certainly be the case of the Malays and Javanese mentioned in the foregoing
paragraph, and quite possibly too in the case of the Sakai.
It is true that Chinese often worship at these shrines—just as, on the same
principle, they employ Malay magicians in prospecting for tin; but there appear
to be certain limits beyond which they cannot go, as it was related to me when I
was living in the neighbourhood, that a Chinaman who had, in the innocence of
his heart, offered at a Moslem shrine a piece of the accursed pork, was pounced
upon and slain before he reached home by one of the tigers which guarded the
shrine.
The shrine of ’Toh Kamarong is one of the most celebrated shrines in the Langat
district, the saint’s last resting-place being guarded by a white elephant and a
white tiger, the latter of which had been a pet (pĕmainan) of his during his
lifetime. In this respect it is exactly similar to the shrine of ’Toh Parwi of Pantei
in Sungei Ujong, which is similarly guarded, both shrines having been erected
on the seashore, it is said, in the days when the sea came much farther inland
than it does at present. The fame of ’Toh Kamarong filled the neighbourhood,
and it is related that on one occasion an irate mother exclaimed, of a son of hers
who was remarkable for his vicious habits, “May the ’Toh Kramat Kamarong fly
away with him.” Next day the boy disappeared, and all search proved fruitless,
until three days later ’Toh Kamarong appeared to her in a dream, and informed
her that he had carried the boy off, as she had invited him to do, and that if she
were to look for his footprints she would be able to discover them inside the pad-
tracks of a tiger one of whose feet was smaller than the rest, and which was then
haunting the spot. She did so, and discovered her son’s footprints exactly as the
saint had foretold. This Ghost-tiger, which no doubt must be identified with ’Toh
Kamarong’s “pet,” used to roam the district when I was stationed in the
neighbourhood, and both I and, I believe, the then District Engineer (Mr.
Spearing), saw this tiger’s tracks, and can vouch for the fact that one footprint
was smaller than the rest. This curious feature is thought by the local Malays at
least, to be one of the specially distinctive marks of a rimau kramat, or Ghost-
tiger, just as the possession of one tusk that is smaller than the other is the mark
of a Ghost-elephant.^12
Closely connected with the subject of shrines is that of high places, such as those
spots where religious penance was traditionally practised. One of these sacred