Chapter VI: Magic Rites as Affecting the Life of Man (6)

1. A portion of parched rice.
2. A portion of sweet potatoes.
3. Two (cooked) bananas.
4. Two lepats (small cylindrical rice-bags).
5. Three (cooked) bananas.
6. Two ketupats (small diamond-shaped bags).
7. Three yams (k'ladi).
8. A portion of parched rice.
9. Three short lengths of the stem of the tapioca plant (ubi kayu).
10. Three sweet potatoes.
11. Four sweet potatoes.
12. A portion of uncooked liver (hati).
13. A portion of cooked meat.
14. Four sweet potatoes.
15. Three cooked bananas.
16. Three ketupats.
17. Three (green) bananas.
18. Three ketupats.
19. Three ketupats.
20. Three green bananas.
21. Three green bananas.
22. Three sweet potatoes.
23. Three yams.
24. Three lepats.
25. Three lepats.
26. Two lepats.
27. Five ketupats.
28. Two yams.
29. Two sweet potatoes.
30. One cooked banana.
31. Three handfuls of white pulut rice.
32. Three handfuls of parched rice.

[529] This was one of the tide-braces which are used to strengthen the stakes, the one used being that on the left hand looking seaward.

[530] Kelong is the name given to one of the kinds of fishing-stakes (something like weirs) common on the coasts of the Peninsula.

[531] A different Pawang gave me the following (alternative) instructions:--"When you are about to plant the (first) seaward pole of the fishing-stakes, take hold of it and say:--

'O Pawang Kisa, Pawang Berima, Si Arjuna, King at Sea,
O Durai, Si Biti is the name of your mother, Si Tanjong (Sir Cape)
that of your father!
In your charge are the points of the capes, in your charge all
borders of the shore,
In your charge, too, are the river bars!
Your mother's place is on the seaward pole, your child's at the
shoreward end of the screens,
Your father's in the tip of the "wings" towards the west.
We be four brothers;
If in truth we be brothers,
Do you lend me your assistance.'

"Here plant the pole, and say:--

'My foot is planted in the very heavens,
My pole rests against the pillar of the firmament.
God lets it down, Muhammad receives it.
Six fathoms to the left, six fathoms to the right,
Do you, O family of three, assist in my maintenance.
May this be granted by God,'" etc.

[532] Jermal is another kind of fish-trap, different from the kelong.

[533] Denys, Descr. Dict. of Brit. Mal., s.v. Fire.

[534] P'landok minta' api,
'Nak membakar bulu mentua-nya.

[535] The Mouse-deer is said to have cursed his mother-in-law, saying:--"Kalau betul aku pemainan Raja Suleiman angkau bersayap."

[536] Illumination with tiny lamps is also common on feast-days (hari raya), especially at the end of the Month of Fasting; and the Malays have to some extent adopted the Chinese penchant for fireworks.

[537] "To return to the elemental spirits, it was explained to me by a Malay, with whom I discussed the subject at leisure, that apart from the spirits which are an object of reverence, and which when treated with proper deference are usually beneficent, there are a variety of others. To begin with, spirits (the word used on this occasion was hantu) are of at least two kinds--wild ones, whose normal habitat is the jungle, and those that are, so to say, domesticated. The latter, which seem to correspond to what in Western magic are called 'familiars,' vary in character with their owners or the persons to whom they are attached. Thus in this particular village of Bukit Senggeh, a few years ago, there was a good deal of alarm on account of the arrival of two or three strangers believed to be of bad character, who were supposed to keep a familiar spirit of a peculiarly malignant disposition, which was in the habit of attacking people in their sleep by throttling them. One or two cases of this kind occurred, and it was seriously suggested that I should make the matter the subject of a magisterial inquiry, which, however, I did not find it necessary to do. But the familiar spirits are by no means necessarily evil.... The chief point of importance is to keep these wild spirits in their proper place, viz. the jungle, and to prevent them taking up their abode in the villages. For this reason charms are hung up at the borders of the villages, and whenever a wild spirit breaks bounds and encroaches on human habitations it is necessary to get him turned out."--Blagden in J.R.A.S., S.B. No. 29, p. 4.

[538] Vide Klinkert, v.d. Wall, and Pijnappel, sub voce.

[539] This "Bajang" was copied for me by 'Che Sam (for many years Malay munshi and clerk at Kuala Lumpur, Selangor), from the original which was posted up on the door of one of his neighbours. The outlines of the figure are made up from varying combinations of the names "Allah," "Muhammad," "`Ali," etc., in the Arabic character.

[540] "In all parts of the Peninsula the Bajang is said to be of the male gender, while the Langsuir is supposed to be a female. It is usually believed by Malays that the Bajang is merely a malignant spirit which haunts mankind, and whose presence foretells disaster. In Perak and some other parts of the Peninsula, however, the Bajang is regarded as one of the several kinds of demons which, the Malays hold, can be enslaved by man and become his familiar spirit. Such familiars, it is believed, are handed down in certain families as heirlooms. The master of the familiar is said to keep it imprisoned in a tabong, or vessel made from a joint of the bamboo, which is closed by a stopper made from the leaves of the Cotyledon laciniata, the Daun chekar bebek, or Daun sadingin, as they are variously termed by the Malays. Both the case and the stopper are prepared by certain magic arts before they can be employed in this way. The familiar is fed with eggs and milk. When its master wishes to make use of it he sends it forth to possess and prey upon the vitals of any one whom his malice may select as a victim. The individual thus persecuted is at once seized by a deadly and unaccountable ailment, which can only be cured by magic agencies. If the Bajang is neglected by its owner, and if the latter omits to feed it regularly, it is said that he often falls a victim to his own familiar."--Clifford and Swett., Mal. Dic., s.v. Bajang.

