19
Selangor Malays add further that his whole body became overgrown with orchids, a conceit
which recalls their story of a local hero who went on swimming in the sea until his body
became covered with oysters! ↑
20
The Spectre Huntsman is said to butcher (bantai) his game, whenever he gets it, under a kind
of wild areca palm (pinang sĕnawar). He then binds it up again with a creeper (akar gasing-
gasing), and roasts it over an earth hearth (saleian), the floor (lantei) of which is of the pinang
boring (another wild areca palm), and covers it over with wild banana leaves (tudong salei
daun pisang hutan) and leaves of the rĕsam bracken. ↑
21
Selangor Malays add that the Spectre Huntsman himself instructed his son how to cure people
who were suffering from the effects of his magic. These instructions were: “Take leaves of the
bonglei, rĕsam, gasing-gasing, and wild banana, shred and distil them (di-uraskan), and
administer the potion to the patient, together with sirih kunta and pinang kunta. Before
administering it, however, an augury has to be taken: young shoots of the (wild?) cotton-tree
(puchok daun kapas) are plucked and have the sap squeezed out of them (di-ramas). If the
liquor is red the patient may be cured; but if it has a black look, nothing can be done to save
him.” ↑
22
The sickness which results from crossing the path of the Spectre Huntsman (kalintasan) has
choleraic symptoms (vomiting and voiding) and is quickly fatal; that resulting from his
challenge or summons (katĕgoran) begins with persistent fever (dĕmam salama-lama-nya), but
does not prove so rapidly fatal. ↑
23
As to this, vide App. xxx., note. ↑
24
J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 12–18. ↑
25
Vide App. xxx., lines 13, 14, 15, and 16. ↑
26
App. xxviii. ↑
27
I was once stationed for about eighteen months in a small out-of-the-way village on the
Selangor coast, where three subordinate officers of the Government (foremen of works) had