Chapter V: Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature (7)

"Peace be with you, God's Prophet, 'Tap!
Peace be with you, God's Prophet, Khizr!
Peace be with you, God's Prophet, Noah!
Peace be with you, god of the Back-water!
Peace be with you, god of the 'Bajau'!
Peace be with you, god of Mid-currents!
Peace be with you, god of the Yellow Sunset-glow!
Peace be with you, Old Togok the Wizard!
Peace be with you, O Elder Wizard!
It is not I who make you this peace-offering,
It is Old Togok the Wizard who makes it.
It is the Elder Wizard who makes it,
By the order of Old Aur Gading (lit. 'Ivory Bamboo').
By virtue of 'There is no god,'" etc. [531]

The following was the charm used by the Pawang at the planting of the first pole of a jermal: [532]--

"Peace be with you, Eldest Wizard, First of Wizards, Allah,
And Musa, the Converser with Allah.
Sedang Bima, Sedang Buana,
Sedang Juara, and King of the Sea,
Come let us all together
Plant the pole of this jermal."

Even when fishing with rod and line, a serapah (invocation) of some sort, such as the following, was generally used:--

"Ho, God of Mid-currents,
See that you do not agitate my hook!
If my hook is to the left,
Do you go to the right.
If my hook is to the right,
Do you go to the left.
If you approach this hook of mine
You shall be cursed by the Saying of God," etc.

(Before casting the line, a chew of betel-leaf should be thrown into the water.)

Another very common rhyming charm would frequently be addressed to the fish:--

"Swallow (lit. receive) the gut of my line,
Be it broken sooner than torn from my hands,
If you tear it from my hands
Your eye shall be plucked out."

(d) Fire

1. PRODUCTION OF FIRE

"Procuring fire by friction is an accomplishment as common to the Malay as to the North American Indian. The process is, however, slightly different. While the latter resorts to circular friction, the Malay cuts a notch on the converse surface of a bamboo, across which he rapidly rubs another piece cut to a sharp edge. A fine powder is rubbed away and this ignites. Bamboo is also used as a flint with tinder. The all-pervading match, however, is alone used in all districts under foreign influence." [533]

The foregoing description requires to be supplemented, for the method of procuring fire by circular friction is hardly (if at all) less common among the Malays than the method of cross friction. The former process takes the form of the well-known "fire-drill," both the block and the upright stick being generally made of mahang wood. The upright stick is frequently worked by a species of "bow," such as that used by carpenters, and is kept from jumping out of the socket in which it revolves by means of a cocoa-nut shell, which is pressed down from above. When cross friction is used, a long narrow slit is usually cut, following the grain, in the convex surface of the piece of bamboo, the dust which is rubbed away falling through it and gradually forming a little pile which presently ignites. It is hardly necessary to cut a notch for the cross-piece, as a groove is very quickly worn when the friction is started. A species of fire-syringe has also, I believe, been collected by Mr. L. Wray in Perak.

2. FIRE CHARMS

In procuring fire by circular or cross friction the performer will often say, by way of a charm--

"The Mouse-deer asks for Fire [534]
To singe his mother-in-law's feathers."

The "mouse-deer's mother-in-law" is the name of a small bird, which is said to have very gay plumage of five colours and to resemble the green pigeon (punei) in shape, and the explanation of this charm is said to be that in the days of King Solomon, when both the mouse-deer and his mother-in-law wore their human forms, the Mouse-deer was greatly annoyed by the conduct of his mother-in-law, who kept dancing in front of him as he went. A quarrel ensued, [535] as the result of which they were both transformed into the shapes which they now respectively bear; but the mother-in-law has not yet abandoned her exasperating tactics, and may still often be seen tantalising the Mouse-deer by hopping in front of it as it goes along.

There are still some traces of the influence of animistic ideas in that part of Malay folklore which is concerned with fire. If an inflammable object, such as wood, falls by accident into the fire, a stick must be used in extracting it, and the stick left, as a substitute, in its place.

The hearth-fire (api dapor) must never be stepped over (di-langkah-nya), nor must the rice-pot which stands upon it, as in the latter case the person who does so will be "cursed by the Rice."

Both fire and smoke (fumigation) are a good deal used by the Malays for purposes of ceremonial purification, but the details of such rites cannot be conveniently discussed except in connection with the complete ceremonies of which they form a part; they will accordingly be found under such headings as Birth, Adolescence, Marriage, Medicine, and Funerals. [536]