the tahi babi, jintan hitam, and garlic, pounded and mixed as usual with vinegar.
After three days an extraordinary mixture, called in Selangor the “Hundred
Herbs” (rĕmpah ’ratus), but in Malacca merely “Pot-herbs” (rĕmpah p’riok), is
concocted from all kinds of herbs, roots, and spices. The ingredients are put into
a large vessel of water and left to soak, a portion of the liquor being strained off
and given to the patient as a potion every morning for about ten days. Similar
ingredients boiled in a large pot, which is kept hot by being hermetically sealed
(di-gĕtang), and by having live embers placed underneath it from time to time,
furnish the regular beverage of the patient up to the time of her purification.
After the first fortnight, however, the lees are extracted from the vessel and used
to compose a poultice which is applied to the patient’s waist, a set of fresh
ingredients replacing the old ones.^34 It is sold for fifty cents a jar.
On the forty-fourth day the raised platform or roasting-place (saleian) is taken
down and the ceremony called Floor-washing (basoh lantei) takes place, the
whole house being thoroughly washed and cleaned. The floor having been
smeared with rice-cosmetic (bĕdak) (such as the Malays use for the bathing
ceremony), it is well scratched by the claws of a fowl, which is caught (and
washed) for the purpose, and then held over the floor and forced to do the
scratching required of it. The cosmetic is then removed (di-langir) by means of
lime-juice (again as in the bathing ceremony) and the hearth-fire is changed. The
Bidan now receives her pay, usually getting in cash for the eldest child $4.40 (in
some places $5.40), for the second, $3.40, the third, $2.40, and for the fourth,
and all subsequent children, $1.40; unless she is hastily summoned (bidan tarek)
and no engagement (mĕnĕmpah) has been made, in which case she may demand
half a bhara ($11). Besides this somewhat meagre remuneration, however, she
receives from the well-to-do (at the floor-washing ceremony) such presents as
cast-off clothes (kain bĕkas tuboh), a bowl of saffron rice, a bowl of the rice-
cosmetic and limes (bĕdak limau), and a platter of betel-leaf, with accessories
(chĕrana sirih). Though the remuneration may appear small, it was,
nevertheless, sure; as in former days an unwritten law allowed her to take the
child and “cry it for sale” (di-jaja) round the country, should her fee remain
unpaid.
Before concluding the present subject it will be necessary to describe certain
specific injunctions and taboos which form an important part of the vast body of