Studies in Religion, Folk-Lore,
& Custom in British North Borneo
and the Malay Peninsula
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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TOKYO I MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
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MEMPELAM (jAROM), A NEGRITO OF ULU SELAMA, PERAK
Studies in Religion, Folk-Lore,
SP Custom in British North Borneo
and the Malay Peninsula
By Ivor H. N. Evans, M.A.
Cambridge
At the University Press
1923
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN
PREFACE
THE following papers contain the results of investigations
concerning religion and custom in Borneo and the Malay
Peninsula, which I carried out at intervals during the years
1910 to 1921. Some of them have already appeared in almost
their present state in The Journal of the Royal Anthropological
Institute, in Man, or in The Journal of the Federated Malay
States Museums; in the case of others their material has been
gathered up from more general notes in the last-named publi-
cation, or from several papers, and re-cast, while I have added
a small amount of fresh material, the majority of which will
be found in the sections dealing with Borneo.
The time has, I think, not yet arrived when it will be
profitable for anyone to undertake a new work dealing with
the wild tribes of the Malay Peninsula, and should it ever do
so, such a book can be little more than a fresh and up-to-date
edition of Skeat and Blagden's excellent Pagan Races, since,
however much more research may be done in this field —
and there is still plenty of virgin soil awaiting exploitation
— it will be necessary to re-quote the whole of the evidence
in their two volumes, with, perhaps, the exception of that
of Vaughan-Stevens. I hope, therefore, that those of the
present papers which deal with the pagans of the Malay
Peninsula will be looked upon as being supplementary to
that standard work, and, similarly, that those which treat
of Malay beliefs and customs may be taken as small additions
to Skeat's Malay Magic.
With regard to British North Borneo, my material may be
read in conjunction with Ling Roth's compilation, The Tribes
of British North Borneo and Sarawak.
vi PREFACE
The chief reason for the appearance of this volume is my
wish to present to others in readily accessible form what I
have been able to learn from my eastern friends about those
subjects which interest me most.
My original papers, especially those on Borneo, contained
a few statements, which, on further thought, or on further
experience, I have modified in some degree, while all those
which were printed in England suffered from the fact that
my residence in the East prevented me from seeing proofs
of them. Some, too, which appeared in The Journal of the
Federated Malay States Museums, owing to various unavoid-
able circumstances, did not pass through my hands in the
proof stage.
Apart from the slight changes indicated above, the chief
emendations that I have made in my material are with regard
to the spellings of native words and names 1 and the removal
of some Malay terms from the Bornean folk-tales. Faults,
no doubt, still remain, but I must ask my readers, should they
discover any, to be as lenient as they can, since a good deal
of my work, especially that relating to Borneo, is of a pioneer-
ing nature, forming a rough track, which later-comers will,
I hope, develop into a fair highway.
A point to which I should like to draw attention, and one
which is liable to be a source of error, is that, except in dealing
with the Malays of the Peninsula and with the Jakun, I have
been compelled to converse with my various informants in
the lingua franca of the region (Malay), and in Borneo, where
the length of my total residence was not sufficient to enable
me to learn both this and a native language, the lingua franca,
especially in up-country villages, is not always very freely
current.
In the Malay Peninsula this difficulty does not present itself
1 Chiefly in the Bornean Papers.
PREFACE vu
to the same extent, since nowadays the majority of the
aborigines, whether Jakun, Sakai or Semang, speak Malay
fairly fluently.
I have frequently been asked by friends in the Peninsula
whether I "speak Sakai." I do not, and unless a European
were to reside with a Sakai tribe for a considerable time, it
is almost impossible that he should, and then he would only
acquire a single dialect, which might, or might not, be under-
stood in the next valley according to the part of the country
in which he was. Up to the present I have never had an
opportunity of being in touch with any one tribe for more
than a month, often a good deal less, hence, I cannot "speak
Sakai" or a single Sakai dialect.
My best thanks are due to the Government of the Federated
Malay States for allowing me to make what use I like of my
papers which have appeared under its aegis, and to the Royal
Anthropological Institute for a similar permission with regard
to those which have been printed in Man or in the Institute's
Journal, while the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic
Society has extended a similar courtesy to me with regard to
an article which forms an appendix to the present volume.
