‘Peace be with you, O ’Tap, Prophet of God, in whose charge is the Earth.
I ask for this tree (to enable me) to make fast these toils.’
Here begin to unroll the toils, saying—
‘Sir Tuft’ is the name of our rattan,
‘Sir Ring’ is the name of our toils.”
[The point of this charm is that “Sir Tuft” is an allusion to the origin of the rattan rope, which must have come, of course, from the “tufted” creeper of that name. Similarly, “Sir Ring” is supposed to be an allusion to the ring which formed the original unit of the toils, a collection of rings or nooses. The object of mentioning the origin of anything is that doing so is supposed to give one power over the article so addressed, v. p. 156 n., supra.] “Having completed the unrolling of the toils, double the connecting rope (from which the nooses hang) in two, and when this is done, enter them, holding them by the connecting rope (kajar), and say—
‘O Mĕntala (i.e. Batara) Guru, and Teachers one and all (dĕngan Gurwuru-uru), and Sir Yellow Glow,
Sir Yellow Glow knows all the ins and outs of it (?)
These toils of ours are twofold, O let them not be staled.
If they are staled, and we perform the penance for them, let our toils still kill the quarry.
If they are staled by the dogs, let our toils still kill the quarry.
If they are staled by men, let our toils still kill the quarry, by virtue of,’ etc., etc.”
106 Probably a pun upon teng, which was explained to me as meaning kaki sa-b’lah (“one foot only”), as in bĕrteng-teng, “to go on one foot,” to hobble; tengkis, “with one foot shortened or shrunken,” etc. The “satengteng flower” was explained as another name for the satawar. ↑
107 The corresponding charm for driving out the mischief, given by another deer Pawang (’Che Indut), appears to be more appropriate:—
O Mischief, Mother of Mischiefs,
Mischiefs One Hundred and Ninety (in number),
I know the origin from which you sprang.
The mischief of an Iguana was your origin.
The Heart of Timber was your origin,
The Yellow Glow of Sunset was your origin,
Return to the places from whence ye came,
Do me no harm or scathe.
If you do me harm or scathe, ye shall be consumed by the curse,
Eaten and enclosed in Disaster (bintongan), crushed to death by the Thirty Divisions of the Korān,
Smitten by the sanctity of the Four Corners of the Earth,
By virtue of, etc., etc.
Bintongan was explained to me carefully as = bĕnchana (calamity or disaster). ↑
108 This and the four succeeding names are evidently corruptions of the names of the four archangels, “Michael, Israfel, Azrael, and Gabriel.” Vide p. 98, supra. ↑
109 Vide pp. 94, 95, note, supra. ↑
110 In the Pĕlandok Jinaka, a Malay beast-fable, the Mouse-deer is styled “Sheikh ʿalam (or Shah ʿalam) di Rimba,” “Chief (or King) of the Forest.” ↑
112 Cp. our use of the phrase “an ugly customer,” vide App. lxxxi. ↑
113 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 26. ↑
114 The wild dogs of the jungle are considered by Malays to be not natural dogs, but “ghost” dogs of the pack of the Spectre Huntsman. They are regarded as most dangerous to meet, for, according to a Malay informant, “if they bark at us, we shall assuredly die where we stand and shall not be able to return home; if, however, we see them and bark at them before they bark at us, we shall not be affected by them. Therefore do all Malays give tongue when they meet the wild dog in the forest.” ↑
115 Or Sugar-palm (Arenga saccharifera). ↑
116 “The Malayan Sun-bear, the only animal of the bear species in the Peninsula. It is also known as the Honey-bear, from its fondness for that sweet. It is black in colour, with the exception of a semi-lunar-shaped patch of white on the breast, and a yellowish-white patch on the snout and upper jaw. The fur is fine and glossy. Its feet are armed with formidable claws, and its lips and tongue are peculiarly long and flexible, all three organs adapting it to tear open and get at the apertures in old trees where the wild bees usually build.”—Denys, Descr. Dic. Brit. Mal., s.v. Bruang. ↑
117 Bruin is also the Dutch word for a bear. The Malay form Bĕruang has also been derived from ruang, which is assumed, for this occasion only, to mean a “cave,” in order that Bĕruang may be explained as meaning the cave-animal. There is no evidence, however, to show that ruang ever did mean a cave, nor is the Malay bear a cave-animal. ↑