[541] Swett., Mal. Sketches, p. 194, seqq.

[542] Swett., Mal. Sketches, pp. 198, 199.

[543] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 28. Cp. "Langsuior, the female familiar, differs hardly at all from the bâjang, except that she is a little more baneful, and when under the control of a man he sometimes becomes the victim of her attractions, and she will even bear him elfin children."--Swett., Mal. Sketches, p. 198.

[544] "Pontianak" appears to be synonymous with "Mati-anak," which may perhaps be a shorter form of Mati beranak ("stillborn"); indeed, one of the charms against the Pontianak which I collected, commenced with the words, "Pontianak mati beranak."

[545] Mr. Clifford (of Pahang), however, speaks of "that weird little white animal, the Mati-ânak, that makes beast noises round the graves of children."--In Court and Kampong, p. 231.

[546] Cp., however, "The Penangal, that horrible wraith of a woman who has died in childbirth, and who comes to torment small children in the guise of a fearful face and bust, with many feet of bloody, trailing entrails in her wake."--Clifford, loc. cit.

"He (Mr. M.) said, 'Very well then, tell me about the penanggalan only, I should like to hear it and to write it down in English so that Europeans may know how foolish those persons are who believe in such things.' I then drew a picture representing a woman's head and neck only, with the intestines hanging down. Mr. M. caused this to be engraved on wood by a Chinese, and inserted it with the story belonging to it in a publication called the Anglo-Chinese Gleaner. And I said, 'Sir, listen to the account of the penanggalan. It was originally a woman. She used the magic arts of a devil in whom she believed, and she devoted herself to his service night and day until the period of her agreement with her teacher had expired and she was able to fly. Her head and neck were then loosened from the body, the intestines being attached to them, and hanging down in strings. The body remained where it was. Wherever the person whom it was wished to injure happened to live, thither flew the head and bowels to suck his blood, and the person whose blood was sucked was sure to die. If the blood and water which dripped from the intestines touched any person, serious illness immediately followed and his body broke out in open sores. The penanggalan likes to suck the blood of women in childbirth. For this reason it is customary at all houses where a birth occurs to hang up jeruju (A kind of thistle.) leaves at the doors and windows, or to place thorns wherever there is any blood, lest the penanggalan should come and suck it, for the penanggalan has, it seems, a dread of thorns in which her intestines may happen to get caught. It is said that a penanggalan once came to a man's house in the middle of the night to suck his blood, and her intestines were caught in some thorns near the hedge, and she had to remain there until daylight, when the people saw and killed her.

"'The person who has the power of becoming a penanggalan always keeps at her house a quantity of vinegar in a jar or vessel of some kind. The use of this is to soak the intestines in, for when they issue forth from the body they immediately swell up and cannot be put back, but after being soaked in vinegar they shrink to their former size and enter the body again. There are many people who have seen the penanggalan flying along with its entrails dangling down and shining at night like fire-flies.

"'Such is the story of the penanggalan as I have heard it from my forefathers but I do not believe it in the least. God forbid that I should.'"--Hikayat Abdullah, p. 143.

[547] "The origin of the Polong is this:--The blood of a murdered man must be taken and placed in a bottle (buli-buli, a bottle having a spherical or wide body and a long narrow neck). Then prayers are said over it, and something or other is read, I don't know what, but it has to be learnt. After seven days of this worship, according to some people, or after twice seven days according to others, a sound is heard in the bottle like the chirping of young birds. The operator then cuts his finger and inserts it into the bottle and the Polong sucks it. The person who thus supports the Polong is called his father, or, if it happens to be a woman, she is his mother. Every day the parent feeds it with his (or her) blood. The object of doing this and the advantage to be gained from it are these:--if he entertains a feeling of anger against any one he orders the Polong to go and afflict him, that is to say, to cause him pain or sickness; or if a third person is at enmity with another he goes in secret to the person who keeps the Polong, and gives him a sum of money to send the Polong to attack the person against whom he bears ill-will. This is the use of it. The person who is tormented by the Polong, whether a virgin, or a married woman, or a man, cries out and loses consciousness of what he (or she) is doing, and tears and throws off his (or her) clothing, biting and striking the people near, blind and deaf to everything, and does all sorts of other things. Wise men are called in to prescribe remedies; some come and chant formulas over the head of the patient, others pinch his thumb and apply medicines to it. When the remedy is successful the sick person cries out, 'Let me go, I want to go home.' The doctor replies, 'I will not let you go if you do not make known who it is that has sent you here, and why you have come, and who are your father and mother.' Sometimes he (the Polong in the patient) remains silent and will not confess or give the names of his parents; sometimes he confesses, and says 'Let me go, my father is such-a-one and lives at such-and-such a kampong, and my mother is so-and-so. The reason that I have come here is that such-a-one came to my parents and asked for their aid, and gave them a sum of money because he bore ill-will against this person' (or whatever the reason may have been). Sometimes he makes a false statement, and mentions entirely wrong persons in order to conceal the names of his parents. As soon as the people know the name of the person who has contrived the attack and the reason, they let him go, and the sick person at once recovers his consciousness, but he is left weak and feeble. When a Polong attacks a person and will confess nothing, the person who is attacked shrieks and yells in anger, and after a day or two he dies. After death blood pours forth bubbling (ber-kopak-kopak) from the mouth, and the whole body is blue with bruises."--Hikayat Abdullah, p. 143. Notes and Queries, S.B.R.A.S. No. 4, sec. 98, issued with No. 17 of the Journal.

[548] Merepet kata kuching.