I.H.N.E.
Taiping, Federated Malay States.
January 30th, 1923.
CONTENTS
PART I
PAPERS ON BRITISH NORTH BORNEO
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS i
(i) SOME CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS OF THE "ORANG
DUSUN" 3
(ii) FOLK-TALES OF THE TUARAN AND ; TEMPASSUK
DISTRICTS 45
(iii) NORTH BORNEAN MARKETS 129
PART II
THE MALAY PENINSULA
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 134
(i) SOME BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS OF THE NEGRITOS . 143
(ii) SOME BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS OF THE SAKAI . . 197
(iii) SOME BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS OF THE JAKUN . . 262
(iv) MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON MALAY CUSTOMS AND
BELIEFS 268
(v) MALAY FOLK-TALES 273
(vi) MALAY BACK-SLANG 276
(vii) SETTING UP THE POSTS OF A MALAY HOUSE . . 277
(viii) BELA KAMPONG 279
(ix) CUSTOMS OF THE CAMPHOR-HUNTERS AND BAHASA
KAPOR 280
VOCABULARY {BAHASA KAPOR) 288
APPENDIX A. PUAKA 292
B. KEMPUNAN 294
INDEX 297
PLATE
MEMPELAM, A NEGRITO OF PERAK . . . Frontispiece
PART I
PAPERS ON BRITISH NORTH BORNEO
(i) Some Customs and Beliefs of the " Orang Dusun."
(ii) Folk-tales of the Tuaran and Tempassuk Districts.
(iii) North Bornean Markets.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
THE present collection of Dusun, Bajau, and Illanun
stories was made in the years 1910 and 1911, during
parts of which I was stationed in the two adjoining districts
of Tuaran and Tempassuk; while the material contained in
the first paper, that on customs and beliefs of the "Orang
Dusun," was collected partly at the same time as the folk-
stories, partly on a short visit which I paid to the Tempassuk
District in 1915. The Tempassuk is inhabited by three different
peoples, the Dusuns, Bajaus and Illanuns, and it is chiefly
from the first of these that the tales have been collected ; for,
since both the Bajaus and Illanuns are Mohamedans, their
folk-lore is not nearly so extensive as that of their Dusun
neighbours, who are pagans. The Mohamedans, roughly
speaking, form the coastal and estuarine population, while
the Dusuns, with the exception of those of a few large villages
on the plains, which border on the Bajau zone, are confined
to the foot-hills and mountainous portions of the area. The
Tuaran District is also divided between Bajaus and Dusuns,
but here Illanuns are wanting.
It would seem that the Dusuns are the original inhabitants
of the country, and that the Bajaus and Illanuns, both Proto-
Malayan peoples, are later arrivals who have driven the first-
named inland. This is known to be a fact in the case of the
Illanuns, who are a piratical tribe of Mindanao in the Philip-
pines; of whom small roving parties have settled in Borneo.
EMP I
2 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
The origin of the Bajaus 1 is, I believe, unknown, but they
are widely spread along the coasts of North Borneo. However,
as far as the Tempassuk is concerned, tradition asserts that
they first came in trading boats from the direction of Kudat,
and eventually fought the Dusuns and formed settlements in
the country.
It is often said by Europeans resident in North Borneo,
without, I think, sufficient evidence, that the Dusuns have
a large admixture of Chinese blood. What the Dusuns would
seem to be is a primitive Indonesian people, with some strain
of Mongolian (not modern Chinese) blood. The up-country
Dusun is generally short, sturdy, and light in colour, with a
face which is often broad and flat, showing great development
of the angle of the lower jaw. The nose is broad, and its bridge
and root depressed. The head is long as compared with that
of the Bajau.
" Orang Dusun," which, literally translated, means " people
of the orchards," is a name which was originally used by the
Malays to denote large sections of the Indonesian population
of British North Borneo, which they considered to be of
similar habits and culture. The term is loose, but useful, and
has consequently been adopted by Europeans, and, for this
reason, I also retain it.
