again several times, repeating more incantations. If not successful, go the next night and make
a further effort, and the night after, if necessary—three nights in all. If you cannot then catch
your shadow, wait till the same day on the following month and renew the attempt. Sooner or
later you will succeed, and, as you stand there in the brilliance of the moonlight, you will see
that you have drawn your shadow into yourself, and your body will never again cast a shade.
Go home, and in the night, whether sleeping or waking, the form of a child will appear before
you and put out its tongue; that seize, and it will remain while the rest of the child disappears.
In a little while the tongue will turn into something that breathes, a small animal, reptile, or
insect, and when you see the creature has life put it in a bottle and the pĕlsit is yours.’
“It sounds easy enough, and one is not surprised to hear that every one in Kĕdah, who is
anybody, keeps a pĕlsit.” Swett., Malay Sketches, pp. 197, 198. ↑
15
No less than seven “Bidans,” it is said, were formerly requisitioned at the birth of a Raja’s
child, and occasions when even nine are mentioned are to be met with in Malay romances. The
most general custom, however, seems to have been to summon seven “Bidans” only, the
number being possibly due to the Malay theory of a sevenfold soul (v. Soul). The profession
was an honourable one, and the Bidans received the title of “Dato’ (abbreviated to ’Toh)
Bidan”; but if the child of a Raja happened to die, the Bidan who was adjudged to be
responsible paid the penalty with her life. ↑
16
Vide also N. & Q. No. 3, sec. 65, issued with J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 16. ↑
17
If the betel-leaf adheres to the chĕrana it is a bad sign (uri mĕlĕkat tiada mahu k’luar). ↑
18
Vide p. 551, infra. ↑
19
Vide App. clxxxiv. ↑
20
So, too, in the report of the Dutch Expedition to Mid-Sumatra, vol. i. p. 266, it is stated that
delivery took place “in a sitting posture.” ↑
21
T’rong asam. ↑
22
One account says that the Pĕnanggalan (or Manjang, i.e. Pĕmanjangan another name for her) if