Next to these royal honorifics comes the title of “Headman” or “Sheikh.”
There are, it is usually stated, four of these Sheikhs who are “penned” (di-
kandang) in the Four Corners of the Earth respectively, and whose names are
ʿAbdul Kadir, ʿAbdul Muri, a third whose name is not mentioned, and ʿAbdul
ʿAli.^22
Sometimes they are called “Sheikh ʿAlam” (or Si Putar ʿAlam), and are each
said to reside “within a ring-fence of white iron.” Hence we obtain a perfectly
intelligible meaning for the expression, “Ask pardon of the Four Corners of the
World,” i.e. of the Sheikhs who reside therein, though the phrase sounds
ridiculous enough without such explanation.
The only other Arabic title which is perhaps worth noticing here^23 is that of
“Priest” (Imām), which we find somewhat curiously used in an invocation
addressed to the sea-spirit. “Imām An Jalil is the name of the ‘Priest of the
Sea.’”
In the invocation addressed to the Sea-spirit we find the expression:—
“Jungle-chief of the World is the name of the Old Man of the Sea.”
There can, however, be little doubt that this “Old Man of the Sea” is a mere
synonym for Batara Guru.
A set of expressions to which special reference should perhaps be made consists
of the titles used by the wild jungle tribes (Sakais), the use of which is important
as confirming the principle that the “Autochthones” are more influential with the
spirits residing in their land than any later arrivals can be, whatever skill the
latter may have acquired in the magic arts of the country from whence they
came.
“Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, Munshi, in his Autobiography, has an interesting
passage on the beliefs of the Malays on the subject of spirits and demons, beliefs
which are much more deeply-rooted than is generally supposed. He does not,
however, differentiate between national customs and beliefs, and those which
have come in with the Muhammadan religion. And indeed it is not easy to do so.
Here, everything is classed under the generic term sheitan, which is Arabic, and