another version has:—
This shoot of a creeper is “Prince Invitation,”
This hut is called the Magic Prince,
This decoy is called Prince Distraction.
Si Raja Nyila (from sila, mĕnyila) is the name given to the long slender rods with fine hair-like nooses at the end with which the pigeons are snared and dragged into the hut (vide App. xli.) ↑
55 Ibid. Note that the house-door must not face towards the south; if it faces southwards there will be no luck in the house and everything will go wrong.—J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 30, p. 306. Vide App. lv. ↑
56 Perhaps a corruption of “Bĕntara,” or Batara, Guru (i.e. Shiva), which is what we should here expect (vide the charms a few pages farther on). “Mĕntri” usually means “minister.” ↑
58 As to lucky and unlucky times, vide Chap. VI. pp. 545–550, infra. ↑
59 Cp. pp. 244–245, 248, infra. ↑
60 In a case where no trouble is expected on the part of the earth-spirit, even an egg (as the “symbol” of a fowl) may be sufficient as a sacrifice. ↑
62 An alternative method was thus described to me by a magician: Take a white cup, fill it with water, fumigate it with incense, and deposit it in the hole dug to receive the centre-post. Early next morning take note of it; if it is still full of water, it is a good sign; if the water has wasted (susut), a bad one. If live insects are found in it, it is a good sign, if dead ones, bad. There can, however, be little doubt that the original victim of this sacrifice was a human victim (generally perhaps a slave), for whom the buffalo was substituted (the goat, fowl, and egg representing further successive stages in the depreciation of the rite). Malays on the Selangor coast more than once told me they had heard that the Government was in the habit of burying a human head under the foundations of any unusually large structure (e.g. a bridge), and two cases where a local scare resulted from the prevalence of this idea were recorded in the local press (the Malay Mail) in 1897. For similar traditions of human sacrifice, vide p. 211 infra. ↑
64 For other “categories” vide p. 559, infra. ↑
65 Another form of measurement was from the threshold (of the front door) to the end of the house; but the method of augury in this case is not yet quite clear. ↑
66 This probably refers to the mystic Dragon which does duty (in Malay charm-books) as an “aspect compass.” Vide Chap. VI. p. 561, infra, and App. cclvii. ↑
68 J.R.A.S., S.B. No. 9, pp. 85, 86. This is an extract from the Marong Mahawangsa, the legendary history of Kedah, a State bordering on Lower Siam. The name Podisat (i.e. Bodhisattva) indicates Indo-Chinese Buddhist influence. It does not seem to occur elsewhere in Malay literature, though Buddhism flourished in Sumatra in the seventh century A.D. ↑
69 Of the rhinoceros not many superstitions are yet known. The rhinoceros horn, however (called chula), is believed to be a powerful aphrodisiac, and there is supposed to be a species of “fiery” rhinoceros (badak api) which is excessively dangerous if attacked. This latter is probably a mere fable, vide Cliff., In Court and Kampong, p. 33. ↑
70 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 23, 24. ↑
71 Young shoots of bamboo are eaten by Malays with curry. ↑
72 The skull of this elephant, riddled with bullets, was sent to the Government Museum at Kuala Lumpor, in Selangor. It had, so far as I remember, one stunted tusk. The present State surgeon (Dr. A. E. O. Travers) can speak to the facts. ↑
73 Sel. Journ. vol. iii. No. 6, p. 95 (quoted from Perak Museum Notes by Mr. L. Wray). ↑
74 Sel. Journ. vol. i. No. 6, p. 83, where this note is given. Probably “armadillo” is a mistake for “pangolin.” ↑
75 These leaves are such as are used by the medicine-man for his leaf-brush, i.e. leaves of the pulut-pulut, sĕlaguri, gandarusa, and the red dracæna (lĕnjuang merah). ↑
76 “The Malays believe that the power to inform a spirit, a wild beast, or any natural object, such as iron rust, of the source from which it originates (usul asal ka-jadi-an-nya), renders it powerless.” H. Clifford in No. 3 of the Publications of the R.A.S., S.B., Hikayat Raja Budiman, pt. ii. p. 8. This belief is found among all tribes of Malays in the Peninsula. Possibly the idea was that knowledge of another person’s ancestry implied common tribal origin. For the explanation of “Badi,” vide Chap. IV. p. 94, supra, and Chap. VI. p. 427, infra. ↑
77 “Rhinoceros” should be substituted for “elephant” passim, if it was the object of the hunter’s pursuit. This particular line should probably come at the end of the charm instead of the middle. ↑
