4. MINERALS AND MINING CHARMS
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Skeat, Walter William
“10. No weapon may be brought within the four posts of the smelting-house which immediately surround the furnace. (Hukum pawang, $1.25.)
“11. Coats may not be worn within this space. (Hukum pawang, $1.25.)
“12. These posts may not be cut or hacked. (Hukum pawang, one slab of tin.)
“13. If a miner returns from work, bringing back with him some tin sand, and discovers that somebody has eaten the cold rice which he had left at home, he may claim from the delinquent one karong of tin sand. The pawang adjudicates in the matter.
“14. An earthenware pot (priok) which is broken must be replaced within three days. (Hukum pawang, one karong of tin sand.)
“15. No one may cross a race in which a miner is sluicing without going some distance above him, up stream; if he does he incurs a penalty of as much tin sand as the race contains at the moment, payable to the owner of the race. The pawang adjudicates.
“16. A kris, or spear, at a mine, if without a sheath, must be carefully wrapped in leaves, even the metal setting (simpei) must be hidden. Spears may only be carried at the “trail.” (Hukum pawang, uncertain.)
“17. On the death of any miner, each of his comrades on that mine pays to the pawang one chupak (penjuru) of tin sand.
“It will be noticed that the amount of the majority of these fines is $12.50; this is half of the amount of the fine which, under the Malay customary law, a chief could impose on a raʿiyat244 for minor offences. It is also the amount of the customary dowry in the case of a marriage with a slave or with the widow or divorced wife of a raʿiyat.
“The Malay miner has peculiar ideas about tin and its properties; in the first instance, he believes that it is under the protection and command of certain spirits whom he considers it necessary to propitiate; next he considers that the tin itself is alive and has many of the properties of living matter, that of its own volition it can move from place to place, that it can reproduce itself, and that it has special likes—or perhaps affinities—for certain people and things, and vice versa. Hence it is advisable to treat tin-ore with a certain amount of respect, to consult its convenience, and what is, perhaps, more curious, to conduct the business of mining in such a way that the tin-ore may, as it were, be obtained without its own knowledge!”
Mr. Hale adds an interesting vocabulary of Malay mining terms from which the following words are extracted as being specially connected with the superstitions of the miners:—
Ancha.—A square frame 1′ 6″ × 1′ 6″, composed of strips of split bamboo for the floor and four pieces of peeled wood for the sides. The proper wood is kayu sungkei,245 because it has flat even twigs and leaves which lie flat and symmetrically; these must be bound together with a creeper: rattan may not be used; it is hung to the tulang bumbong246 just under the attaps247 of the smelting-shed; it is used as an altar, the offerings made by the miners to the spirits being placed on it.
Genggulang.—The platform or altar erected by the pawang at the opening of a mine. It should be built entirely of kayu sungkei. The wood is peeled, except the four branches which serve as posts; these are only peeled up to the twigs and leaves, which are left on, about 4 feet 6 inches from the ground. At 3 feet 3 inches from the ground a square platform of round peeled sticks, about 1 foot 3 inches each way, is arranged; one foot above the level of the platform a sort of railing is fixed round three sides of the square, and from the open side a ladder with four steps reaches down to the ground; the railing is carried down to the ground on each side of the ladder, and supports a fringe of cocoa-nut leaves (jari-lipan). The whole erection must be tied together with creepers; rattan must not be used.
Jari lipan.—A fringe made of the young white leaflets of the cocoa-nut palm plaited together.248
Jampi.—The incantation of the pawang.
Kapala nasi.—A stake of peeled wood (kayu sungkei) stuck in the ground; the top of this is split into four so as to support a platform similar to that of the genggulang. Offerings are made upon it.249
Pantang burok mata.—The period of mourning observed when a death occurs at a mine.
Mourning consists in abstention from work (in the case of a neighbour or comrade) for three days, or, in the case of the death of the pawang, penghulu kelian, or the feudal chief, for seven days. The expression is derived from the supposition that in three days the eyes of a corpse have quite disappeared. Chinese miners have a similar custom; whoever goes to assist in the burial of a corpse must not only abstain from work, but must not go near the mine or smelting furnace for three days.250
Perasap.—Half a cocoa-nut shell, a cup, or any other vessel, in which votive offerings of sweet-smelling woods and gums are burnt.
