hills, or even plains which possessed some remarkable rock or tree, would be
selected for the purpose.
Such fasting, however, did not, as sometimes with us, convey to the Malays the
idea of complete abstinence, as the magicians informed me that a small
modicum of rice contained in a kĕtupat (which is a small diamond-shaped rice-
receptacle made of plaited cocoa-nut leaf) was the daily “allowance” of any one
who was fasting. The result was that fasts might be almost indefinitely
prolonged, and the thrice-seven-days’ fast of ’Che Utus upon Jugra Hill, on the
Selangor coast,^28 is still one of the traditions of that neighbourhood, whilst in
Malay romances and in Malay tradition this form of religious penance is
frequently represented as continuing for years.
Finally, I would draw attention to the strong vein of Sympathetic Magic or
“make believe” which runs through and leavens the whole system of Malay
superstition. The root-idea of this form of magic has been said to be the principle
that “cause follows from effect.”
“One of the principles of sympathetic magic is that any effect may be produced
by imitating it.... If it is wished to kill a person, an image of him is made and
then destroyed; and it is believed that through a certain physical sympathy
between the person and his image, the man feels the injuries done to the image
as if they were done to his own body, and that when it is destroyed he must
simultaneously perish.”^29
The principle thus described is perhaps the most important of all those which
underlie the “Black Art” of the Malays.
1
“The titles Pawang and Bomor are given by the Malays to their medicine men. The Pawang
class perform magic practices in order to find ore, medicine crops, or ensure good takes of fish,
etc. The Bomor usually practise their art for the cure of human disease. Both terms are,
however, often used as though they were interchangeable.”—Clifford, Hik. Raja Budiman, pt.
ii. p. 28 n. ↑
2
In Bukit Sĕnggeh the articles subject to this custom are priced as follows:—