In those parts of the country which I know, it cannot be
said that the Dusuns have any tribal organization, the village
community being the unit. In the Tempassuk District the
Dusuns style themselves Tindal, while I believe that the up-
country Tuaran natives do the same. Around Tuaran Settle-
ment, however, they seem to call themselves Song 2 (or Suong)
Latud (people of the country; i.e. the developed country as
opposed to the jungle). These Tuaran villagers differ some-
what in their customs from the Tempassuk natives. It must
be understood that in these papers I deal only with the Tem-
1 In the Tempassuk they call themselves " Sama." Some of them claim
to have originally come from Johore. If this is true they are probably of
the same race as the Jakun and the Orang Laut of the Malay Peninsula.
The Bajaus of the East Coast of Borneo are still sea-nomads, or partly so.
2 This word seems to have the same meaning as the Malay isi, " contents."
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 3
passuk District and with the villages immediately surrounding
the Government post at Tuaran. I have never visited the
upland villages of the Tuaran Valley, though I have met many
of their inhabitants. The villagers of the hinterland of the
coast between the mouth of the Tuaran River and Jesselton
are absolutely unknown to me.
(i) SOME CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS OF THE
"ORANG DUSUN 1 "
The religion of the Dusuns is largely animistic, though with
it is combined a belief in a supreme deity, who has a wife,
and in minor deities or major spirits. Their ceremonies, as
might be expected, are chiefly concerned with those super-
natural beings who may, according to their ideas, affect human
affairs favourably or unfavourably, these ranging from the
positively malevolent to the potentially, or actually, bene-
ficent. Those which are implacably hostile must be driven
away by means of magic, for, in their case, bribery is of no
avail, among them being included, I think, the body-snatching
spirits, and those which cause some acute diseases, such as
small-pox. To induce others, less malevolent and more venal,
to quit the haunts of mankind, a mixture of magic and bribery
or cajolery may be employed, as, for instance, in the annual
ceremonies for purging villages of evil influences, and in some
Tempassuk District methods of dealing with the ghosts of the
newly buried. Again, there are spirits who will remain neutral
if they are propitiated, and among them, perhaps, are to be
placed those of rivers; while there would seem to be a few
which will be positively friendly if well treated, such as the
spirits of the sacred jars which the Tuaran Dusuns treasure
and the spirits of the rice; but even these become bad tem-
pered when neglected. If no offerings or sacrifices were made
to the jar spirits, they would certainly take their revenge by
bringing all sorts of misfortunes upon those who had slighted
them; and what would happen to the crops of a man whose
rice-souls were offended with him?
1 Vide two papers of mine published in The Journal of the Royal A nthro-
pological Institute, vols. xlii. and xlvii.
1 — 2
4 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
The propitiation of the Dusuns' chief deity, Kinharingan,
and his wife Munsumundok does not, I believe, form any con-
siderable part of their ritual, and, though the former is called
upon to be a witness to oaths, he is, probably, regarded as
being too far away to take any very great interest in every-
day matters.
A curious feature of Dusun religious ceremonies is the
prominent part played by priestesses, initiated women, upon
whom rests the responsibility for the successful carrying out
of the rites. Men, though present, usually play only a sub-
ordinate part in such performances, the duty assigned to them
being that of providing a musical accompaniment for the
women's chants. At Tuaran there are regular fixed fees for
young women who wish to enter the ranks of the initiated,
and their instruction covers a period of over three months.
The fees received by the instructresses are, at the present day,
generally paid in money, though formerly payment was made
in goods. I have been told by natives that the women use a
secret language in their chants, and thus the mysteries of their
conjurations are safeguarded from becoming public property.
Certain more or less fixed yearly festivals and ceremonies
are observed by the Dusuns of both districts, but there is
considerable difference in custom between the Tuaran people
and those of the Tempassuk, and, indeed, between the Tem-
passuk highlanders and lowlanders, if not even between
neighbouring villages.
Various animals are regarded as omens, either of good or
evil portent, and these, some of which I treat of below, have
a considerable influence on the people's daily life.
Head-hunting was prevalent in both districts, until pro-
hibited by the British North Borneo Company, but certain
rites connected with it are still carried out at Tuaran, and
probably elsewhere. On taking a head a warrior was entitled
to be tattooed in a particular manner, but with the pro-
hibition of head-hunting tattooing has become practically
obsolete.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 5
The Dusuns of Tuaran
Deities
Some details with regard to Kinharingan, the Creator, and
Munsumundok, his wife, will be found among the notes on
the Tempassuk area, the belief in these two divinities being
common to both districts. Two Tuaran Dusun legends of the
creation will be found among the folk-tales on pp. 45 and 46.
