Malay Magic Being an introduction to the folklore and...

228Bĕrolak here means to “turn one’s self about,” and the whole phrase would mean “The Tall One that Turns Himself about”—perhaps the “Tall Loafer” would be as near as we can get to it in English. So, too, bĕrolak dapor means “The Kitchen Loafer” (Loafer of the Kitchen). ↑

229Sial means literally anything which brings bad luck; so perhaps we might translate it “Mr. Bad-luck.” ↑

230Salah nama means “Wrong name” (Misnomer); limau nipis, lit. means “thin lime.” ↑

231Kongsi, i.e. “company, firm, gang.” ↑

232Pantang, i.e. “taboo.” ↑

233Buah rumput means “Grass-seed;” Bunga rumput, “Grass-flower.” ↑

234Akar hidop, lit. “live creeper.” The allusion is obvious. ↑

235Kunyit means “saffron.” The allusion is not evident. ↑

236Batu puteh means “white stone” or “white rock.” ↑

237Genggulang, explained by Mr. Hale as meaning “altar,” vide p. 260, infra. ↑

238 About 1878, the principal pawang of the Lârut district, one Pa’Itam Dam, applied to me as Assistant-Resident to reinstate him in the duties and privileges which he had enjoyed under the Orang Kaya Mantri, and before him, under Che Long Jʿaffar. He describes the customary ceremonies and dues to be as follows:—He had to visit all the mines from time to time, especially those from which tin-ore was being removed; if the daily output of tin suddenly decreased on any mine it was his business at once to repeat certain invocations (puja) to induce the tin-ore to remain (handak di-pulih balik sapaya jangan mengorang biji). Once in every two or three years it was necessary to carry out an important ceremony (puja besar) which involved the slaying of three buffaloes and a great feast, the expense of which had to be borne by the pawang. On the day of the puja besar strict abstinence from work is enjoined on every one in the district, no one might break ground or even pull up weeds or cut wood in the whole province. Further, no stranger whose home was three days’ journey away might enter one of the mines under a penalty of twenty-five dollars.

The pawang was entitled to exact from the owners of mines a customary payment of one slab of tin (or $6.25 in cash) per annum for every sluice-box (palong) in work during the year.

In any mine from which the tin-ore had not yet been removed it was strictly forbidden to wear shoes or to carry an umbrella; no Malay might wear a sarong.

The Chinese miners, always superstitiously disposed, used (under Malay rule) to adhere to these rules and submit to these exactions, but since 1875 the pawang has found his occupation and income, in Lârut at all events, gone.—Ed. J.R.A.S., S.B. ↑

239 Altar. ↑

240 A small tray or platform for offerings, supported by a central “leg,” vide Mr. Hale’s description, s.v. Kapala nasi (infra). ↑

241Gantang is a measure approximately equivalent to a gallon. ↑

242 In Selangor anchak is the form used. It means a sacrificial tray (for offerings to the spirits), vide infra, pp. 260, 310–313, 414–423. ↑

243 Lit. the “Magician’s wear.” ↑

244Raʿiyat is used here to denote a man of the common people, as opposed to a Chief or Raja. It is sometimes used by Malays in other senses. ↑

245Seperti sungkei be-rendam, “like a soaked sungkei stick.” When the sungkei stick has been soaked for a long time, say three months, the peel comes clean away; proverbial expression used of a person “cleaned out.” ↑

246 Beam or rafter of the shed. ↑

247 Palm-leaf thatch. ↑

248 Forbes mentions a “palm-leaf fringe” used in certain rites by the Kalangs of Java.—A Naturalist’s Wanderings, p. 101. ↑

249 “It is quite a common thing in Java to encounter by the wayside near a village, or in a rice-field, or below the shade of a great dark tree, a little platform with an offering of rice and prepared fruits to keep disease and blight at a distance and propitiate the spirits.”—A Naturalist’s Wanderings, Forbes, p. 103. ↑

250 In Selangor this custom is now obsolete.—Sel. Jour. vol. iii. No. 18, p. 294. ↑

251 The derivation of the name of this primitive Malay censer from the Sanskrit çankha (conch shell) has been pointed out (Maxwell, Malay Manual, p. 32). Forbes notes having seen in a sacred grove in Java “the remnants of small torches of sweet gums which had been offered.”—A Naturalist’s Wanderings, p. 97. ↑

252J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 16, pp. 310–320. ↑

253 Cliff. and Swett., Malay Dict., s.v. Amang: “tourmaline, wolfram, and titaniferous iron-ore are all called by this name. They are all considered impurities, and tourmaline is the one most commonly met with.” ↑

254 The Malay was saperti ulat hidup, which would rather mean “like live maggots.”—W.S. ↑

255Sel. Journ. vol. iii. No. 18, pp. 293, 294. ↑

256Sel. Journ. vol. iv. No. 2, p. 26. ↑

257i.e. tin-bearing stratum and stone overlying the ore. ↑

258i.e. his “connections.” ↑

259Sel. Journ. vol. iv. No. 8, p. 139. ↑

260 “This my tank” is an allusion to the mine, the system on which mines are worked in the Malay States being that of the removal of the overburden, which, of course, forms immense pits, such as are here likened to an (empty) tank or reservoir. ↑

261 A plant, possibly Solanum aculeatissimum, Jacq., which has very thorny orange-coloured fruits. ↑

262Sĕga is a species of rattan (Calamus viminalis or Calamus ornatus, Griff.); but probably the better reading here is sĕgar, which means a long black spike of the kabong-palm (Arenga saccharifera, L.) ↑

263 Presumably a corruption of Iskandar zu ’l-Karnain, i.e. Alexander the Great, who plays a considerable part in Malay legendary history. ↑

264Vide App. cxviii., cxix. ↑