“Yes, it’s sweet
... to grouse about the crops,
And sweet to hear the tales the natives tell,
To watch the king and chieftains playing leisurely at tops,
While the country’s bowling gaily down to hell.”
—Hugh Clifford (adapted from Rudyard Kipling). ↑
171 More probably India or Persia (?). ↑
172 Taken from Clifford and Swett., Mal. Dict., s.v. Châtor. ↑
173 Notes and Queries No. 1, sec. 23, issued with J.R.A.S., S.B. No. 14. Quoted in Denys, Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya, s.v. Cards. ↑
174 Selangor Journal, vol. v. No. 13, pp. 210–12. I may add that luck in gaming is largely thought by the Malays to depend upon fortunate dreams. Vide p. 563, infra. ↑
175 I cannot find either ping, ning, or biling in the dictionaries, and the only chance perhaps of finding out the meaning will be to collate the rhymes used for this game in other States. I have heard it several times here, and it has always been the same. ↑
176 Probably the species of sea-turtle known by that name. ↑
177 The ordinary Indian name for “clarified butter,” which is used largely in Eastern cookery. ↑
178 It is almost impossible to translate nursery rhymes satisfactorily, and the versions here given must be regarded as tentative and necessarily imperfect. ↑
179 Vide supra, p. 484, note. ↑
180 Literally, “Brothers and Sisters and Chiefs”; this refers to the Spirits who inhabit the villages, and not to the Humans. ↑
181 The term used is Penjak pengantin, which means musicians and bridegroom. The former term includes all people belonging to the Ma’iong who make a noise. The latter term means a man whose wedding is being celebrated, but in this connection it is applied to the Pa’iong or jeune premier. ↑
182 These names are given by the Ma’iong people to the two big gongs used by them (tetâwak or tâwak-tâwak). Gĕmûroh is formed from gûroh (= thunder), in exactly the same way as kĕmûning, the yellow wood used for the cross-pieces of kris scabbards, is formed from kûning (= yellow). Dĕngong is the word used to describe the noise made by a gong, by the wind, or any other sonorous sound. ↑
183 The phrase in the original is Halûan sûsun. The former word means the bows of a boat, the latter is applied to things fitted together, as sirih leaves are fitted when one leaf is laid on the top of another. The use of this phrase is very curious, and I believe it to convey the sense which I have rendered. I have never heard the phrase in any other connection, nor have I met with it except in this incantation. [Should not the correct reading be halun (= alun) susun, which is a fairly common Malay phrase used of the waves “crowding” one upon another on a stormy day?—W.S.] ↑
184 Chinta-mâni, the name of a very short snake of a golden yellow colour, the presence of which is regarded as a lucky omen. ↑
185 Awang is a very common male proper name among the natives of Kelantan, and in addressing any man whose name is not known it is always used, much as Kûlop is employed among the natives of Perak. ↑
186 Malays believe Spirits to be extremely sensitive as regards their origin and their habits, and any knowledge possessed by a human being on these subjects renders the spirit harmless. [The same idea has been noticed supra with reference to animals, etc.] ↑
187 The least sensitive spirit in the world might not unreasonably dislike so many personal remarks of such a frankly unflattering nature. ↑
188 This is hardly an accurate description of the temporary shed in which ma’iong people perform. Seven among the Malays, as with other Orientals, is the mystic number. ↑
189 Selangor Journal, vol. ii. No. 26, pp. 423–429. ↑
190 If the performance is to last for more than one or two nights, a proper shed (bangsal) may be erected. ↑
191 The third is for the Jin Puteh, or “White Genie,” and the fourth for the Jin Hitam, or “Black (Earth) Genie.” ↑
192 The Malay account of this ceremony with the text of the charms used will be found in App. ccxxiv. seqq. ↑
193 Vide J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 2, p. 163. ↑
194 J. D. Vaughan in J.I.A., quoted in Denys, Desc. Dict. of Brit. Mal., s.v. Puppet Shows. ↑
196 Even wild beasts, it is said, can be stopped in this way; see Beast Charms, p. 156, supra. ↑
197 Vide Eagle-wood tree, Camphor, Fishing, etc., supra. ↑
198 Defiance is intimated by a war-dance on the ramparts (pĕnglima bĕrsilat or bĕrentak di-atas kubu). Cp. Begbie, Malayan Peninsula, p. 170. ↑
199 This legendary war of Tan Saban with the second king of Perak owes its origin probably to mythological accounts of the wars of Salivahana and Vikramaditya, which Hindu settlers, not improbably, brought to Malay countries. Saban is a natural corruption of Salivahana.—J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 9, p. 94. ↑
200 When swearing fidelity, alliance, etc., water in which daggers, spears (lĕmbing), or bullets have been dipped is drunk, the drinker saying, “If I turn traitor, may I be eaten up by this dagger” or “spear,” etc., as the case may be (jika aku belut, aku di-makan k’ris ini d.s.b.) ↑
204 The original text proceeds to give an explanation of certain patterns of damask given in a plate, which is not reproduced here. ↑
205 The Code of Sultan Mahmud Shah, the last Malay Raja of Malacca, who was expelled by the Portuguese under Albuquerque in A.D. 1511.