118 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 23. ↑
119 Cp. Cliff., Stud. in Brown Hum. p. 243 seqq. (The Strange Elopement of Chaling the Dyak). ↑
120 There seems to be some doubt as to the scientific nomenclature properly applicable to the Siamang.
The following is a specimen of a monkey legend: “A little farther up-stream two rocks facing each other, one on each side of the river, are said to have been the forts of two rival tribes of monkeys, the Mawah (Simia lar) and the Siamang (Simia syndactyla), in a terrible war which was waged between them in a bygone age. The Siamangs defeated their adversaries, whom they have ever since confined to the right bank of the river. If any matter of fact person should doubt the truth of this tradition, are there not two facts for the discomfiture of scepticism—the monkey forts (called Batu Mawah to this day) threatening each other from opposite banks of the river, and the assurance of all Perak Malays that no Mawah is to be found on the left bank?”—J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 9, p. 48. ↑
121 According to another account, the siamang is said to have originated from akar pulai, i.e. the roots of a pulai tree (the Malay substitute for cork, used to form floats for the fishing-nets). ↑
122 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 26. ↑
123 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 1, pp. 93, 94. ↑
124 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 22. ↑
125 The sacrificial buffalo (when presented to a Raja) is covered with a cloth, and has its horns dressed and a breast-ornament (dokoh) hung round its neck (vide Pl. 11, Fig. 2). In the case of a great Raja or Sultan, yellow cloth is used. ↑
126 Infra, Chap. VI. pp. 450–452. ↑
127 I may add that the dried penis of the squirrel (chula tupei) is believed to be a most powerful aphrodisiac, and that many Malays believe that squirrels are occasionally found dead with this organ caught fast in cleft timber.
Mr. H. N. Ridley, in a pamphlet on Malay Materia Medica, already referred to, says:—
“Many things are used as aphrodisiacs by the natives.... Among them are the ovipositor of a grasshopper, which is popularly supposed to be the male organ of the squirrel; Balanophora, sp., a rare plant growing on Mount Ophir, and the Durian (Durio zibethinus).” Mr. Ridley regards the use of Balanophora for this purpose as an illustration of the “doctrine of signatures.” ↑
128 Vide J.R.A.S., S.B., l.c. ↑
130 In Court and Kampong, p. 47. ↑
131 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 26. ↑
133 I have not heard this word used on the west coast. It is of the east coast that Mr. Clifford is here writing. ↑
134 In Court and Kampong, pp. 147, 148. ↑
137 One of these stones (cocoa-nut pearls) in my possession has recently been presented to the Ethnological Museum at Cambridge. It is encircled by a dark ring, caused, I was told, by its adherence to the shell of the cocoa-nut in which it was found, for it is asserted that it is usually, if not always, found in the open eye or orifice at the base of the cocoa-nut, through which the root would otherwise issue.—W. S. ↑
138 Quoted from the Singapore Free Press in Denys’ Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya, p. 80. ↑
139 Nephelium lappaeum, L. (Sapindaceae). ↑
140 Baccaurea motleyana, Hook. fil. (Euphorbiaceae). ↑
141 Or Langsat (Lansium domesticum, Jack; Meliaceae). ↑
142 Resembling the last named, but larger, and finer in flavour. ↑
143 Garcinia mangostana, L. (Guttiferae). ↑
Sakarang ’kau mahu bĕrbuah, atau tidak?
Kalau tidak, aku tĕbangkan.
Ya-lah, sakarang aku ’nak bĕrbuah
Aku minta’ jangan di-tĕbang.