[549] Cp. Clifford, In Court and Kampong, pp. 230-244. "Pôlong and pelsit are but other names for bâjang, the latter is chiefly used in the state of Kedah, where it is considered rather chic to have a pelsit. A Kedah lady the other day, eulogising the advantage of possessing a familiar spirit (she said that, amongst other things, it gave her absolute control over her husband and the power of annoying people who offended her), thus described the method of securing this useful ally:--

"'You go out,' she said, 'on the night before the full moon, and stand with your back to the moon, and your face to an ant-hill, so that your shadow falls on the ant-hill. Then you recite certain jampi (incantations), and bending forward try to embrace your shadow. If you fail, try again several times, repeating more incantations. If not successful, go the next night and make a further effort, and the night after, if necessary--three nights in all. If you cannot then catch your shadow, wait till the same day on the following month and renew the attempt. Sooner or later you will succeed, and, as you stand there in the brilliance of the moonlight, you will see that you have drawn your shadow into yourself, and your body will never again cast a shade. Go home, and in the night, whether sleeping or waking, the form of a child will appear before you and put out its tongue; that seize, and it will remain while the rest of the child disappears. In a little while the tongue will turn into something that breathes, a small animal, reptile, or insect, and when you see the creature has life put it in a bottle and the pelsit is yours.'

"It sounds easy enough, and one is not surprised to hear that every one in Kedah, who is anybody, keeps a pelsit." Swett., Malay Sketches, pp. 197, 198.

[550] No less than seven "Bidans," it is said, were formerly requisitioned at the birth of a Raja's child, and occasions when even nine are mentioned are to be met with in Malay romances. The most general custom, however, seems to have been to summon seven "Bidans" only, the number being possibly due to the Malay theory of a sevenfold soul (v. Soul). The profession was an honourable one, and the Bidans received the title of "Dato' (abbreviated to 'Toh) Bidan"; but if the child of a Raja happened to die, the Bidan who was adjudged to be responsible paid the penalty with her life.

[551] Vide also N. & Q. No. 3, sec. 65, issued with J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 16.

[552] If the betel-leaf adheres to the cherana it is a bad sign (uri melekat tiada mahu k'luar).

[553] Vide p. 551, infra.

[554] Vide App. clxxxiv.

[555] So, too, in the report of the Dutch Expedition to Mid-Sumatra, vol. i. p. 266, it is stated that delivery took place "in a sitting posture."

[556] T'rong asam.

[557] One account says that the Penanggalan (or Manjang, i.e. Pemanjangan another name for her) if she comes will be caught in this snare, and that next morning when the fowls are let loose out of the fowl-house they will peck at the sac of her stomach to get at its contents. Thus she will be detected, and can be punished by having her stomach filled up with ground glass and sherds of earthenware, which will kill her in about seven days' time!

[558] When the "sickness" is severe, the Bidan draws upon her almost inexhaustible stock of Malay charms, a specimen of which will be found in the Appendix. Salt and asam are taken (apparently by the Bidan?) into the mouth (di-kemam asam garam) while the selected charm is repeated.

[559] Vide McNair, Perak and the Malays, p. 231. "The children of the Malays are received into the world quite in religious form, prayer being said, and the Azan or Allah Akbar pronounced by the father with his lips close to the tender infant's ear." The bang, according to 'Che Sam, a Malay pandit of Kuala Lumpor, ran somewhat as follows:--Allahu Akbar (twice), ashahadun la-ilaha-illa-'llah (twice), ashahadun Muhammad al-Rasul Allah (twice), hei `Ali al-saleh (twice), hei `Ali al-faleh (twice), Allahu akbar (twice), la-ilaha-illa-'llah (twice); and the kamat as follows:--

Allahu akbar (twice), ashahadun la-ilaha-illa-'llah, ashahadun Muhammad al-Rasul Allah. Hei `Ali al-saleh, hei `Ali al-faleh, kad kamat al-salata (twice), la-ilaha-illa-'llah.

[560] Vide App. cl.

[561] Mr. H. N. Ridley, Director of Gardens and Forests at Singapore, in a pamphlet on Malay Materia Medica (dated 1894) describes a somewhat similar ceremony as follows:--

"When a child suffers from sampuh pachut, that is to say, when it persistently cries and will not take its food, it is treated in the following way: the leaves of Hedyotis congesta, Br., a tall jungle weed, known as Lida Jin [lidah jin, lit. Demon's Tongue] or Poko' Sampuh Pachut, are boiled with some other leaves till one-third of the liquor is evaporated, and the decoction exposed to the dew for a night, and the child is bathed with it; or a quantity of road-side rubbish, dead-leaves, sticks, chewed sugar-cane, etc. is boiled and the child is bathed in the liquid (it is washed afterwards), and it is then smoked over a fire consisting of a nest of a weaver-bird (sarang tampur), the skin of a bottle-gourd (labu), and a piece of wood which has been struck by lightning."

[562] Kur, semangat Muhammad ini! Kur, semangat Fatimah ini!

[563] Vide pp. 353-355, infra.

[564] Of the Pahang customs Mr. Clifford writes:--

"Umat rushes off to the most famous midwife in the place, and presents her with a little brass dish filled with smooth green sîrih leaves, and sixpence of our money (25 cents) in copper, for such is the retaining fee prescribed by Malay custom. The recipient of these treasures is thereafter held bound to attend the patient whenever she may be called upon to do so, and when the confinement is over she can claim other moneys in payment of her services. These latter fees are not ruinously high, according to our standard, two dollars being charged for attending a woman in her first confinement, a dollar or a dollar and a half on the next occasion, and twenty-five, or at the most fifty cents being deemed sufficient for each subsequent event."--Clifford, Studies in Brown Hum., pp. 47, 48.

