that it was a very good sign, and that it was a known rule that if there was nobody else who
could bear children at the time, God was wont to substitute a cat (mĕnggantikan kuching). ↑
220
The drying usually takes longer, but the exceptional heat of the sun on the day in question
enabled the operation to be hastened. ↑
221
Nothing of the male sex may stand or sit opposite the point of the sieve (nyiru) during this
winnowing. ↑
222
The charms are the same as those given supra, viz. “A swallow has fallen,” etc., and “Herons
from all this region.” They are in the pantun form, and accordingly there is little connection
discernible between the first and the second half of the quatrain; the latter always contains the
actual point, the former at most something analogous or remotely parallel. ↑
223
The extreme voluminousness of Malay folk-lore upon the subject of rice-planting makes it
impossible to do more than give a general idea of the ceremonies described. The ceremonies,
however, are comparatively homogeneous in all parts of the Peninsula, and the specimens
given may be taken as fairly representative. In the Appendix (xciii. seqq.), will be found a
number of invocations, collected by Mr. O’Sullivan and myself, which are addressed to the
rice-spirit and may help to emphasise or explain some of the details. One of these invocations
should certainly help to emphasise the strength of the anthropomorphic conception of the Rice-
soul as held by Malays. It runs as follows (vide App. cx.):—
“Cluck, cluck, soul of my child!
Come and return home with me,
Our agreement has reached its term.
Let not the Heat afflict you,
Let not the Wind afflict you.
Let not Mosquitoes bite you,
Let not Sandflies or Midges bite you.”
224
J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 16, pp. 303–320. ↑
225
Report on the Geology and Physical Geography of the State of Pêrak, by Rev. J. E. Tennison-
Wood, F.G.S., F.L.S., etc. ↑
226