the left side of the bows, and working right down to the stern, and then
recommencing on the right and working down to the stern again). Finally, the
same assistant returning to the stakes, washed the rice-bowl in the sea just
beneath the place where Bilal Umat was sitting, and fastened up the leaf-brush to
the left-hand head-post (kayu puchi kiri) at the seaward end of the stakes. To the
above account I may add that a number of taboos are still pretty rigorously
enforced by the fishing-wizards (Pawang B’lat) upon the coast of Selangor. I
was never allowed to take either an umbrella or boots into the fishing-stakes
when I visited them—the spirits having, I was told, the strongest possible
objection to the use of either.
Other “perpetual taboos” (pantang salama-lama-nya) are to bathe without
wearing a bathing-cloth (mandi tĕlanjang), to throw the wet bathing-cloth over
the shoulder when returning to the house, and to rub one foot against the other
(gosok satu kaki dĕngan lain). Sarongs, umbrellas, and shoes must never on any
pretence be worn. I may add that the first pole planted is called Turus Tuah
(tua?), and if the response of the spirits to the invocation be favourable, it is
believed that it will enter the ground readily, as if pulled from below. The only
seven-days’ taboo which I have heard mentioned (though, no doubt, there are
many others) is the scrupulous observance of chastity.
A boat which possesses a knot in the centre of its keel, or to which the smell of
fish long adheres (p’rahu pĕranyir, or pĕrhanyir), is supposed to bring good luck
to the fishermen.
There is also a regular “taboo language” used by the fishermen, of which the
following are examples:—
“Fish = daun kayu (tree-leaves) or sampah laut (jetsam).
Snake = akar hidup (living creeper).
Crocodile = batang kayu (tree-log).
Seaward compartment of the stakes (bunohan) = kurong.”At the close of the ceremony Bilal Umat repeated to me one of the kelong^321
invocations which he had just been making use of, and which ran as follows:—
“Peace be with you, God’s Prophet, ’Tap!
Peace be with you, God’s Prophet, Khizr!