146 This instrument consisted of a single short joint of bamboo, about nine inches in length by three inches in diameter, closed at one end only, near which was an orifice into which the performer blew. These instruments (tuang-tuang) are reported to have been formerly used by the Langat pirates, and are said to be still used by the Malay fishermen at Bernam, in Selangor, for calling their boats together. ↑
147 In Selangor a freak of this kind is called samambu bangkut, or “dwarfed (stunted) samambu.” One of this species belonged to the Sultan, and was kept in a yellow case. Sometimes, whether through the splitting of the bark on one side or some similar cause, an excrescence like a gigantic rat-tail will form on one side of the stem, a peculiarity which is believed to give the stick that is made from it immense value. To merely tap a person in play with one of these sticks (which are called sĕngat pari or “sting-rays’ tails”) will, it is believed, raise a most painful weal, whilst to strike a person hard with one would assuredly kill him. A Malacca-cane, one of whose knots is inverted and the other not, is also considered of great value, being believed to render the bearer of it invulnerable (jadi pĕlias).—Cp. J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 17, p. 155. ↑
148 In Selangor bĕlum sampei is the phrase used. ↑
149 In Selangor rotan manau. ↑
150 Sel. Journ. vol. iii. No. 6, pp. 95, 96. ↑
151 Another Selangor version says that whilst the wife is boiling the stones, the husband is climbing the Malacca-cane plant (samambu) in order to get to the sky. The husband keeps calling out, “Are they cooked yet?” (Masak bĕlum?), as in the version just given, and the wife cries, “Have you reached it yet? Have you reached it yet?” (Sampei bĕlum?) ↑
152 In Selangor it is called Tualang (= ’Toh Alang?) and Sialang (= Si Alang?), and is the tree on which the wild bees build their nests. ↑
153 Strips of palm-leaves for thatching houses. ↑
154 One who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca. ↑
155 Sel. Journ. vol. iii. No. 6, p. 96. ↑
158 “Certain customs are observed in Siak in the collection of wax which may be mentioned here.
“The sialang (that is, a tree on which bees have made nests) is generally considered to belong to him who finds it, provided it stands in a part of the forest belonging to his tribe. Should the tree stand in a part of the jungle apportioned to another tribe, the finder is permitted to take for once all the wax there is on the tree, and ever afterwards, during his lifetime, all the wax of one branch of the tree. After his death the tree becomes the property of the tribe to whom that part of the jungle belongs.
“When wax is collected from a tree there are generally three persons to share in it, and the proceeds are divided as follows: viz., one-third to the proprietor of the tree, one-third to the man who climbs the tree, and one-third to the man who keeps watch below. These two latter offices are considered rather dangerous, the first because he has to climb the towering sialang trees, branchless to a considerable height, by means of bamboo pegs driven into the trunk; and the watch-keeper underneath, because he has to face the bears and tigers who (so it is said) come after the wax and honey.
“The following trees are generally inhabited by bees (lebah), and then become sialangs; near the sea, pulei, kempas, kayu arah, and babi kurus; whilst farther in the interior ringas manuk and chempedak ayer are their general habitats.
“Besides the lebah there is to be found in Siak another bee, called neruan, which does not make its nest on trees, but in holes.