The Cult of Sacred Jars
The Dusuns of Tuaran, Papar, and, I believe, of some other
places commonly worship certain jars, which are regarded as
being sacred. Various kinds of old jars of foreign manufacture,
most, if not all, of which are of Chinese origin, are regarded
as being valuable property by many of the pagan peoples (and
also by some of the Mohamedans) of Borneo, but the Dusuns
think that certain varieties 1 of them are tenanted by in-
dwelling spirits, and are hence worthy of reverence. It is to
a kind called gusi in particular that sacrifice and prayer are
made at Tuaran ; and f amilies vie with one another to obtain
a specimen, from two to three thousand dollars being no un-
common price to pay for one. Each member of a family has
often a small share in such a jar, and, owing to the frequent and
complicated lawsuits which formerly arose in consequence, it
became necessary that such cases should be stopped; a notifica-
tion, therefore, was issued by the then Governor of British North
Borneo, which prohibited legal proceedings with regard to gusi,
except with a view to enforcing the rights of the maris (members
of the families of owners) as defined in the notification 2 .
The gusi is a pot-bellied jar of a greenish-brown colour, and
has often a crackled skin, but whether this crackle is due to
age, or was produced in manufacture, I am not certain. It
appears to be of Chinese make, and specimens may vary con-
siderably in size.
Gusi are often kept in a railed-off enclosure in one of the
1 Vide also a folk-story on p. 52.
2 Vide a critique of a former paper of mine in The British N. Borneo Herald
of October 1st, 1914. In this will be found some interesting and original
notes on the Dusuns, Major E. O. Rutter being responsible for them.
6 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
inner rooms of a Dusun house, and annual sacrifices are made
to them at a festival called Mengahau, about which a few
particulars will be found below. I have it on the authority
of a Tuaran Dusun, named Omboi, that the old women go to
a gusi and wipe its mouth, saying at the same time, "Do not
be angry with me, for I have given you food 1 ." The spirits
that dwell in the gusi, one in each jar, the same informant
told me, are those of ancestors. They are thought to be evilly
disposed unless kept in a good temper by sacrifices, when they
may be actually beneficent. Offerings are made to the gusi
when there is sickness in the house or village. The buluhon
is a kind of gusi which the Dusuns say that Kinharingan let
down to the earth by a cord from an open window in the sky.
A species of banyan (Ficus) is reported to be the abode of
a spirit, and it is said that men coming suddenly upon a tree
of this kind have seen many gusis standing below it, but when
they have looked again, the jars have vanished for the spirit
has snatched them up into the tree.
Religious Ceremonies
(i) One of the most, or the most, important yearly ceremony
of the Tuaran Dusuns is that which is called Mobog, when all
evil spirits which may have collected in the village during the
previous year are solemnly expelled. In September, 19 10, I
was lucky enough to see a part of these rites carried out. The
chief performers, as is the case in all Dusun religious cere-
monies, were women, the minor parts, of drum- or gong-
beaters, being assigned to the men. A procession of women,
in full ceremonial dress, goes from house to house, stopping
at each to go through a performance. It is preceded by a boy
carrying a spear on which is impaled a large parcel containing
1 The Bahnars, Sedangs and Jurais of Indo-China also have sacred jars,
which are thought to contain indwelling spirits. Their mouths are coated
with blood and rice-wine on holidays. As among the Dusuns old jars are
considered to be wealth (Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, vol. in.
"Indo-China," p. 230).
Certain old Chinese jars which are found in the Philippines are said to
be able to talk, vide Fay-Cooper Cole's Chinese Pottery in the Philippines,
p. 12 (Publication 162 of the Field Museum of Chicago).
pt. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 7
rice, the wrapping of which is a piece of palm-spathe; next
follow two men bearing between them a drum and a large
gong of the variety known as tawag-tawag, these being slung
from a bamboo pole, the ends of which rest on their shoulders.
