it partly open and insert the ladder-rung into its body, wrapping the flesh and
feathers round it, and binding the whole bird seven times round and seven times
across with a piece of rattan, not forgetting, however, to observe silence and hold
your breath as you pass the first rattan lashing round the fowl’s carcase. When
you have finished binding it up as directed, chew some betel-leaf and eject
(sĕmborkan) the chewed leaf upon the fowl’s head, repeating the appropriate
charm.^296 Then hook the bait (sangkutkan umpan) on to the tip of the bent rod
(on no account tie it on, as it must be left free for the crocodile to swallow), and
having prepared the wonted accessories—including three chews of betel-leaf, a
richek of ginger (halia bara sa-richek), and seven white pepper-corns (lada
sulah tujoh biji)—breathe (jampikan) upon the betel-leaf, and at the end of the
invocation eject the chewed betel-leaf upon the head of the cock intended for the
bait.
The charm to be recited (which makes allusion to the fable concerning the
supposed origin of the crocodile) runs as follows:—
“Follow in procession, follow in succession,
The ‘Assembly-flower’ begins to unfold its petals;
Come in procession, come in succession,
King Solomon’s self comes to summon you.
Ho, Si Jambu Rakai, I know your origin;
Sugar-cane knots forty-four were your bones,
Of clay was formed your body;
Rootlets of the areca-palm were your arteries,
Liquid sugar made your blood,
A rotten mat your skin,
And a mid-rib of the thatch-palm your tail,
Prickles of the pandanus made your dorsal ridge,
And pointed bĕrĕmbang suckers your teeth.^297
If you splash with your tail it shall break in two,
If you strike downwards with your snout it shall break in two,
If you crunch with your teeth they shall all be broken.
Lo, Si Jambu Rakai, I bind (this fowl) with the sevenfold binding,
And enwrap it with the sevenfold wrapping
Which you shall never loosen or undo.
Turn it over in your mouth before you swallow it.