“The regulations observed when taking the wax of the lebah do not apply to the taking of the wax and honey of the neruan. Anybody is at liberty to look for them wherever and whenever he likes.”—F. Kehding, in J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 17, pp. 156, 157. ↑
159 When the orchid was to be planted it was found that there was no room for it on the ground between the trees, and hence it was planted upon them. ↑
160 Under the heading of Divination a description will be given of a method of augury by means of one of these lime-fruits into which a spirit was supposed to have entered. See also one of the methods of abducting another person’s soul by causing it to enter into a bunch of seven lime-fruits. The use of the lime-fruit by the Malays for purposes of ablution was no doubt of ceremonial origin. ↑
161 Correctly, Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands and Adjacent Countries. ↑
162 The tree is also in Selangor known as ’Karas or tĕngkaras. Tabak or ’long tabak is the name given to the tree by the wild jungle-tribes, but I cannot say if it is therefore a Sakai word in origin. I was told that this product eagle-wood was also occasionally found in other trees, such as the Baru-baru, but I cannot in any way vouch for this. ↑
163 A catty (kati) is 1⅓ lb. avoir. ↑
164 Homali hamali looks like a corruption of S’ri Dangomala, S’ri Dangomali in the Rice-charms (q.v.) Otherwise this first sentence is evidently too corrupt to be translated. ↑
166 Mustajak: the Selangor form is “mĕstajap.” ↑
167 Bĕlingkah: read Bĕlingkar. ↑
168 Menginjan (sic): (?) Mĕnginjau or Mĕninjau. A rough translation is as follows: [The first sentence is unintelligible.] “‘Come down and I shall be bounden to you. Come down, O Kadim, in company with me.’ ‘I grant this,’ says Eagle-wood. ‘So be it,’ says God. By virtue of ‘there is no god but God.’ Ho, Princess that art Coiled-up, Princess that Danglest, Princess that Stretchest forth (thine arms), I ask that this tree may be full of eagle-wood. Attempt not to command me, attempt not to conceal yourself from me, for if you do you shall be a rebel unto the Lord.” ↑
169 This statement must not be accepted without reserve, though it may be true of the particular districts in which the information contained in this article was collected. ↑
170 In some parts of Selangor, said to be called “nibong” or gharu “tulang ayam.” ↑
171 In Selangor called gharu “jĕnjolong.” ↑
173 Yet another variety is called in Selangor gharu “isi kang tua.” The following are the names of certain other, gharu-trees, of which the product, however, is said to be useless for market purposes. They are gharu tutor, gharu dĕdap, gharu kundor, and gharu akar. ↑
174 A pikul is 133⅓ lbs. avoir. ↑
175 R.N.B. in J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 18, pp. 359–361. ↑
176 On putting this theory to the test, I found that the singing noise referred to was in reality nothing but the low whispering noise caused by the flow of the sap, which could be distinctly heard, even without putting the ear to the bark, when the tree was struck by the cutlass. The Malays, however, look upon it as the voice of the spirit, and add that if you hear it at night you must repeat the charm, altering the first line only to “Ho, offspring of the King of Forest Butterflies” (Hei anak S’ri Rama-rama hutan). ↑
177 “The gaharu merupa is a piece of strangely formed gaharu wood, having a rough resemblance to some living creature, be it a bird, a dog, a cat, or something else.
“The writer of these lines has never been able to see one of these gaharu merupa, and it would seem that none have been found in Siak in recent times.
“The power which it is believed to possess rests on the supposition that it is the spirit of the kayu gaharu. With it in hand, the holder is sure to make large finds of gaharu wood in the jungle.
“The gaharu wood is not the wood of a tree named gaharu, but is the product of a tree of the name of karas.”—J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 17, p. 154. ↑
178 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 26, pp. 39, 40. ↑
179 Orang hulu literally means “men of the inland country,” but here denotes especially the aborigines known to the Malays as Jakun, orang hutan, orang bukit, and by other names. ↑
180 J. I. A., vol. i. p. 293. Nos. 1, 3, and 8 of the J.R.A.S., S.B., contain further notes on the subject. ↑
181 Sic: no doubt this is for sambal, a variety of condiments (more or less resembling chutney) and eaten with curry. ↑
182 Pĕnghulu Kapur, i.e. “Camphor Chief.” ↑
183 “Camphor is a gum (not the pith or heart of wood, as Avicenna and some others think), which, falling into the pith-chamber of the wood, is extracted thence or exudes from the cracks. This I saw in a table of camphor wood at a certain apothecary’s, and in a piece of wood as thick as the thigh, presented to me by Governor John Crasto, and again in a tablet a span broad at a merchant’s. I would not, however, deny that it may sometimes be deposited in the hollow of a tree. It is told me as a fact, that it is the custom that when any one who goes out to collect it has filled his gourd, if any other stronger person sees him with the gourd, he can kill him with impunity and take away the gourd, fortune assisting him in this. That which is brought from Borneo is usually mixed with small bits of stone, or some kind of gum called Chamderros, much like raw sugar or sawdust. But this defect is easily detected; I know no other method of adulteration. For if sometimes it is seen to be spotted with red or blackish dots, that is due to treatment with dirty or impure hands, or they may be caused by moisture. But this defect is easily remedied by the Indians. If it is tied up in a cloth and dipped in warm water to which soap and lime-juice has been added, and then carefully dried in the shade, it becomes very white, the weight not being altered. I saw this done by a Hindu friend who entrusted me with the secret.... What they say as to all kinds of animals flying together to its shade to escape the fiercer beasts is fabulous. Nor is it what some, following Serapion, write less so, namely, that it is an omen of larger yields when the sky glitters with frequent lightning, or echoes with constant thunder. For as the island of Sumatra, which some think to be Taprobane, and the adjacent regions are near the equinoctial line, it follows that they are subject to constant thunderstorms, and for the same cause have storms or slight showers every day; so camphor ought to be abundant every year. From which it is clear that the thunder is neither the cause nor indication of a larger supply of camphor.”—Garcia in the Historia Aromatum (1593), quoted in J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 26, p. 37.