After them come the women, one of whom carries on her back
a small sucking-pig in a basket. Each woman holds a wand
in her right hand, which has a spiral strip of bark, running
from end to end, removed from it. These wands, I was told,
are used for beating the sucking-pig, and the name of Mobog,
meaning "beating," is given to the ceremony because the pig
is maltreated in this manner 1 . In addition to the wands the
women also bring with them bunches of small brass bells, which
are shaken in time with their movements, while performing
posturing dances, by quick backward and forward jerks of
their wrists, and, as well as these, somewhat castanet-like
instruments called tetubit, consisting of two discs of brass
attached by a string to a handle, which is usually made from
a back-plate of a soft-turtle (Trionyx). The tetubit is used to
beat time during chanting 2 , the discs being clanked together
against the base of the thumb of the right hand on its inner
surface. On arrival at a house, mats are spread near it by some
girls. A man then brings the stalk of a coconut-palm leaf,
and having bent the proximal and broader end at right angles
to the rest of the stalk, he sharpens the distal end slightly,
and plants it firmly in the ground at the end of the mats which
is nearest to the door of the house. In front of this the spear —
mentioned above — is set, point upwards, and at the base of
the leaf-stalk is placed the packet wrapped in palm-spathe.
The women then take their places on the mats, and the
ceremony begins.
This consists partly of chant, partly of dance and chant
combined. At one time the women are moving slowly round
in a circle from left to right, chanting the while, and empha-
1 The squeals of the pig, I understand, attract the spirits.
2 It may, perhaps, have a magical use as well. Vide p. 22, with reference
to the use of a somewhat similar instrument, the gunding, in the Tempassuk
District.
8 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
sizing the time by means of the tetubit ; at another they divide
themselves into two files facing the spear, their head-priestess
standing out in front and taking the leading part in a chant
in which the others join. At this time they perform a posturing
dance and make use of the bunches of small bells, one of which
they hold in each hand.
During the ceremony rice has been placed on the bent-down
end of the palm-leaf stem, and dishes containing blades of
young rice and herbs of various kinds have been set upon the
mat behind the women. When the rites are finished, the pro-
cession is re-formed and streams off to the next house that
is to be visited, where the same performance is repeated.
It was up to this point only that I observed the ceremony;
since I was ignorant, at the time, that anything further was
in contemplation, and also of the meaning of the proceedings 1 .
I have been informed, however, that, when all the houses
have been visited, the performers make their way to the river,
the evil spirits, which they are supposed to have collected on
their way, following them. On arrival there the spirits embark
on a raft which has previously been moored in readiness. This
raft is covered with models of men, women, animals and
birds, made,T understand, of sago-palm leaves, while offerings
of cloth, cooking-pots, chopping-knives, and food are also
placed upon it.
When all is ready, the raft, with its supernatural passengers
on board, is pushed off into the stream and allowed to float
away. Should it, however, ground near the village, it is set
adrift again with all speed, lest the spirits should get ashore.
The sucking-pig which has been used as a lure is killed at the
end of the ceremony, and its body thrown away.
(ii) Mengahau is a festival in connection with the sacred
jars, which is performed annually and may take place a
few days before Mobog. The purpose of the ceremonies then
1 This was shortly after my arrival in Borneo, and before I could speak
more than a few words of Malay. I was only stationed at Tuaran for a couple
of months, and a good deal of my information comes from three or four
Tuaran Dusuns whom I met, or had with me, in the Tempassuk District
in 1910-1911 and in 1915.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 9
performed seems to be to placate the gws&'-spirits and to pro-
cure good luck generally 1 .
(iii) A ceremony called Masalud takes place after the wet-
rice plants have been transferred from the nursery to the
fields, and have attained a fair height. The women, as before,
take the chief part in the ceremony and are accompanied by
male gong-beaters. A fowl is sacrificed and eaten, and an
image of the bird, made from its feathers, is set up in the crop
with a leaf of a certain species of wild ginger (?) behind it.
Water is also sprinkled over the young rice.
(iv) Menomboi is a rite which appears to be only per-
formed after a successful harvest. I was told that a small
piece of steel is placed in a basket of unhusked rice, which
stands upon a chopping-knife. A religious ceremony is then
performed. It is said that padi is offered to any large stones
that the celebrants may come across.
(v) Menawa (or perhaps better, Menawar 2 ). Here again,
as in the case of the three preceding ceremonies, my evidence
only comes from natives, and not from personal observation.
