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

125 The sacrificial buffalo (when presented to a Raja) is covered with a cloth, and has its horns dressed and a breast-ornament (dokoh) hung round its neck (vide Pl. 11, Fig. 2). In the case of a great Raja or Sultan, yellow cloth is used. ↑

126Infra, Chap. VI. pp. 450–452. ↑

127 I may add that the dried penis of the squirrel (chula tupei) is believed to be a most powerful aphrodisiac, and that many Malays believe that squirrels are occasionally found dead with this organ caught fast in cleft timber.

Mr. H. N. Ridley, in a pamphlet on Malay Materia Medica, already referred to, says:—

“Many things are used as aphrodisiacs by the natives.... Among them are the ovipositor of a grasshopper, which is popularly supposed to be the male organ of the squirrel; Balanophora, sp., a rare plant growing on Mount Ophir, and the Durian (Durio zibethinus).” Mr. Ridley regards the use of Balanophora for this purpose as an illustration of the “doctrine of signatures.” ↑

128VideJ.R.A.S., S.B., l.c. ↑

129Vide p. 108, supra. ↑

130In Court and Kampong, p. 47. ↑

131J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 26. ↑

132Ibid. ↑

133 I have not heard this word used on the west coast. It is of the east coast that Mr. Clifford is here writing. ↑

134In Court and Kampong, pp. 147, 148. ↑

135Vide p. 217, infra. ↑

136Vide p. 279, infra. ↑

137 One of these stones (cocoa-nut pearls) in my possession has recently been presented to the Ethnological Museum at Cambridge. It is encircled by a dark ring, caused, I was told, by its adherence to the shell of the cocoa-nut in which it was found, for it is asserted that it is usually, if not always, found in the open eye or orifice at the base of the cocoa-nut, through which the root would otherwise issue.—W. S. ↑

138 Quoted from the Singapore Free Press in Denys’ Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya, p. 80. ↑

139Nephelium lappaeum, L. (Sapindaceae). ↑

140Baccaurea motleyana, Hook. fil. (Euphorbiaceae). ↑

141 Or Langsat (Lansium domesticum, Jack; Meliaceae). ↑

142 Resembling the last named, but larger, and finer in flavour. ↑

143Garcinia mangostana, L. (Guttiferae). ↑

144

Sakarang ’kau mahu bĕrbuah, atau tidak?

Kalau tidak, aku tĕbangkan.

↑

145

Ya-lah, sakarang aku ’nak bĕrbuah

Aku minta’ jangan di-tĕbang.

↑

146 This instrument consisted of a single short joint of bamboo, about nine inches in length by three inches in diameter, closed at one end only, near which was an orifice into which the performer blew. These instruments (tuang-tuang) are reported to have been formerly used by the Langat pirates, and are said to be still used by the Malay fishermen at Bernam, in Selangor, for calling their boats together. ↑

147 In Selangor a freak of this kind is called samambu bangkut, or “dwarfed (stunted) samambu.” One of this species belonged to the Sultan, and was kept in a yellow case. Sometimes, whether through the splitting of the bark on one side or some similar cause, an excrescence like a gigantic rat-tail will form on one side of the stem, a peculiarity which is believed to give the stick that is made from it immense value. To merely tap a person in play with one of these sticks (which are called sĕngat pari or “sting-rays’ tails”) will, it is believed, raise a most painful weal, whilst to strike a person hard with one would assuredly kill him. A Malacca-cane, one of whose knots is inverted and the other not, is also considered of great value, being believed to render the bearer of it invulnerable (jadi pĕlias).—Cp. J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 17, p. 155. ↑

148 In Selangor bĕlum sampei is the phrase used. ↑

149 In Selangor rotan manau. ↑

150Sel. Journ. vol. iii. No. 6, pp. 95, 96. ↑

151 Another Selangor version says that whilst the wife is boiling the stones, the husband is climbing the Malacca-cane plant (samambu) in order to get to the sky. The husband keeps calling out, “Are they cooked yet?” (Masak bĕlum?), as in the version just given, and the wife cries, “Have you reached it yet? Have you reached it yet?” (Sampei bĕlum?) ↑

152 In Selangor it is called Tualang (= ’Toh Alang?) and Sialang (= Si Alang?), and is the tree on which the wild bees build their nests. ↑

153 Strips of palm-leaves for thatching houses. ↑

154 One who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca. ↑

155Sel. Journ. vol. iii. No. 6, p. 96. ↑

156Vide App. lxxxvi. ↑