“The camphor is so far considered as a barang larangan that nobody is allowed to go and collect it without having a special permit from the Sultan. This permit is only given after the Sultan has made sure that a good Pawang accompanies the party, a man who is able to know from the outside of a tree whether it contains camphor or not.
“The gratuity to be given to the Pawang is not fixed by law, but is settled beforehand on every expedition; also the share of the Sultan.
“The regulations which have to be observed when collecting camphor are most strange; for instance, those who go on the expedition are not permitted during the whole time of its duration to wash or bathe; they have to use a peculiar language, which differs from ordinary Malay. Compare what is known on this point of similar usages amongst the Battaks.
“The collectors have to go on through the jungle until the hantu kapur (the camphor spirit), a female, appears to the Pawang in his dreams, and shows him the direction in which success may be expected.”—J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 17, pp. 155, 156. This account has reference to Siak, in Sumatra. ↑
185 These last five lines contain allusions to the implements with which the Pawang does his work; the Ivory Cup is the tagok, a bamboo vessel in which the sap of the Blossom-shoot is received. The Ivory Bath is the copper in which the cocoa-nut sugar is made, the name given to it being an allusion to the chemical change which accompanies the process. ↑
186 Inche Muhammad Jaʿfar, of Malacca. ↑
187 [In 1893 these months extended from the 17th May to the 14th July.—C.O.B.] ↑
188 [In 1893 from the 16th May to the 13th June.—C.O.B.] ↑
189 In what may be called the “dry” method of planting rice (bĕrhuma or bĕrladang) the ceremonies naturally differ somewhat, as the forest has to be felled, if not every year, at least more often than is the case with the “wet” system; and the rice-seed is not sown in nurseries (as a rule), but either scattered broadcast or planted with the dibble whilst the ground cultivated is comparatively dry and no embankments are required. This is not, of course, intended to be an exhaustive description of the differences between the two systems (for which there is here no space), but merely to point out certain salient differences. A specimen of the charms used by the orang bĕrhuma (“dry padi” planters) will be found in the Appendix. The account in the text refers only to the wet method, which is by far the more important one, though the dry cultivation is probably the more ancient of the two. ↑
190 An account of the birth of Muhammad which is intoned by a number of people in the mosque. ↑
191 The tajak may perhaps be better described as a (kind of) hoe than a scythe. ↑
192 Two strips of cocoa-nut leaf are braided into a square bag, hollow inside, which is half filled with rice, and then boiled so that when cooked the rice fills the bag. ↑
193 Flour is mixed with sugar and with the expressed juice of the pulp of the cocoa-nut, and put into a piece of plantain leaf about two fingers long, which is then folded and the whole is steamed, that is put into a pail known as kukusan, which is placed in a large pan containing water having a fire lighted under it so that the contents of the kukusan are cooked by means of steam only. ↑
194 Tĕpong tawar consists of rice-flour mixed with water. A bundle is made of the following leaves, ribu-ribu (a creeper), gandarusa, sĕnjuang, sambar dara, sipuleh, sitawar and chakar bebek (a small shrub); the end of this bundle is dipped into the tĕpong tawar, which is then sprinkled about. ↑
195 The italics are mine.—W. S. ↑
196 Licuala paludosa, Griff, and other species. ↑
197 Jari lipan—lit. centipede’s feet, i.e. a sort of fringe generally made of plaited strips of cocoa-nut leaf. ↑
198 Tĕrap—a kind of wild bread-fruit tree. ↑
199 Strips of bamboo or fronds of palm-leaf braided into an open square shape with cords attached to the four corners, the ends of the cords being joined so that it can be hung up. ↑
200 Buah kĕras, the “Candle-nut.” ↑
201 The cut rice is beaten, by handfuls, against the inner edge of the bucket so that the grain falls into the bucket; this process is called mĕmbanting padi, a phrase here rendered by “threshing.” ↑
202 The tuai or pĕnuwai is a much smaller instrument than the sickle (sabit) and cuts only a few ears at a time, vide supra, p. 58. ↑
