bĕrdah if accompanied by musical instruments. ↑
81
Tĕpong tawar, or “Neutralising Paste,” is believed to avert ill-luck (mĕmbuang sial); for further
details vide Chap. III. pp. 77–81, supra. ↑
82
Not at a Raja’s wedding. ↑
83
This ceremony is also called mĕnyĕlang or bĕrlĕbat. ↑
84
One of these fillets, which was purchased by the writer, had for its pattern two dragons (naga),
which looked different ways, and a couple of butterflies as pendants at each end. The substitute
used by poor people is frequently manufactured from the leaf of the thatch-palm (nipah). ↑
85
According to v. d. Wall this plant is Carthamus tinctorius. ↑
86
A weight used for weighing the precious metals. According to C. and S. Dict., s.v. Bûngkal, it
is equal to 822 grains troy; according to Maxwell, Manual of the Mal. Lang., p. 141, to 832. ↑
87
The mast with its branches carrying artificial flowers, streamers, and coloured eggs, appears to
be emblematic of a fruit-tree, the eggs representing the fruit, the artificial blossoms its flowers,
and the streamers its leaves. ↑
88
For instance, in reply to an appeal from the Bride’s Relations to “take into account the duty
which is the custom of the country,” one of the Bridegroom’s Relations would repeat the
following:—
“Even the woodpecker knows how to fly,
And how much more the lory;
Even my grandsire’s commands I take into account,
And how much more the duty imposed by the State.”↑
89
It is said that this is a departure from the old custom, according to which the wedding
ceremony took place the day before the procession (except at the re-marriage of a widow who