When the child has been bathed, it is fumigated, and deposited for the first time
in a swinging-cot (the Malay substitute for a cradle) which, according to
immemorial custom, is formed by a black cloth slung from one of the rafters. To
fumigate^26 it you take leaves of the red dracæna (jĕnjuang merah), and wrap
them round first with the casing of the charred torch (puntong) used at the
severing of the cord (pĕmbuang tali pusat), then with leaves of the t’rong asam
(“acid” egg-plant), and tie them round at intervals with a string of shredded tree-
bark (tali t’rap). The funnel-shaped bouquet thus formed is suspended above the
child’s cot (buayan); a spice-block (batu giling) is deposited inside it, and
underneath it are placed the naked blade of a cutlass (parang puting), a cocoa-
nut scraper (kukoran), and one of the basket-work stands used for the cooking-
pots (lĕkar jantan), which latter is slung round the neck of the cocoa-nut scraper.
This last strange contrivance is, I believe, intended as a hint to the evil spirit or
vampire which comes to suck the child’s blood, and for whom the trap described
above is set underneath the house-floor.
Now get a censer and burn incense in it, adding to the flame, as it burns, rubbish
from beneath a deserted house, the deserted nest of a mĕr’bah (dove), and the
deserted nest of the “rain-bird” (sarang burong ujan-ujan). When all is ready,
rock the cot very gently seven times, then take the spice-block out of the cot and
deposit it together with the blade of the cutlass upon the ground, take the child in
your arms and fumigate it by moving it thrice round in a circle over the smoke of
the censer, counting up to seven as you do so, and swing the child gently
towards your left. At the word “seven” call the child’s soul by saying “Cluck,
cluck! soul of Muhammad here!”^27 (if it is a boy), or “Cluck, cluck! soul of
Fatimah here!” (if it is a girl); deposit the child in the cot and rock it very gently,
so that it does not swing farther than the neck of the cocoa-nut scraper extends
(sa-panjang kukoran sahaja). After this you may swing it as far as you like, but
for at least seven days afterwards, whenever the child is taken out of the cot, the
spice-block, or stone-child (anak batu) as it is called, must be deposited in the
cot as a substitute for the child (pĕngganti budak).
Once in every four hours the child should be bathed with cold water, in order
that it may be kept “cool.” This custom, I was told, is diametrically opposite to
that which obtains at Malacca, where the child is bathed as rarely as possible.
The custom followed in Selangor is said to prevent the child from getting a sore
mouth (guam).