78 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 22. ↑
79 Marsden, Hist. of Sum. p. 292, ed. 1811. ↑
80 J.R.A.S., S.B., l.c.
“They (the Sumatran Malays) seem to think, indeed, that tigers in general are actuated with the spirits of departed men, and no consideration will prevail on a countryman to catch or to wound one, but in self-defence, or immediately after the act of destroying a friend or relation. They speak of them with a degree of awe, and hesitate to call them by their common name (rimau or machang), terming them respectfully satwa (the wild animals), or even nenek (ancestors), as really believing them such, or by way of soothing or coaxing them, as our ignorant country folk call the fairies ‘the good people.’” [Dato’ hutan, “elder of the jungle,” is the common title of the tiger in Selangor. Various nicknames, however, are given, e.g. Si Pudong, “he of the hairy face” (Cliff., In Court and Kampong, p. 201), ’Pah Randau, “father shaggy-face,” etc.] “When an European procures traps to be set ... the inhabitants of the neighbourhood have been known to go at night to the place and practise some forms in order to persuade the animal, when caught, or when he shall perceive the bait, that it was not laid by them or with their consent. They talk of a place in the country where the tigers have a court, and maintain a regular form of government, in towns, the houses of which are thatched with women’s hair.”—Marsden, l.c. (The italics are mine.) It is curious that the Fairy Princess’ hall on Gunong Ledang is similarly described in the Sĕjarah Malayu (Malay Annals, p. 279) as being of bone and thatched with hair. ↑
81 Also called ’tas. The tiger is still supposed to be mortally afraid of los or ’tas wood. In fact, I was more than once told of a trapped tiger who on being shown a piece of ’tas wood “became quite silent,” though it had previously been savagely growling, and shrank into a corner of the trap. A single inch of this wood is thought an adequate protection against any tiger. I do not know what species of tree it belongs to, but a gorse stick (which I had bought some years before in Ireland) was taken to be a piece of los wood, and was begged from me by a local Malay headman, who cut it up into inches for distribution among his following. ↑
82 It appears that in Java there are supposed not only to be men who can themselves become tigers at will, but men who can turn other people into tigers as well. This is done by means of a species of sympathetic magic, the medicine-man drawing on a sarong (Malay skirt) of marvellous elasticity, which at first will only cover his great toes, but which he is able gradually to stretch until it covers his whole person. This sarong resembles the hide of a Bengal tiger (being yellow with black stripes), and the wearing of it in conjunction with the necessary charms will turn the required person into a tiger. ↑
83 Clifford, In Court and Kampong, pp. 65, 66. ↑
84 Malay Sketches, pp. 200, 201. ↑
85 Sel. Journ. vol. i. No. 6, p. 87. ↑
86 Or with a needle, vide infra. ↑
88 Sel. Journ. vol. i. No. 8, p. 115. Later Mr. Turney, writing under the nom de plume of a well-known Chinese servant, added the following:—
“Talking of the harimau kramat (ghost tigers) reminds me of the excitement there was in the town because a clever lady, called Miss Bird, was coming and would write about the place and people.
“My master had obtained intimation of this lady’s wants, and was directed to receive her on a certain date, and the Sultan’s people were told that a great ‘cherita (story) writer’ was coming who would tell the world of our Sultan and his dominions.
“On the appointed day the lady arrived, and accompanying her were a crowd of gentlemen, who were supposed to help her to get information.
“They all dined at my master’s, and the subjects discussed were very various, among others was the kramat (ghost) tiger, which had been shot a few days previously. They admired the skin of the tiger, which was in a state of good preservation, and Miss Bird regretted that she was too late to taste the flesh, which, my master said, made very good ‘devilled steaks,’ not unlike venison!”—(S. J. vol. i. No. 11, p. 171.) ↑
89 It may perhaps be supposed that she had thrown the rest of the body overboard before she was surprised by the sailing vessel. ↑
90 Cp. the other versions of this tale given in N. and Q., No. 3, Secs. 33, 34 (issued with J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 15). ↑
91 The explanation given to me of these two lines was that they were both based on a fancied resemblance between the parts referred to. ↑
92 A similar charm runs, “Madam Ugly is the name of your mother, Sir Stripes the name of your body. I fold up your tongue and muzzle your mouth; -wig -eak [stands for] let the twig break—break with the weight of this well-fed wild goose. Be (your mouth) shut fast and locked. If a bachelor loses his vocation, it does not matter.” (Here follow a few words of Arabic.) On reaching home you must never forget to unlock the tiger’s jaws, or “he will certainly bear a grudge against you!” To do this you must repeat the Arabic words with which the charm (just quoted) concluded, and then pronounce the Malay word buka, which means “open.” The Malays are fond of enigmatical expressions, in which the part of a word is made to stand for the whole. Cp. infra “Teng [stands for] the Satengteng flower.” Sometimes these expressions are propounded as riddles, e.g. “Ti tiong kalau kalau,” out of which the guesser was supposed to make “Banyak-banyak bĕSI, bĕLIONG ta’mĕmBALAU.” ↑
93 Chiefs, especially with reference to military functions. ↑
94 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 3, p. 139. ↑
95 “Two large and four species of small deer are found in the Peninsula, besides the babi rusa or hog-deer, which however is not a member of the same order. The large species are: the sambur (Rusa Aristotelis), a rather savage animal, larger than our own red deer; and the axis (A. maculata) or spotted deer. Of the small or Moschine species, the kijang is the largest; next to this comes the napuh; the third in size is the lanak; and the smallest is the pelandok or true pigmy deer.”—Denys, Descr. Dict. of Brit. Malaya, s.v. Deer. ↑
96 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 26. ↑
97 J. D. Vaughan in J.I.A. vol. xi. quoted in Denys, l.c. ↑
99 Sambon. I do not know any plant of this name. Possibly it may stand for sarimbun or sambau, the latter of which at least is commonly used by Malay medicine-men. ↑
100 I may add that the first person to draw blood is supposed to get sabatang daging lĕmbusir, a moiety of the kidneys (?) and the Pawang to get the other half. ↑
101 Kiramun katibun (lit. “illustrious writers”) are the two recording angels who are said to be with every man, one on the right hand to record his good deeds, and one on his left to record the evil deeds. They are mentioned in the Korān. Vide Hughes, Dict. of Islam, s.v. ↑
102 The token consists in chopping down a small tree and with it piercing the slot of the deer. ↑
103 Or, “whose art is more powerful than mine.” ↑
104 Possibly an allusion to the branching of the stag’s horns. The last two lines of this charm are obscure. ↑
105 Another Pawang gave me the following account, which is much fuller:—“On entering the jungle carry the toils with you till you meet with the slot of the deer, and then ask for a tree, saying as follows—