[565] To each corner of this hearth is fastened a bunch of lemon-grass leaves, each of which is separately charmed by ejecting betel-leaf upon it (di-sembor); at the same time a pillow is prepared for it by the insertion of a needle at each end. The fire (api saleian) is always lighted by the Bidan, and must never be allowed to go out for the whole of the 44 days. To light it the Bidan should take a brand from the house-fire (api dapor), and when it is once properly kindled, nothing must be cooked at it, or the child will suffer. Moreover, whenever during this same period there happens to be a hen sitting on its eggs in the house, the blades of weapons, such as daggers (k'risses) and spears, must not be reset in their handles (membalau) either over the hearth-fire or the fire of the saleian.

[566] J. D. Vaughan in vol. xi. of J.I.A.

Cp. the following passage:--

"Later, comes a day when Selema nearly loses her life by reason of the barbarities which Malay science considers necessary if a woman is to win through her confinement without mishap."--Clifford, Stud. in Br. Hum., p. 51.

[567] The following methods are resorted to for the curing of faintness: (a) the patient is made to smell (di-isapkan), first with one and then with the other nostril, the bottom of the copper (or brass) receptacle (pekaporan) in which the lime, which is one of the invariable concomitants of the betel-chewing apparatus, is kept; (b) the "rattan" (rotan sega) "cure," which is said to consist in charring the end of a piece of rattan (rotan sega), taking the burnt end in the mouth, and blowing the smoke into the patient's ear (di-embuskan).

[568] Clifford, Stud. in Brown Hum., pp. 48-50.

[569] The following is the list of actual ingredients so far as I could ascertain them: bark of the jambus, sentul, b'ruas, rambutan, kachang kayu, 'leban, dedap, petaling, rambei, lawang, kayu manis, serapat, and memp'las hari; and the following herbs, roots, or spices, such as kunyit t'rus, lada hitam, bawang puteh, bawang merah, chingkeh pala, buah pelaga, katumbar, jemuju Jawa, jemuju kersani, chabei tali, chabei pintal, changkoh, sudu ayer, mur daging, mur tulang, pekak, jintan puteh, jintan hitam, manjakani, manjarawai or menjelawai (?), akar manis, biji sawi, jadam, puchok ganti, mesur, alim, mustakim, chuchor atap, kemukus, and kadekai.

[570] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 19.

[571] Clifford, Stud. in Brown Hum., p. 51.

[572] Lit. "sharpening of the teeth."

[573] Lit. "heirs" (warith), but often, as here, used in the sense of representative members of the family.

[574] The leaf-brush in this case consisted of leaves of the sapenoh, pulut-pulut, sapanggil, sambau dara, and selaguri, and was bound up with ribu-ribu (a kind of creeper).

[575] Into this egg, it is supposed, all evil influences proceeding from the teeth enter. Hence it is regarded after the ceremony as sial (unlucky), and cannot be eaten--indeed it is considered "bad" (temb'lang).

[576] Besides the tray containing the articles described, there stood at one side of the room what is called a dulang-dulang. This consists of a tray full of unhusked rice surmounted by a tray full of husked rice and a roughly-husked cocoa-nut (niyor gubalan) which rests upon the latter. The pointed top of the cocoa-nut referred to is encircled by a hank of "Java" thread (benang Jawa), which is said to avert injury to the tooth-filer's eyes whenever, as sometimes happens, the evil influence (badi) issues from the teeth. This dulang-dulang is valued at a quarter of a dollar, and is taken as part payment of the tooth-filer's services, or it may be retained by the householder when the full fee of fifty cents is paid. This dulang-dulang is thought, moreover, to dispel evil influences (membuang sial), the hank of yarn being used by the Pawang to wipe his eyes should any harm to them accrue from evil influences residing in the teeth. Such evil influences (badi), however, can only accrue when people are having their teeth filed for the first time (orang bungaran).

[577] Vide App. cli.

[578] Vide App. cliii.

[579] Vide App. clv.

[580] "Both sexes have the extraordinary custom of filing and otherwise disfiguring their teeth, which are naturally very white and beautiful, from the simplicity of their food. For files they make use of small whetstones, and the patients lie on their backs during the operation. Many, particularly the women of the Lampong country, have their teeth rubbed down quite even with the gums; others have them formed in points, and some file off no more than the outer coat and extremities in order that they may the better receive and retain the jetty blackness with which they almost universally adorn them. The black used on these occasions is the empyreumatic oil of the cocoa-nut shell. When this is not applied the filing does not, by destroying what we term the enamel, diminish the whiteness of the teeth.... The great men sometimes set theirs in gold by casing with a plate of that metal the under row; and this ornament, contrasted with the black dye, has, by lamp or candle light, a very splendid effect. It is sometimes indented to the shape of the teeth, but more usually quite plain. They do not remove it either to eat or sleep."--Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra (ed. 1811), pp. 52, 53.

[581] The oil used for this purpose is also obtained by burning the leaves of the lime-tree (Clifford and Swett., Mal. Dict., s.v. Bâja) or (in Selangor) the wood of certain trees, such as the jambu biawas and mer'poyan.

[582] "At the age of about eight or nine they bore the ears and file the teeth of the female children; which are ceremonies that must necessarily precede their marriage. The former they call betende, and the latter bedabong; and these operations are regarded in the family as the occasion of a festival. They do not here, as in some of the adjacent islands (of Nias in particular), increase the aperture of the ear to a monstrous size, so as in many instances to be large enough to admit the hand, the lower parts being stretched till they touch the shoulders. Their ear-rings are mostly of gold filagree, and fastened, not with a clasp, but in the manner of a rivet or nut screwed to the inner part."--Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra (ed. 1811), p. 53.

[583] The formula (shahadat) used by the Mudim (tukang memotong) runs as follows:--

"Ashahadun la-ilaha-illa-'llah wa ashahadun Muhammad al-Rasul Allah allahumma aja`lni mina 'l-tawabina wa aja`lni mina 'l-matatahirrina."

