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

184Vide App. lxxxix. ↑

185 These last five lines contain allusions to the implements with which the Pawang does his work; the Ivory Cup is the tagok, a bamboo vessel in which the sap of the Blossom-shoot is received. The Ivory Bath is the copper in which the cocoa-nut sugar is made, the name given to it being an allusion to the chemical change which accompanies the process. ↑

186 Inche Muhammad Jaʿfar, of Malacca. ↑

187 [In 1893 these months extended from the 17th May to the 14th July.—C.O.B.] ↑

188 [In 1893 from the 16th May to the 13th June.—C.O.B.] ↑

189 In what may be called the “dry” method of planting rice (bĕrhuma or bĕrladang) the ceremonies naturally differ somewhat, as the forest has to be felled, if not every year, at least more often than is the case with the “wet” system; and the rice-seed is not sown in nurseries (as a rule), but either scattered broadcast or planted with the dibble whilst the ground cultivated is comparatively dry and no embankments are required. This is not, of course, intended to be an exhaustive description of the differences between the two systems (for which there is here no space), but merely to point out certain salient differences. A specimen of the charms used by the orang bĕrhuma (“dry padi” planters) will be found in the Appendix. The account in the text refers only to the wet method, which is by far the more important one, though the dry cultivation is probably the more ancient of the two. ↑

190 An account of the birth of Muhammad which is intoned by a number of people in the mosque. ↑

191 The tajak may perhaps be better described as a (kind of) hoe than a scythe. ↑

192 Two strips of cocoa-nut leaf are braided into a square bag, hollow inside, which is half filled with rice, and then boiled so that when cooked the rice fills the bag. ↑

193 Flour is mixed with sugar and with the expressed juice of the pulp of the cocoa-nut, and put into a piece of plantain leaf about two fingers long, which is then folded and the whole is steamed, that is put into a pail known as kukusan, which is placed in a large pan containing water having a fire lighted under it so that the contents of the kukusan are cooked by means of steam only. ↑

194Tĕpong tawar consists of rice-flour mixed with water. A bundle is made of the following leaves, ribu-ribu (a creeper), gandarusa, sĕnjuang, sambar dara, sipuleh, sitawar and chakar bebek (a small shrub); the end of this bundle is dipped into the tĕpong tawar, which is then sprinkled about. ↑

195 The italics are mine.—W. S. ↑

196Licuala paludosa, Griff, and other species. ↑

197Jari lipan—lit. centipede’s feet, i.e. a sort of fringe generally made of plaited strips of cocoa-nut leaf. ↑

198Tĕrap—a kind of wild bread-fruit tree. ↑

199 Strips of bamboo or fronds of palm-leaf braided into an open square shape with cords attached to the four corners, the ends of the cords being joined so that it can be hung up. ↑

200Buah kĕras, the “Candle-nut.” ↑

201 The cut rice is beaten, by handfuls, against the inner edge of the bucket so that the grain falls into the bucket; this process is called mĕmbanting padi, a phrase here rendered by “threshing.” ↑

202 The tuai or pĕnuwai is a much smaller instrument than the sickle (sabit) and cuts only a few ears at a time, vide supra, p. 58. ↑

203 A koyan, as a measure of weight, contains 40 pikuls = 5333⅓ lbs.

Rather over 20 gallons (gantang) of rice (padi) go to a pikul.

The term koyan is also used as a measure of capacity, in which sense it contains 800 gantangs.

The term gantang has been rendered here by “gallon,” of which it is at present the legal equivalent, but the native gantang had a standard varying according to locality. ↑

204J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 30, pp. 297–304. ↑

205 On my asking her what these names signified, the Pawang told me that “s’ri gading” meant the husk, and “gĕmala gading” the kernel or grain of the rice-fruit. ↑

206 Menangkabau and Naning pronunciation for bĕrpuar. Puar is the name of a jungle plant, said to be akin to cardamom, the stem of which is used as a sort of javelin in this mock combat. [In Selangor this mock combat is called singketa.—W.S.] ↑

207Bĕras bĕrtih, “parched” rice. ↑

208 Five would probably be nearer the mark, but Malay chronology is very uncertain. ↑

209J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 29, pp. 7–12. ↑

210 These were newly-plaited round baskets, three in number, and diminishing in size from the Pawang’s right to her left (the big one being supposed to contain seven, the medium size five, and the smallest one three, gĕmalan of padi); they were each bound round, just under the rim, with the female variety of the creeper called ribu-ribu freshly gathered that morning. ↑

211 One of these was called the pĕnuwei sulong (lit. eldest rice-cutter), which was only to be used—when the Pawang had done with it—by the owner of the rice-field, and the blade of which is fitted into a piece of the wood called pompong; the reason given being that the pompong was the wood of which these instruments were originally made, whilst what I may call the handle of the instrument was made of a slip of bamboo stopped from end to end with wax. About the other two pĕnuweis there was nothing specially remarkable. ↑

212 These are the names of two girls mentioned in the “Malay Annals” (Sĕjarah Malayu) to whose rice there happened a strange phenomenon. The following is Leyden’s translation (in which the names appear as Ampu and Malin). “The name of its (the country of Palembang’s) river was Muartatang (Muartenang ?) into which falls another river named Sungey Malayu (Malay River), near the source of which is a mountain named the mountain Sagantang Maha Miru (v. p. 2, supra). There were two young women of Belidung, the one named Wan-Ampu, and the other Wan-Malin, employed in cultivating rice on this mountain, where they had large and productive rice-grounds. One night they beheld their rice-fields gleaming and glittering like fire. Then said Ampu to Malin, ‘What is that light which is so brilliant? I am frightened to look at it.’ ‘Make no noise,’ said Malin, ‘it is some great snake or naga.’ Then they both lay quiet for fear. When it was daylight they arose and went to see what it was shone so bright during the night. They both ascended the hill, and found the grain of the rice converted into gold, the leaves into silver, and the stalks into brass, and they were extremely surprised, and said, ‘This is what we observed during the night.’” The account proceeds to show how the prodigy was due to a supernatural visit from a descendant of Raja Secander Zulkarneini.—Leyden, Mal. Ann., pp. 20, 21. The words in brackets are mine. ↑

213 Whilst drawing together the heads of the sheaf before actually planting the sugar-cane in the ground, the following lines were repeated by the Pawang:—

“Kur sĕmangat, S’ri Gading, Gĕmala Gading!

Tangkei-’kau ’mas, buah ’kau ’mas rantian” (sic).

“Cluck, cluck, soul of S’ri Gading, Gĕmala Gading!

This stem of yours is molten silver,

Your leaves are copper overlaid,