Menawar rites are performed for the purpose of obtaining rain
when the country is suffering from a long drought. Every
woman brings a basket of husked rice to the river-side, and
an egg is placed on the top of each basket. A religious cere-
mony is then performed by the initiated women, and, finally,
1 Major Rutter, in the critique mentioned above, deals with what I stated
(J. R.A.I. 1912) to be discrepancies in my evidence regarding Mobog and
Mengahau. He says that Mobog, which is the ceremony for driving out evil
spirits, "is essentially part of the jar worship. Usually Mengahau takes
place after padi planting, and Mobog after harvest, but there is no fixed time
for either as the priestess awaits a warning in a dream, which tells her that
the time for the ceremony is at hand. What Mr Evans regarded as dis-
crepancies in his evidence can thus be reconciled." This is no doubt correct,
but the ceremony that I saw at the rice-planting season, and have described
above, was Mobog, which Tuaran Dusuns told me in 19 15 was amply proved
by the fact of the woman carrying the sucking-pig. Very possibly the
Mengahau ceremony was celebrated at almost the same time as Mobog on
that occasion. One point in Mr Rutter's statements seems to me a little
doubtful. I do not think that jar-worship can originally have had anything
to do with the expulsion of evil spirits on a raft. Rites of this kind are found
in other parts of Borneo, where the worship of sacred j ars is not a feature of
the local religion, and also in the Federated Malay States (vide infra, p. 280).
2 Probably the same as the Malay word menawar, meaning to neutralize.
io BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
each of them takes the egg and a handful of rice from the
different baskets, and throwing these into the water, says to
the spirit of the river, "This is your share." The remainder
of the rice is given to the initiated women as wages.
Ceremonial Dress
Some description may well be given here of the dress worn
by the women of Tuaran on ceremonial occasions, as this
differs materially from that in e very-day use. The ceremonial
head-dress consists of four stiff bunches of feathers — those of
a cock or of a peacock (?) pheasant are used — cut and dressed
into the form of shuttlecocks, and having long pins of bamboo
projecting from their points. They are ornamented at their
tops with pieces of red cloth, and are inserted into the hair
by means of their pins, so as to form a sort of crest running
from the front of the head to the back, where, owing to the
hair being piled up, the hindermost clump of feathers is the
most elevated, the crest thus having an upward slope from
front to back. From the top of the foremost, and also of the
hindermost, tuft of feathers depends a string of green beetles'
wings. Below the crest of feathers there surrounds the head
a fillet of red cloth backed with rattan cane, which is orna-
mented with oblong and square plates of gilt silver : these are
embossed with patterns.
The body from the neck to the waist is clothed, in most
cases, in a tight-fitting jacket of blue or black Chinese cloth,
and over this is worn an elaborately draped scarf of Bornean
manufacture. These scarves, which are very old, are said to
have been made by the Brunei Malays : they are highly valued,
and are only used on occasions of ceremony. Their colour is
generally a mixture of red and yellow. Around the waist are
red, black or natural-coloured rings made of rattan cane, such
as are affected by all Dusun women. Below this is a short
ceremonial skirt of variegated cloth, the material and pattern
of which much resemble that of the scarf 1 .
1 If I now (191 7) remember rightly these cloths and skirts are of the
pattern which the Malays of the Peninsula call kain limau.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO n
The majority of the women who take part in religious
ceremonies wear round their necks, and hanging down their
breasts, many-folded necklaces composed of old Chinese (or
possibly Dutch) beads ; among these are, however, round beads
of carnelian, and also long octagonal or hexagonal bugles of
the same stone which taper towards their ends 1 . Strung
on the necklaces are cone-shaped ornaments of silver, from
about three to three-and-a-half inches long; these are hollow,
but are rilled with plugs of wood which are rounded at their
tops and bored to admit the passage of a cord. The cones are
so disposed that they hang in pairs with their points directed
downwards to form a series on each side of the jacket. A
necklace with cones of this kind is termed kamuggi, and a
good specimen of many folds will often fetch from sixty to
seventy dollars. Another type of ceremonial necklace, the
okob, has a roughly crescentic silver plaque suspended from
it as well as certain other little silver ornaments.