203 A koyan, as a measure of weight, contains 40 pikuls = 5333⅓ lbs.
Rather over 20 gallons (gantang) of rice (padi) go to a pikul.
The term koyan is also used as a measure of capacity, in which sense it contains 800 gantangs.
The term gantang has been rendered here by “gallon,” of which it is at present the legal equivalent, but the native gantang had a standard varying according to locality. ↑
204 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 30, pp. 297–304. ↑
205 On my asking her what these names signified, the Pawang told me that “s’ri gading” meant the husk, and “gĕmala gading” the kernel or grain of the rice-fruit. ↑
206 Menangkabau and Naning pronunciation for bĕrpuar. Puar is the name of a jungle plant, said to be akin to cardamom, the stem of which is used as a sort of javelin in this mock combat. [In Selangor this mock combat is called singketa.—W.S.] ↑
207 Bĕras bĕrtih, “parched” rice. ↑
208 Five would probably be nearer the mark, but Malay chronology is very uncertain. ↑
209 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 29, pp. 7–12. ↑
210 These were newly-plaited round baskets, three in number, and diminishing in size from the Pawang’s right to her left (the big one being supposed to contain seven, the medium size five, and the smallest one three, gĕmalan of padi); they were each bound round, just under the rim, with the female variety of the creeper called ribu-ribu freshly gathered that morning. ↑
211 One of these was called the pĕnuwei sulong (lit. eldest rice-cutter), which was only to be used—when the Pawang had done with it—by the owner of the rice-field, and the blade of which is fitted into a piece of the wood called pompong; the reason given being that the pompong was the wood of which these instruments were originally made, whilst what I may call the handle of the instrument was made of a slip of bamboo stopped from end to end with wax. About the other two pĕnuweis there was nothing specially remarkable. ↑
212 These are the names of two girls mentioned in the “Malay Annals” (Sĕjarah Malayu) to whose rice there happened a strange phenomenon. The following is Leyden’s translation (in which the names appear as Ampu and Malin). “The name of its (the country of Palembang’s) river was Muartatang (Muartenang ?) into which falls another river named Sungey Malayu (Malay River), near the source of which is a mountain named the mountain Sagantang Maha Miru (v. p. 2, supra). There were two young women of Belidung, the one named Wan-Ampu, and the other Wan-Malin, employed in cultivating rice on this mountain, where they had large and productive rice-grounds. One night they beheld their rice-fields gleaming and glittering like fire. Then said Ampu to Malin, ‘What is that light which is so brilliant? I am frightened to look at it.’ ‘Make no noise,’ said Malin, ‘it is some great snake or naga.’ Then they both lay quiet for fear. When it was daylight they arose and went to see what it was shone so bright during the night. They both ascended the hill, and found the grain of the rice converted into gold, the leaves into silver, and the stalks into brass, and they were extremely surprised, and said, ‘This is what we observed during the night.’” The account proceeds to show how the prodigy was due to a supernatural visit from a descendant of Raja Secander Zulkarneini.—Leyden, Mal. Ann., pp. 20, 21. The words in brackets are mine. ↑
213 Whilst drawing together the heads of the sheaf before actually planting the sugar-cane in the ground, the following lines were repeated by the Pawang:—