the roof of your mouth, and contract the throat thrice, slowly swallowing as you do so.” To the
above she then added: “Besides this, you can make the whole field of rice break into waves by
standing up, clapping the hands, and then pushing each hand right up the sleeve of the opposite
arm (I am not quite sure if I rightly understood this last, but am fairly certain that it is correct—
my notes have only ‘run the hands up the arms’), saying as you do so:—
“Al-salam ʿaleikum,
Waman wamat,
Paku amat,
Wathohar.”This will swell the grains, and prevent them from getting empty (minching, jangan banyak
hampa).” ↑
217
This umbrella had been forgotten, and we were compelled to wait while one of the “bearers”
returned to the house to fetch it; as without it, I was told, the Rice-child could not be escorted
home. ↑
218
I was told by the Pawang that when the three reapers had each filled her basket, each of them
tied the leaves of the rice clumps together, and dug up a lump of earth with the great toe of the
left foot, and inserting the lump into the midst of each clump, repeated the following words:—
“Al-salam ʿaleikum, nabi ’Tap, yang mĕmĕgangkan bumi!
Tĕtapkan anak aku,
Jangan rosak, jangan binasakan
Jauhkan dĕripada Jin dan Sheitan
Dĕngan la-ilaha,” d.s.b.“Peace be with you, Prophet ’Tap, in whose charge is the earth,
Confirm this my child.
Do it no harm or scathe,
But remove it far from Demons and Devils.
By virtue of,” etc.↑
219
A cat having given birth to kittens the night before the ceremony, I was told by the Pawang