Sangka.—A receptacle in which to burn offerings of sweet woods and gums; it is made of a stick of bamboo about three feet long, one end being split and opened out to receive the charcoal; it is stuck in the ground near races and heaps of tin sand.251
Tatin gulang.—The pawang’s fee for the ceremony of erecting a genggulang.252
The following notes on tin-mining in Selangor were contributed to the Selangor Journal by Mr. J. C. Pasqual, a well-known local miner:—
“The Malay mining pawang will soon be a thing of the past, and many a pawang has returned to tilling the soil in place of his less legitimate occupation of imposing upon the credulity of the miners. The reason for this is not far to seek, as the Malay miner, as well as the Chinese miner, of the old school, with their thousand-and-one superstitions, has given place to a more modern and matter-of-fact race, who place more reliance for prospecting purposes on boring tools than on the divination and jampi of the pawang. But the profession of the pawang has not altogether died out, as he is sometimes called into requisition for the purpose of casting out evil spirits from the mines; of converting amang253 (pyrites) into tin-ore, and of invoking the spirits of a mine previous to the breaking of the first sod in a new venture. These ceremonies generally involve the slaying of a buffalo, a goat, or fowls, and the offering of betel-leaf, incense, and rice, according to the means of the towkay lombong.
“The term pawang is now used by the Chinese to indicate the ‘smelter’ (Chinese) of a mine (probably from the fact that this office was formerly the monopoly of the Malay pawang).
“To the pawangs are attributed extraordinary powers, for besides inducing tin-ore to continue or become plentiful in a mine, he can cause its disappearance from a rich ‘claim’ by the inevitable jampi, this latter resource being resorted to by way of revenge in cases where the towkay lombong (or labor) fails to carry out his pecuniary obligation towards the pawang whose aid he had invoked in less prosperous times. Some of the stories told of the prowess of pawangs are very ridiculous; for instance, a native lady in Ulu Langat (for women are also credited with the pawang attributes), who was the pawang of Sungei Jelok in Kajang, could command a grain of tin-ore to crawl on the palm of her hand like a live worm.254 The failure of the Sungei Jelok mines was attributed to her displeasure on account of an alleged breach of contract on the part of the towkay lombong.
“The term pawang is sometimes used as a verb in the sense of ‘to prospect’ a sungei or stream; thus in alluding to certain streams or mines, it is not uncommon to hear a Malay say that they have been prospected (sudah di-pawangkan) by ‘Inche’ So-and-so—meaning that the stream had been discovered and proved by a pawang prior to the opening of the mines.”255
In a later article Mr. Pasqual says: “It is believed that tin will even on rare occasions announce its presence by a peculiar noise heard in the stillness of night, and that some birds and insects by their chirrupings and whirrings will proclaim its whereabouts.”256
In a still later article, after briefly referring to the use of the bhasa pantang, or “Taboo Language,” by tin-miners in Selangor, Mr. Pasqual proceeds:—
“There are, again, certain acts which are forbidden. In the mine, especially if the karang257 has not yet been removed, it is forbidden to wear shoes or carry an umbrella. This rule, it seems, originated with the coolies themselves, who in olden times insisted that the Towkay Labur should take off his shoes and close his umbrella whenever he visited the mine, so that, as they alleged, the spirits might not be offended. But their real object was not to allow him to pry too much into the mine, in case it might not bear scrutiny; and thus, by depriving him of the protection from the sun and from the rough mining quartz which would have been afforded by the umbrella and shoes, they prevented him from going about here, there, and everywhere, and making unpleasant inquiries, as he would otherwise have liked to do.
“Quarrelling and fighting in the mine is strictly forbidden, as it has a tendency to drive away the ore.
“Bathing in the mine is not allowed.
“A man must not work in the mine with only his bathing-cloth around his body. He must wear trousers.
“If a man takes off his sun hat and puts it on the ground, he must turn it over and let it rest upon its crown.
“Limes cannot be brought into the mine. This superstition is peculiar to the Malay miner, who has a special dread of this fruit, which, in pantang language, he calls salah nama (lit. ‘wrong name’) instead of limau nipis.
“In looking at the check-roll it is forbidden to point at the names with the finger. No one may examine the check-roll at night with an open light, owing more probably to the fear of setting it on fire than to superstitious prejudices.
“It is considered unlucky for a man to fall off the mining ladder, for, whether he is hurt or not, he is likely to die within the year.
“An outbreak of fire in the mine is considered an omen of prosperity. Several mines have been known to double or treble their output of tin after the occurrence of a fire.
“It is unlucky for a coolie to die in the kongsi house. When, therefore, a man is very sick and past all hopes of recovery, it is customary to put him out of the house in an extempore hut erected in the scrub, so that death may not take place in the kongsi amongst the living. His chuleis258 attend him during his last hours and bury him when dead. These and other superstitious ideas and observances are, however, fast dying out, though it would still be an unsafe experiment to enter a mine with shoes on and an umbrella over your head.”259
The remaining notes on mining ceremonies and charms were collected by me in Selangor. On reaching the tin-bearing stratum, the tin-ore is addressed by name:—
“Peace be with you, O Tin-Ore,