climbed into a tree to allow it to pass. The beast, however, pursued him and
commenced to climb the tree, but as it climbed he drove the point of his poniard
(badik) into its skull, and killed it. He then robbed it of its whiskers, and
thereafter, on his reaching a town, everybody fled from him because of the
whiskers which had belonged to so fierce a beast. The Raja of that country,
begging for one of them, and giving him food, he presented him with one of the
whiskers in payment. After paying his way in a similar manner at seven
successive villages, the Petrified Pilgrim at length reached Mecca.”
“Bores,” or “eagres,” at the mouths of rivers, and floods^15 due to heavy rain, are
conceived to be caused by the passage of some gigantic animal, most probably a
sort of dragon, as in the case of landslips, which will be mentioned later.
This animal, whose passage up rivers is held to cause the tidal wave or bore, is
called Bĕnă in Selangor. It is a matter of common report among Malays at Jugra,
on the Selangor coast, that a bore formerly “frequented” the Langat river, near
its mouth. This was anterior to the severance of the narrow neck of land^16 at
Bandar that divided the old channel of the Langat river from the stream into
which the waters of the Langat now flow, forming the short cut to the sea called
the Jugra Passage. In the days when the bore came up the river the Malays used
to go out in small canoes or dug-outs to “sport amongst the breakers” (main
gĕlombang), frequently getting upset for their pains. Eventually, however (I was
told), the bore was killed by a Langat Malay, who struck it upon the head with a
stick! It is considered that this must be true, since there is no bore in the Langat
river now!
Eclipses (Gĕrhana) of the sun or moon are considered to be the outward and
visible sign of the devouring of those bodies^17 by a sort of gigantic dragon
(rahu)^18 or dog (anjing). Hence the tumult made during an eclipse by the
Malays, who imagine that if they make a sufficient din they will frighten the
monster away.
The following is an excellent description of a lunar eclipse from the Malay point
of view:—
“One night, when the Moon has waxed nearly to the full, Pĕkan resounds with a
babel of discordant noise. The large brass gongs, in which the devils of the
Chinese are supposed to take delight, clang and clash and bray through the still