“Kur sĕmangat, S’ri Gading, Gĕmala Gading!
Batang-’kau perak bĕrtuang
Daun-’kau tĕmbaga bĕlĕpeh,
Tangkei-’kau ’mas, buah ’kau ’mas rantian” (sic).“Cluck, cluck, soul of S’ri Gading, Gĕmala Gading!
This stem of yours is molten silver,
Your leaves are copper overlaid,
Your stalk is gold,
Your grain is fine gold.”I have not been able to discover what ’mas rantian means, as the Pawang could not explain it
(though she insisted that it was right), and it is not in any dictionary. ↑
214
The Muhammadan name for the Founder of Christianity. ↑
215
During the performance of this part of the ceremony (which is called chĕrangkan tali t’rap)
omens are taken as to the prosperity or otherwise of the people of the house, and the
observations have therefore to be made with the greatest care. The most disastrous omen is the
cawing of a crow or rook; next to this (in point of disastrous significance) comes the mewing
cry of the kite, and, thirdly, the flight of the ground-dove (tĕkukur). A good omen is the flight
of the bird called the Rice’s Husband (Laki Padi), but the best omen is the absence of any
portent or sound, even such as the falling of a tree, the crackling of a branch, or a shout in the
distance, all of which are harbingers of misfortune of some sort. ↑
216
The Pawang said to me afterwards, when I questioned her about this, “If you want your husked
rice to be white and smooth (puteh lanchap) you must stand up facing the sun at nine o’clock
(angkat kĕning, lit. ‘Raise the eyebrow’), turn up the whites of your eyes, swallow the water in
your mouth, and your rice will be smooth and white and easily swallowed. But if you want it to
be a little rough (kĕsat), so that you may not be tempted to eat too much of it during hard times,
instead of directly swallowing the water in your mouth, you must put the tip of your tongue to