This Code was probably founded on earlier regulations ascribed to Sultan Muhammad Shah, the first Muhammadan Raja of Malacca, and Sultan Mudhafar Shah, his son. Nothing is known about the laws of the last named, except that (according to the Sĕjarah Malayu, chap, xii.), “he ordered the Book of Institutes, or Kitab Undang-Undang, to be compiled,” but the preceding chapter of the same work has a good deal to say about the laws of Sultan Muhammad Shah, and mentions that he “prohibited the ornamenting of creeses with gold, etc.” See Leyden, op. cit., pp. 94, 118.
A similar prohibition occurs in section i. of Sultan Mahmud’s Code, of which a translation will be found in Newbold, Malacca, vol. ii. pp. 231 seq. ↑
206 Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 202–208. Vide Chap. II. p. 33, supra. ↑
207 Swettenham, Malay Sketches, pp. 207, 208. ↑
208 Yet the act of sneezing is considered so fraught with the risk of the soul’s escaping, that not unfrequently after a severer sneeze than usual, a Malay will attempt to call his soul back by ejaculating “Cluck! Soul!” (kur, sĕmangat!) as if he were calling a chicken, and the regular use of the phrase “Al-hamdu li’llah” (Praised be God), after sneezing suggests that he may be relieved to find his soul still in his own possession. ↑
209 See J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 19, 20. ↑
210 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 26–28. In Selangor “Kursĕmangat, tuboh budak ini,” “My soul! the body of the boy,” or some such phrase is occasionally used. ↑
211 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 27. ↑
212 Examples are:—(1) the burning of incense ... (vide Medicine, pp. 410 seqq. and elsewhere, passim); (2) the inspection of the water in the “Three Jars” ceremony, ibid.; (3) the scattering of parched rice, ibid.; (4) the application of the “Rice-Paste” (tĕpong-tawar) ceremony (vide Marriage, Fishing, etc.); (5) the sound of water struck by a canoe paddle (vide Crocodile-catching); (6) the manner of falling of the filed-off portion of a tooth (vide Adolescence); (7) the whisper of the sap in the bark of a gharu-tree, when the latter is struck by a cutlass (vide Vegetation Charms), and a host of others. ↑
213 My informant did not make it plain whether the same charm was repeated on each of these three occasions, or whether a different charm was used in each case. Probably the latter would be the more correct course. ↑
214 Swettenham, Malay Sketches, pp. 201–207. ↑
217 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 3, pp. 30, 31. Ordeals by immersion of the hands in boiling oil or molten tin are also mentioned in the old Johor Code of Laws. Vide Crawford, Dict. of Ind. Isl., s.v. Ordeal. ↑
218 A number of these diagrams, all of which are in the author’s possession, are shown in the illustrations to this section. They seem to be closely connected with the system of “magic squares,” which has probably come to Europe from the East. ↑
220 “The original Javanese week, like that of the Mexicans, consists of five days, and its principal use, like that of the same people, is to determine the markets or fairs held in the principal villages or districts. This arbitrary period has probably no better foundation than the relation of the numbers to that of the fingers of the hand. The names of the days of this week are as follows:—Lăggi, Pahing, Pon, Wagi, Kliwon.... The Javanese consider the names of the days of their native week to have a mystical relation to colours, and to the divisions of the horizon.
“According to this whimsical interpretation, the first means white, and the east; the second, red, and the south; the third, yellow, and the west; the fourth, black and the north; the fifth, mixed colour, and focus, or centre. It is highly probable that, like the week of the continental nations of Asia and Europe, the days were named after the national gods. In an ancient manuscript found in Java, which will be afterwards referred to, the week of five days is represented by five human figures, two of which are female and three male.”—Crawfurd, Hist. of the Indian Archipelago, vol. i. pp. 289, 290. ↑
221 Communicated by Sir George Birdwood of the India Office.
But in Bali S’ri is the wife of Vishnu, or more usually of Shiva. “As goddess of the rice-fields she is called S’rî ... and has temples on the sawahs [rice-fields], and on the roads between them.”—Misc. Papers relating to Indo-China, etc., Second Series, vol. ii. p. 105.