[584] Some of these charms are also Love-charms, vide App. clxv.

[585] Vide App. clxiii.

[586] Ibid.

[587] Ibid.

[588] Sa-hari bulan.

[589] Awan di-tulis.

[590] Bentok taji.

[591] Pauh di-layang.

[592] Kuntum melor belum kembang.

[593] Ikal mayang.

[594] Jinjang.

[595] Getak (ketak) tiga.

[596] Bidang.

[597] Ramping saperti tangkei bunga.

[598] Tombak serai.

[599] Duri landak.

[600] Chahia bintang Zuhrah.

[601] Dalima mer'kah.

[602] Vide App. clxxv.

[603] The youth's representatives had further the right to interview the girl, and personally assure themselves that she was "without blemish and without spot." This interview passed by the name of the "Inspection of the Buffalo-calf," and was conducted somewhat as follows:--When the youth's representatives (the Wooing Party) go to inspect the girl, one of them says--

"See how fruitful are the satela yams,
Where the hills of Bantan rise by the sea;
I know not whether good luck or calamity will follow it,
But my heart turns towards you."

Here one of the girl's representatives says, "Look well at this buffalo-calf of mine that has been allowed to forage for itself. Maybe its coat is torn, its limbs broken, or its sight lost." The youth's representative, if all is satisfactory, then replies--

"The sun being so high,
The buffalo-calf will die if tethered;
This long while have I been prosecuting my search,
But not till to-day did I meet with what I wanted."

[604] Diamond, i.e. the girl about whom the wooing party has come to treat.

[605] The kati is the "Indian" pound (1 1/3 pound avoir.), and the tahil is its sixteenth part. The phrase sakati lima is explained by Klinkert as an elliptical expression = sa-keti lima laksa, i.e. 150,000 cash (pitis). Vide Kl. sub voce.

[606] i.e. when the sago is being extracted from the stem.

[607] The native substitute for a rowlock.

[608] Lit. indigo.

[609] This line is obscure, the word "bingku" (which I have translated rim, on the supposition that it may be merely a longer form of biku), not appearing in any dictionary. The next line also is not quite clear, but it would appear to mean "let us make sacrifice," rice stained with saffron being always used sacrificially.

[610] In Denys' Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya, under the word "Marriage," we find:--

"The only terms for marriage in Malay are the Arabic and Persian ones, respectively nikah and kahwin, the native ones having probably been displaced by these and forgotten."

Both these words are used in Selangor, the first (nikah), which properly signifies the mere ceremony or "wedding," being more commonly used by the better class of Malays than the more comprehensive kahwin, which corresponds pretty nearly to the English word "marriage." Words describing the married state with reference to one of the parties only, however, are in frequent use: such as the bersuami and beristri of the higher classes, and the berlaki and berbini of the common people; and yet again there is the word berumah-rumah, which is applied indifferently to either of the two parties or to both, and is the politest word that can be used with reference to the common people, but is never applied to Rajas, in whose case bersuami and beristri alone are used.

I may add, on the authority of Mr. H. Conway Belfield, lately Acting-Resident of Selangor, that a curious periphrastic expression is sometimes used by Perak women in talking of their husbands, whom they call rumah tangga, which literally means "House and House-ladder," and which is tantamount to saying, "My household," instead of "My husband."

[611] I remember Mr. C. H. A. Turney (then Senior District Officer at Klang) telling me of a great disturbance that arose at Klang because too many of these big pillows were being used at a Malay wedding. Order was only restored by the intervention of the police.

[612] A hasta is the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, or about eighteen inches.

[613] There is, I believe, a special ceremony connected with the opening of this curtain which is performed by the bridegroom after the wedding ceremony, special cakes, called "curtain-openers" (kueh pembuka k'lambu), being eaten.

[614] C. and S. give--"Bun (Dutch), a large tin or copper box for tobacco or sirih leaves--Van der Tuuk." "Bun" is given as a "trunk" in a Dutch Dictionary.

[615] This is called main zikir--or, more commonly, jikir--maulud if it is unaccompanied, and zikir berdah if accompanied by musical instruments.

[616] Tepong tawar, or "Neutralising Paste," is believed to avert ill-luck (membuang sial); for further details vide Chap. III. pp. 77-81, supra.

[617] Not at a Raja's wedding.

[618] This ceremony is also called menyelang or berlebat.

[619] One of these fillets, which was purchased by the writer, had for its pattern two dragons (naga), which looked different ways, and a couple of butterflies as pendants at each end. The substitute used by poor people is frequently manufactured from the leaf of the thatch-palm (nipah).

[620] According to v. d. Wall this plant is Carthamus tinctorius.

[621] A weight used for weighing the precious metals. According to C. and S. Dict., s.v. Bûngkal, it is equal to 822 grains troy; according to Maxwell, Manual of the Mal. Lang., p. 141, to 832.

[622] The mast with its branches carrying artificial flowers, streamers, and coloured eggs, appears to be emblematic of a fruit-tree, the eggs representing the fruit, the artificial blossoms its flowers, and the streamers its leaves.

[623] For instance, in reply to an appeal from the Bride's Relations to "take into account the duty which is the custom of the country," one of the Bridegroom's Relations would repeat the following:--

"Even the woodpecker knows how to fly,
And how much more the lory;
Even my grandsire's commands I take into account,
And how much more the duty imposed by the State."

[624] It is said that this is a departure from the old custom, according to which the wedding ceremony took place the day before the procession (except at the re-marriage of a widow who has no children, kahwin janda berhias). In the case of the re-marriage of a widow who has no children by her former husband there is no procession at all, and the ceremonies are somewhat abridged. I may add that a childless widow has the subang (ear-rings which are the symbol of virginity) tied on to her ears. Vide p. 360, supra.

