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

292 A native-built canoe hollowed out of a tree-trunk is no doubt referred to. ↑

293 Mangrove, of various species, chiefly Rhizophoreæ. ↑

294Sel. Journ. vol. i. No. 22, pp. 350–351. ↑

295Vide App. cxxviii. ↑

296Vide App. cxxx. ↑

297 This and the preceding lines clearly refer to the fable quoted by Sir W. E. Maxwell. There are, however, many differences in minor details, one version asserting that the head of the first crocodile was made from the central shoot or cabbage of a cocoa-nut (umbi niyor), its blood of saffron, and its eyes from the star of the east; another asserting that its dorsal ridge was manufactured (by Siti Fatimah) from the eaves of the thatch. ↑

298 Her Highness Princess Rundok, as appears from the line below, in which she is again referred to, is evidently the name given to the fowl used as a bait. ↑

299

Jangan angkau lari!

Pĕrjanjian kita sa-tanjong ka hulu,

Sa-tanjong ka hilir.

↑

300

Tabek Raja di Laut, Mambang Tali Harus,

Aku ’nak buang badi buaya ini.

↑

301Angkau mĕnangkap Si Anu? ↑

302Vide Chap. VI. pp. 325–327, infra. ↑

303 Mr. L. Wray in “Perak Museum Notes,” quoted in the Selangor Journal, vol. iii. No. 6, p. 94. ↑

304 Other accounts make it out to be of a golden colour. Vide p. 506, infra. ↑

305 I have heard this same word used to describe a sort of unnatural “glow” which was supposed to illumine certain parts of the country at night; one such region being a portion of the coast at Lukut in Sungei Ujong. ↑

306 Clifford, In Court and Kampong, p. 189. ↑

307Selangor Journal, vol. iii. No. 6, p. 92. ↑

308Ibid., p. 91. ↑

309 A kind of flat fish (sole?), also ikan lidah-lidah and lĕlidah, probably derived from lidah, a tongue, owing to its shape. This fish is sometimes called sisa Nabi, or the “Prophet’s leavings,” the story being that it had originally the same amount of flesh on both sides, but that the Prophet Muhammad, having eaten the whole side of one of these fish (which had been cooked and served up to him as a meal) cast the remaining side back into the sea, whereupon it revived and commenced swimming about as if nothing had happened, retaining, however, the shape of a flat fish to the present day.

Cp. the following note in Sale’s Translation of the Korân:—

“This miracle is thus related by the commentators. Jesus having, at the request of his followers, asked it of God, a red table immediately descended, in their sight, between two clouds, and was set before them, whereupon he rose up, and having made the ablution, prayed, and then took off the cloth which covered the table, saying, In the name of God, the best provider of food. What the provisions were with which this table was furnished is a matter wherein the expositors are not agreed. One will have them to be nine cakes of bread and nine fishes; another, bread and flesh; another, all sorts of food, except flesh; another, all sorts of food except bread and flesh; another, all except bread and fish; another, one fish, which had the taste of all manner of food; and another, fruits of paradise, but the most received tradition is that when the table was uncovered, there appeared a fish ready dressed, without scales or prickly fins, dropping with fat, having salt placed at its head and vinegar at its tail, and round it all sorts of herbs, except leeks, and five loaves of bread, on one of which there were olives, on the second honey, on the third butter, on the fourth, cheese, and on the fifth, dried flesh.

They add that Jesus, at the request of the apostles, showed them another miracle, by restoring the fish to life, and causing its scales and fins to return to it, at which the standers-by being affrighted, he caused it to become as before; that 1300 men and women, all afflicted with bodily infirmities or poverty, ate of these provisions and were satisfied, the fish remaining whole as it was at first; that then the table flew up to heaven in the sight of all; and every one who had partaken of this food were delivered from their infirmities and misfortunes; and that it continued to descend for forty days together at dinner-time, and stood on the ground till the sun declined, and was then taken up into the clouds. Some of the Mohammedan writers are of opinion that this table did not really descend, but that it was only a parable; but most think the words of the Koran are plain to the contrary. A further tradition is, that several men were changed into swine for disbelieving this miracle, and attributing it to magic art; or, as others pretend, for stealing some of the victuals from off it. Several other fabulous circumstances are also told which are scarce worth transcribing.”—Sale’s Korân Trans. ch. v. p. 87, note. ↑

310 Maxwell in J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 26. ↑

311 The tears of the dugong are believed to be an exceedingly potent love-charm.—Vide Swettenham, Unaddressed Letters, p. 217.

“Like most nations dwelling near the sea, the Malays have their mermaids, of which the dugong is the probable origin.—J.I.A., i. 9.”—Quoted by Denys, Dict. Brit. Mal., s.v. Mermaid. ↑

312Vide, however, supra. ↑

313 Mr. Wray no doubt refers to the b’rudu (tadpole), the upper half of which is declared by Selangor Malays to develop into a frog (katak), while the hinder part develops into the ikan lembat. ↑

314Sel. Journ. vol. iii. No. 6, p. 93. ↑

315Vide App. cclxxiv. ↑

316 These were trays of the kind called anchak which are used by the Malays to contain offerings to the spirits. For fuller details, cp. pp. 414–422, infra. ↑

317 For details of a similar ceremony, vide pp. 416–418, infra. ↑

318 The composition of these brushes varies apparently according to the ceremony which is to be performed. In this case leaves or sprays of the following plants were used:—

1. Sapĕnoh.

2. Lĕnjuang merah (the red Dracæna).