Salampuri is the name of his poniard (sĕkin),
Silambuara the name of his k’ris,
The insignia of the Demon Rama.”That it is his weapons which the Spectre Huntsman’s son (Adunada) carries on
his back appears from a passage below, which runs:—
“O Si Adunada, with the sword slung at your back,
Bent double you come from the lightwood swamps,
We did not guess that you were here.”This reference to Rama opens up a long vista of possibilities, but for the present
it will be sufficient to remark that the Spectre Huntsman himself is almost
universally declared by the Malays to be the King of the Land-folk (Raja orang
darat). It is on account of this kingship that his weapons receive distinguishing
titles such as are given to royal weapons. This, too, is the reason that he is so
much more dreaded by Malays than ordinary spirits of evil; his mere touch being
considered sufficient to kill, by the exercise of that divine power which all
Malay Rajas are held to possess.^27
To return from the foregoing digression: there are many other curious legends
connected with Birds. Thus, in 1882, Captain Kelham wrote as follows:—
“From Mr. W. E. Maxwell, H.M. Assistant Resident, of Lârut, I hear that the
Malays have a strange legend connected with one of the large Hornbills; but
which species I was not able to find out. It is as follows:—
“‘A Malay, in order to be revenged on his mother-in-law (why, the legend does
not relate), shouldered his axe and made his way to the poor woman’s house, and
began to cut through the posts which supported it. After a few steady chops the
whole edifice came tumbling down, and he greeted its fall with a peal of
laughter. To punish him for his unnatural conduct he was turned into a bird, and
the tebang mentuah (literally, He who chopped down his mother-in-law) may
often be heard in the jungle uttering a series of sharp sounds like the chop of an
axe on timber, followed by Ha! ha! ha!’”^28
The following account of the bird-lore of the Malay Peninsula was compiled by
me from notes supplied to the Selangor Journal^29 by the late Sir William