[625] A couple of matronly ladies are generally told off for this service, the ceremony being as follows:--

1. They raise first the man and then the woman slowly to a standing posture; when it is reached the bridegroom says to the bride, "Take heed, care for thy husband, care for my good name, care for me" (Baik-baik jaga laki awak, jaga nama sahya, jagakan aku); to this the bride responds in a similar strain, mutatis mutandis, and they are then as slowly re-seated.

2. They are similarly raised, and repeat as before, in turn, the words, "Assuredly I will not do thee any shame whatever" (Sahya ta'buleh buat satu apa kamaluan di-atas awak).

3. When raised for the third and last time they say, "I ask the Lord God to give us both long life, and that all our handiwork may prosper" (Sahya minta' kapada Tuhan Allah bersama-sama panjang `umor, samua kerja dengan salamat).

[626] It used to be considered an insult to omit offering one of these eggs to a guest, so much so, that I was assured that in former days a woman whose husband had been thus slighted would have a right to sue for a divorce.

[627] The Kathi is an official having superintendence over several mosques and jurisdiction in matters connected with marriage, divorce, and ecclesiastical affairs generally. The Imam is the chief elder of one mosque.

[628] There is a difference between b'lanja and mas kahwin, the former usually meaning the wedding expenses, the latter the dower; at least this is the Malacca terminology, which probably also obtains elsewhere.

[629] The descendant of one of the four great Chiefs (Orang Besar ber-ampat) of Selangor.

[630] Ex-Prime Minister of Perak.

[631] Sireh or sirih, the betel leaf.

[632] The Bilal is an elder of the mosque; in western Muhammadan countries he is styled Muezzin.

[633] Selangor Journal, vol. i. No. 2, p. 23.

[634] Probably this should be 4th.

[635] He was of Arab extraction. But wearing clothes in the Arab fashion is not unusual even in the case of purely Malay bridegrooms.

[636] Selangor Journal, vol. iv. No. 2, pp. 23-5. The list of presents sent by friends on this occasion included buffaloes, a bullock, goats, spices, plate, and jewellery.

[637] Sir William Maxwell in N. and Q., No. 4, sec. 91, issued with No. 17 of the J.R.A.S., S.B.

[638] "At their funerals the corpse is carried to the place of interment on a broad plank, which is kept for the public service of the dusun, and lasts for generations. It is constantly rubbed with lime, either to preserve it from decay or to keep it pure. No coffin is made use of, the body being simply wrapped in white cloth, particularly of the sort called hummums. In forming the grave (kubur), after digging to a convenient depth they make a cavity in the side, at bottom, of sufficient dimensions to contain the body, which is there deposited on its right side. By this mode the earth literally lies light upon it; and the cavity, after strewing flowers in it, they stop up by two boards fastened angularly to each other, so that the one is on the top of the corpse, whilst the other defends it on the open side, the edge resting on the bottom of the grave. The outer excavation is then filled up with earth; and little white flags, or streamers, are stuck in order around. They likewise plant a shrub, bearing a white flower, called kumbangkamboja (Plumeria obtusa), and in some places wild marjoram. The women who attend the funeral make a hideous noise, not much unlike the Irish howl. On the third and seventh day the relations perform a ceremony at the grave, and at the end of twelve months that of tegga batu, or setting up a few long elliptical stones, at the head and foot, which, being scarce in some parts of the country, bear a considerable price. On this occasion they kill and feast on a buffalo, and leave the head to decay on the spot, as a token of the honour they have done to the deceased in eating to his memory. The ancient burying-places are called krammat, and are supposed to have been those of the holy men by whom their ancestors were converted to the faith. They are held in extraordinary reverence, and the least disturbance or violation of the ground, though all traces of the graves be obliterated, is regarded as an unpardonable sacrilege,"--Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra (ed. 1811), pp. 287, 288.

[639] The explanation usually given by Malays is that the betel-nut scissors symbolise iron. Short weapons are sometimes substituted.

[640] Tradition says that formerly the corpse was watched for three days before burial, and that sometimes it was kept for a week or even a longer period. One Raja S'nei is reported to have been kept 40 days in her coffin above ground! It is also stated that before the introduction of Muhammadanism the dead were burned.

It is still the custom to keep both the hearth-fire (api dapor) and lamps (palita) burning not only for so long as the corpse may be in the house, but for seven days and nights after occurrence of the death. It is also the custom to open the sick person's mosquito-curtain when death is approaching, and in some cases, at all events, the dying are taken out of their beds and laid upon the floor. I may add that the material for fumigation (perabun) is placed upon the hearth-fire after death, to scare away the evil spirits, just as salt is thrown upon the fire during a thunderstorm, in order that it may counteract the explosions of thunder (membalas petir), and thus drive away the demons who are believed to be casting the thunderbolts.

[641] The kati is a weight equivalent to 1 1/3 lb. avoirdupois.

[642] The form found in most dictionaries is banchoh or banchuh.

[643] Whence the expression "charik kapan," which means literally to tear the shroud (i.e. to tear off the selvage of the shroud, and not to tear off a piece of cloth to form the shroud).

[644] Cubit, the length of the forearm.

[645] The short motto which usually heads Malay letters.

[646] I may add that in pre-Muhammadan days certain articles are said to have been buried with the corpse, viz. "b'ras sa-p'riok, asam, garam," together with (in the case of a man) rough wooden models of the deceased's weapons.

[647] Tradition says that originally one grave-post (nisan) was used, and that the earlier form of a tomb was a circular mound with a single grave-post in the centre. It is said that such mounds were formerly used in Sungei Ujong, but I am unable to say if this is so. Sultan Zeinal `Abidin of Johor is also described as having a tomb of this description at Kota Tinggi.

[648] This notion probably arose from an erroneous idea of etymological connection between the words talkin and bertelku.

