but in so far as general animistic ideas go, they might be equally well applied to
other metals, such as silver and gold.
It has already been remarked that as the Tin spirit is believed to take the form of
a buffalo, so the Gold spirit is said to take the form of a golden roe-deer (kijang).
Of the ceremonies which the Malays believe to be essential for successful gold-
mining, not much information has yet been published. In Denys’ Descriptive
Dictionary, however, we read the following:—
“Gold is believed to be under the care and in the gift of a dewa, or god, and its
search is therefore unhallowed, for the miners must conciliate the dewa by
prayers and offerings, and carefully abstain from pronouncing the name of God
or performing any act of worship. Any acknowledgment of the sovereignty of
Allah offends the dewa, who immediately ‘hides the gold,’ or renders it
invisible. At some of the great limbongan^269 mas or gold-pits in the Malay
States of the interior, any allusion to the Deity subjects the unwitting miner to a
penalty which is imposed by the Penghûlu. The qualities of the gold vary greatly
in the same country. The finest gold brought to market is that of the principality
of Pahang, on the eastern side of the Malay Peninsula, which brings a higher
price than even that of Australia by better than three per cent. The gold is all
obtained by washing, and the metal has never been worked, and scarcely even
traced to the original veins. It is mostly in the form of powder or dust—the mas-
urai of the Malays, literally ‘loose or disintegrated gold.’”^270
Gold, silver, and an amalgam formed of the two, are regarded as the three most
precious metals, and of these gold is, to a very uncertain and partial extent, still
sometimes regarded as a royal prerogative.^271
Of Silver still less information has been collected than of gold. This, however, is
but natural, as silver has not yet been found in payable quantities, whereas many
gold mines exist. It is just possible, however, that silver may be worked by the
Malays on a small scale in the Siamese-Malay States, as it would be difficult on
any other hypothesis to account for the following invocation, which was given
me by a Malay of Kelantan (’Che ʿAbas):—
“Peace be with you, O Child of the Solitary Jin Salaka (Silver),
I know your origin.
Your dwelling-place is the Yellow Cloud Rock;