ground, though all traces of the graves be obliterated, is regarded as an unpardonable
sacrilege,”—Marsden, Hist. of Sumatra (ed. 1811), pp. 287, 288. ↑
104
The explanation usually given by Malays is that the betel-nut scissors symbolise iron. Short
weapons are sometimes substituted. ↑
105
Tradition says that formerly the corpse was watched for three days before burial, and that
sometimes it was kept for a week or even a longer period. One Raja S’nei is reported to have
been kept 40 days in her coffin above ground! It is also stated that before the introduction of
Muhammadanism the dead were burned.
It is still the custom to keep both the hearth-fire (api dapor) and lamps (palita) burning not
only for so long as the corpse may be in the house, but for seven days and nights after
occurrence of the death. It is also the custom to open the sick person’s mosquito-curtain when
death is approaching, and in some cases, at all events, the dying are taken out of their beds and
laid upon the floor. I may add that the material for fumigation (pĕrabun) is placed upon the
hearth-fire after death, to scare away the evil spirits, just as salt is thrown upon the fire during a
thunderstorm, in order that it may counteract the explosions of thunder (mĕmbalas pĕtir), and
thus drive away the demons who are believed to be casting the thunderbolts. ↑
106
The kati is a weight equivalent to 1⅓ lb. avoirdupois. ↑
107
The form found in most dictionaries is banchoh or banchuh. ↑
108
Whence the expression “charik kapan,” which means literally to tear the shroud (i.e. to tear off
the selvage of the shroud, and not to tear off a piece of cloth to form the shroud). ↑
109
Cubit, the length of the forearm. ↑
110
The short motto which usually heads Malay letters. ↑
111
I may add that in pre-Muhammadan days certain articles are said to have been buried with the
corpse, viz. “b’ras sa-p’riok, asam, garam,” together with (in the case of a man) rough wooden
models of the deceased’s weapons. ↑
112