[649] Of course if the karanda is used the bands have to be removed before it is nailed down. On their removal these bands are handed to the next-of-kin, who tear them up and plait the strips into a rough sort of bracelet, which they wear as long as it lasts in memory of the deceased. Little children are made to pass thrice underneath the karanda of their parents when it is first lifted in the chamber, "to prevent them from pining for the deceased."

[650] From observing a good many of these grave-posts in different localities, I should be inclined to suppose that the grave-post used for men had been evolved from a phallic emblem, whilst that used for women occasionally assumes a rude resemblance to a human being.

[651] Newbold, Malacca, vol. ii. p. 352.

[652] As to the titles Bomor and Pawang, see Chapter III. p. 56, note.

[653] There are, it need hardly be said, innumerable charms and talismans which are valued by the Malays for their supposed efficacy in preventing disease; there are also an immense number of short charms (often mere texts from the Koran) which are considered invaluable for checking minor ailments. It being impossible, however, in the scope of this work to give specimens of the entire "materia medica" of the Malays, examples of the more important branches only are given.

[654] The Pawang may either effect this himself, by luring the evil spirits out of the sick person's body into some object, such as an egg, a substituted image or scapegoat (tukar ganti), a "Spirit-Hall," or spirit-boat, in which the evil spirits are carried out of the house and got rid of; or else he may induce a stronger spirit, e.g., the Tiger Spirit (vide infra), to enter into his own person, and assist him in the task of evicting the offender.

[655] Jikalau sa-rasi dengan aku, mengadap-lah angkau, asap, kapada'ku, kalau ta' sa-rasi, melintang-lah 'kau dengan aku, atau ka kiri, atau ka kanan.

[656] Kur! Semangat Si Anu ka-tujoh-nya! Mari-lah kita bersama-sama ini, Tengo'kan ubat, semangat Si Anu!

[657] If ashore, it is usually suspended from a tree. If at sea, from a wooden tripod, or a projecting pole affixed to the seaward end of a fishing-stake.

[658] Another method is described by Messrs. Clifford and Swettenham (vide their Malay Dictionary, s.v. Anchak) as follows: "The (anchak perbingkas) is fastened to the end of a branch, which is pulled down almost to the ground, and held there while the medicine-man goes through his incantation or invocation, after which it is allowed to fly up, and all the things on it are scattered by this means," but it is not yet clear to which class this use of the anchak should be referred.

[659] Some of them are enumerated under Fishing Ceremonies, pp. 311 seqq., supra. See also pp. 76, 257, 260.

[660] Vide App. xii.

[661] So called in Malay (tali penggantong); they consist of the four cords which start from the four corners of the tray respectively, and are carried up to meet at a point some two or three feet above the centre of the tray, from which point upwards a single cord only is used.

[662] Ketupat and lepat. There were fourteen of each kind of bag, the ketupats being diamond-shaped and the lepats cylindrical. Each set of fourteen bags contains seven portions of cooked and seven portions of uncooked food. Vide also supra.

[663] Abong = full to overflowing; cp. merabong, etc.

[664] As to these stones, vide p. 274, supra.

[665] Kalau kena kelingking, k'rat-lah kelingking, kalau kena daun dayong, di-chatok-nya, champak-lah dayong. Numerous sea-snakes do, as a fact, exist in the seas of the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago. They are all, I believe, venomous. Vide Miscell. Papers relating to Indo-China, First Series, vol. ii. pp. 226-238.

[666] Ipoh ra`yat laut, kalau kena sa-orang di-sandarkan sa-orang, mati sampei tujoh orang bersandar.

[667] Supposed to be identical with Lukmanu-'l-hakim, a mysterious person mentioned in the Koran. Vide Hughes, Dict. of Islam, s.v. Luqman.

[668] For the Wild Huntsman, vide Birds and Bird-charms, Chap. V. pp. 113-120, supra.

[669] Apparently v. d. W. means the fascination which a tiger has for its prey. In Selangor this fascination is called g'run or pengg'run in the case of a tiger, and badi only in the case of a snake--the person affected by it being said to be kena g'run or kena badi, as the case may be.

[670] Vide App. lx., lxxii., lxxix. The different names under which "Badi" is invoked are worth noting; e.g. "Badiyu, Mak Badi, Badi Panji, Mak Buta," in an elephant-charm (App. lx.); and again "Ah Badi, Mak Badi" in a deer-charm (v. App. lxxii.), and in a later deer-charm, "Hei Badi Serang, Badi Mak Buta, Si Panchur, Mak Tuli" (v. App. lxxix.), and again "Sang Marak, Sang Badi" (v. App. lxxix.), and "Jembalang Badi" (v. App. lxxx.). I may remark that Sabaliyu is given by Logan in the J. I. A. vol. i. p. 263, as meaning a deer in the Camphor Language (bhasa kapor or pantang kapor) of Johor, and this word was afterwards confirmed by Mr. D. F. A. Hervey.

[671] Influence of the Breath in Healing.--In Notes and Queries, No. 1, p. 24, a Malay bomor, or doctor, is described as blowing upon something to be used as medicine. Breathing upon sick persons and upon food, water, medicines, etc., to be administered to them is a common ceremony among Malay doctors and midwives. The following note would seem to show that the Malays have learnt it from their Muhammadan teachers:--

"Healing by the breath [Arab. Nafahal, breathings, benefits, the Heb. Neshamah, opp. to Nephest (soul), and Ruach (spirit)] is a popular idea throughout the East, and not unknown to Western magnetists and mesmerists. The miraculous cures of the Messiah were, according to Moslems, mostly performed by aspiration. They hold that in the days of Isa, physic had reached its highest development, and that his miracles were mostly miracles of medicine; whereas in Mohammed's time eloquence had attained its climax, and, accordingly, his miracles were those of eloquence, as shown in the Koran and Ahadis."--The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Burton, vol. v. p. 30.--Notes and Queries, J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 4, sec. 92, issued with No. 17.