She is frequently mentioned in Malay invocations connected with rice-planting; vide p. 89, supra, and App. cix. ↑
222 Cf. such words in Malay as panchawarna or pancharona (lit. of five colours), panchalogam (lit. of five metals), which are of Indian origin, with the Indian pancharangi, panchatantra, etc. ↑
223 Or does this mean “black or red”? But red is Brahma’s colour, and for Kala one would a priori expect black to be appropriate. ↑
224 See App. ccxliii. for an extract from a treatise on these subjects. ↑
225 Both this table and that of the Katika Lima have been reversed in translating from the originals, which, being in the Arabic character, run from right to left. ↑
226 See App. ccxliv. for an extract from a short treatise on this subject. ↑
227 The table is given in App. ccxlv. ↑
229 Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 354. ↑
231 The names are given supra. Katib is another name for Mercury, and Venus is sometimes known as Bintang Kajura and Bintang Babi; vide Kl., s.v. Bintang. ↑
232 Maxwell in J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 21. ↑
233 Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 355. ↑
234 There is a treatise on the Bintang Dua-b’las, too long to give in full, of which a short extract will be found in App. ccliv. ↑
235 The following names of constellations are taken from Klinkert, s.v. Bintang and elsewhere:
Bintang Mayang, the Virgin (lit. the Spathe of Palm-blossom).
Bintang Pari, the Southern Cross (lit. the Skate or Sting-ray).
Bintang B’lantek (C. and S.) i.e. the Spring-gun, or rather Spring-spear-trap (also called by its Arabic name al-jubar), Orion.
Bintang Bidok, or Bintang Jong, the Great Bear (lit. the Boat or Junk).
Others bear more familiar names, e.g.:—
Bintang Utara or Kotub (?), the Pole-Star (lit. North Star).
Bintang Kala, the Scorpion.
Whilst Bintang Alnasj (Alnash) is the “Wain.” ↑
236 Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. p. 355. Cf. Colebrooke’s Life and Essays, vol. iii. p. 284. ↑
237 A Shaʿir Rĕjang has been published at Singapore, and for an extract from the Rĕjang of ’Che Busu, the reader is referred to the Appendix. ↑
238 The MS. here and in the blanks above is defective or illegible. But the prescriptions for the other days show that the image is to be thrown either in some definite direction or into the jungle, simply; on each day the thing to be thrown away of course corresponds with the symbol of the particular day. ↑
239 Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 356, 357. ↑
242 Occasionally these squares, instead of being reversed, are turned sideways, thus:—
| 8 | 3 | 4 |
| 1 | 5 | 9 |
| 6 | 7 | 2 |
| 17 | 23 | 4 | 10 | 11 |
| 24 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| 1 | 7 | 13 | 19 | 25 |
| 8 | 14 | 20 | 21 | 2 |
| 15 | 16 | 22 | 3 | 9 |
| 30 | 38 | 46 | 5 | 13 | 21 | 22 |
| 39 | 47 | 6 | 14 | 15 | 23 | 31 |
| 48 | 7 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 | 40 |
| 1 | 9 | 17 | 25 | 33 | 41 | 49 |
| 10 | 18 | 26 | 34 | 42 | 43 | 2 |
| 19 | 27 | 35 | 36 | 44 | 3 | 11 |
| 28 | 29 | 37 | 45 | 4 | 12 | 20 |
243 The crescent, or crescent and star, are here used as emblems of the 1st day of the (lunar) month. ↑
244 The order should (it would seem) be Kala, S’ri. ↑
247 Possibly this notion is partly responsible for the ridiculous European legend about Muhammad’s coffin being suspended between heaven and earth, of which idea there seems to be no trace amongst the Muhammadans themselves. ↑
248 Another such indication is hair growing close to the ears. ↑
249 Double lines round the base of the thumb are called rĕtak madu. ↑
250 J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 9, pp. 23–26. ↑
251 An analysis of them would, however, show what objects are most generally aimed at by those who use them. It may be safely estimated that the sexual relations are here of the first importance, the majority of the charms having reference to them, directly or indirectly. ↑
252 Supra, pp. 49, 50. The methods here given are closely akin to those of medicine (v. pp. 452–456, supra); but the ends are different. The medical man always professes to aim at the cure of his patient, whereas here the intention is to cause harm to the person to be affected, or at least to acquire an influence over him for the operator’s own benefit or satisfaction (as in love-charms). ↑
253 For the colours of the cloth used, and the purport of the number seven, vide pp. 50, 51, supra. ↑
255 I class this with the instances of indirect contact (between the soul and the body of its owner), because there is no doubt whatever that the usual ingredients (clippings of hair, paring of nails, etc.) would have to be worked up with the wax, and that they are not mentioned, because understood. ↑
256 Generally called kabong when cultivated, or (h)ĕenau when wild (Arenga saccharifera, L., Palmeæ). ↑