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
karang^257 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.