[672] Vide pp. 569-574, infra.

[673] Vide pp. 418 seqq., supra.

Strictly speaking, money (which is called batu-batu lanchang or lanchang stones) should always form part of them. In Kedah three kenderi (one kenderi amounting to three cents) are said to be used; in Perak three wang, and in Selangor three duits (cents).

[674] I believe this usually takes place immediately after the ceremony, but one medicine-man whom I knew ('Che Amal of Jugra) used to keep the boat into which the spirits were thought to have entered until the patient recovered, and then set it adrift. When the medicine-man is launching it, he takes the boat in both hands, and repeatedly gives it a rotatory movement towards the left (as if he were using a sieve), and repeats the charm. A small portion of each dish deposited in the lanchang has to be carried back to the patient's house, and there administered to the patient, together with water scooped up in a bowl from underneath the lanchang as it lay in the water before drifting away. As the sick man receives the offerings, the person who administers them says, addressing the spirit of evil, "Here is your wage, return not back here unto So-and-So; and cause him to be sick no more," and the spirit replies through the man's mouth, "I will never return."

[675] Arong also means "to cross the water," and there may be some doubt as to the precise meaning of this line. See the original in App. cciv.

[676] i.e. the Crocodile-spirit (vide pp. 286 (note), 298, supra.)

[677] In this connection it may be added that there are sundry medical "taboos" in use on various occasions: e.g. it is sometimes forbidden to enter the house where the sick man lies or to approach it by a particular path, and a string, with cocoa-nut leaves hung on it, is often drawn across the path as an indication of such prohibition. The fine for breaking such a taboo (langgar gawar-gawar) was "half a bhara," or in the case of a Raja "two bharas."

[678] Swettenham, Malay Sketches, pp. 153-159. Another excellent account, also by an eye-witness, of a similar ceremony will be found in J.R.A.S. S.B., No. 12, pp. 222-232.

[679] Studies in Brown Humanity, p. 46.

[680] Bintang, a star, means "the eye" in Malay ghost language.

[681] About 5/6 lb. avoirdupois.

[682] A maiam is 1/16th of a bungkal and equal to 52 grains.

[683] The peeling-knife (pisau raut) is mentioned because it is dreaded by the demons, who hurt themselves (it is alleged) by treading on one end of it, when, owing to its curved blade, the other end flies up and wounds them. Such spirits as the Wild Huntsman are specially mentioned as being afraid of it. Vide p. 118, supra.

[684] Swettenham, Malay Sketches, pp. 208-210.

[685] This is a description of Malay dancing from the European point of view; the reason of the "undoubted fascination which it has for the Malays" being no doubt the fact that for them it has a real meaning, which by Europeans (like that of the Malay four-rhymed stanza or pantun) is quite inadequately understood.

[686] In 1875.

[687] The attitude is that obtained by transferring the body directly from a kneeling to a sitting position.

[688] Swettenham, Malay Sketches, ch. vii. pp. 44-52.

[689] This dance is said to be borrowed from the Arabs.

[690] Newbold, Malacca, vol. ii. p. 179.

[691] "I have said that all birds fight more or less, but birds are not alone in this. The little, wide-mouthed, goggled-eyed fishes, which Malay ladies keep in bottles and old kerosine tins, fight like demons. Goats sit up and strike with their cloven hoofs, and butt and stab with their horns. The silly sheep canter gaily to the battle, deliver thundering blows on one another's foreheads, and then retire and charge once more. The impact of their horny foreheads is sufficient to reduce a man's hand to a shapeless pulp should it find its way between the combatants' skulls. Tigers box like pugilists, and bite like French school-boys; and buffaloes fight clumsily, violently, and vindictively, after the manner of their kind."--In Court and Kampong, p. 52.

[692] Ibid. pp. 54-61.

[693] Ibid. pp. 48-52.

[694] Sic, correctly Kenantan.

[695] Sic, better Bangkas.

[696] Sic, correctly Belurang.

[697] Sic, correctly K'labu.

[698] Vide pp. 545-547, infra.

[699] Newbold, Malacca, vol. ii. pp. 179-183.

[700] i.e. Sepak raga, which means "kick the wicker-work (ball)."

[701] Also Singketa.

[702] Also Teki-teki. Examples are,--What is it which you leave behind when you remember it, and take it with you when you forget it?" Ans. "A leech." "What is it that builds a house within a house, getting the materials out of his own body?" Ans. "A spider."

[703] i.e. "Tuju lobang," which means "Aim at the Hole."

[704] Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 183-185.

[705] "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).

[706] More probably India or Persia (?).

[707] Taken from Clifford and Swett., Mal. Dict., s.v. Châtor.

[708] 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.

[709] 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.

[710] 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.

[711] Probably the species of sea-turtle known by that name.

[712] The ordinary Indian name for "clarified butter," which is used largely in Eastern cookery.

[713] It is almost impossible to translate nursery rhymes satisfactorily, and the versions here given must be regarded as tentative and necessarily imperfect.

[714] Vide supra, p. 484, note.

[715] Literally, "Brothers and Sisters and Chiefs"; this refers to the Spirits who inhabit the villages, and not to the Humans.

[716] 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.

[717] These names are given by the Ma'iong people to the two big gongs used by them (tetâwak or tâwak-tâwak). Gemûroh is formed from gûroh (= thunder), in exactly the same way as kemûning, the yellow wood used for the cross-pieces of kris scabbards, is formed from kûning (= yellow). Dengong is the word used to describe the noise made by a gong, by the wind, or any other sonorous sound.