Head-hunting
Head-hunting ceremonies, as remarked above, are, or were,
performed in both districts. At Tuaran the skulls of enemies
are kept in the common verandahs of "long houses," one
which I have seen boasting as many as forty of these trophies.
My notes on this subject are rather fragmentary, for I found
that the natives whom I questioned were rather chary of speak-
ing of head-hunting and head-hunting ceremonies, chiefly, I
believe, owing to my being an official. Once, nevertheless, at
Tuaran I was witness of a small portion of some head-hunting
rites. Seven or eight men were walking in single file near a
village and were keeping up a kind of war-cry, which had
a peculiar whistling sound. Each of them was wearing a
ceremonial sword with a very long scabbard that was pro-
fusely decorated with long pendent bunches of human hair.
This sword is called tenumpasuan; it consists of a straight
blade and a brass grip with guards ; which, when combined
1 Similar beads and bugles are also found among the Igorots of the
Philippines, as well as in other parts of Borneo.
12 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
with a short sheath, is known as a pedang 1 . The scabbard of
the tenumpasuan is about four feet long, and broadens to a
width of about six inches at its further end. The outer face
is covered with rude carving. The leader of the party carried
a conch-shell trumpet (tabhuri) on which he blew occasional
blasts. All the men wore, attached to their waists, large
bunches of the long dried and shredded leaves of a particular
kind of palm, called silad, which are used in ceremonies con-
nected with head-hunting, and are also frequently tied to the
cords of, and partly cover, the skulls which are hung up in
the houses. One of the celebrants was wearing a human
vertebra tied to his belt from which was suspended a triangular
plaited ornament of the same kind of leaves. On making
inquiries it transpired that an ex-policeman, who had some
time previously taken a head — where I do not know — had
returned home, and that a buffalo was to be sacrificed and
a ceremony gone through in order to ward off any evil con-
sequences of his act.
The rites performed after the return of a head-hunting
party are called domalu, and an annual sacrifice of a buffalo
is made to the heads which have been taken. I have been
told that during the ceremony in connexion with this yearly
sacrifice the men eat rice from half coconut-shells and that
all of them must finish their meal at the same moment, as
otherwise anyone who was left behind in eating would be cut
up by the enemy, should he go on a head-hunting expedition
with the people of his village. The edges of certain cooking-
pots, too, are decorated with red flowers and others are
wrapped in leaves which produce a rash if touched. The men
cry aloud and stamp on the pots till they are broken. Possibly
this may signify that the warriors will thus stamp down and
break whatever enemy may oppose them, but my informant
could not give me any explanation of the proceedings. While
1 This sword has a cross-shaped hilt, the upper limb of the cross ending
in a small chalice. The chalice is always found, but is occasionally filled up
with resin, into which is fixed a tail of human hair. The weapon is, perhaps,
of Christian origin. Possibly it reached the Malayan region through the
Arabs.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 13
the ceremony is being performed the women weep. It is said
that if the skulls are rubbed with chillies they will call out.
Marriage Customs
At Tuaran, according to two informants of mine, though
there is a feast there is practically no marriage ceremony,
except when the children of rich natives marry 1 . In the case
of such a well-to-do couple there is some sort of an incantation
performed by a priestess, but the actual sign of marriage is
the eating together by the bride and bridegroom of seven
handfuls of rice from the same plate. The plate is placed
between the pair, who sit opposite to one another. The man
first takes a little rice, and a woman in attendance then turns
the part of the plate from which he has helped himself to
the bride, who takes rice in her turn. This is repeated seven
times, and the ceremony is gone through both at the house
of the woman's relations and at that of the man's.
The Couvade
Though I have written no notes on this subject I think that
it will be found by anyone who carries out further investiga-
tions among the Tuaran Dusuns that men whose wives are
with child consider themselves debarred from doing a good
many things which are ordinarily allowable 2 . I did, however,
come across one couvade-custom in 1915. This was at Jesselton
when I was packing up my collections preparatory to leaving
Borneo. Having filled several boxes, I ordered my Tuaran
Dusun "boy," whom I had brought down to the coast with
me, to nail down the lids. This he told me that he could not
do as his wife was expecting a child, since it was tabu for
a man whose wife was in that state to fasten anything up 2 .
1 Children of well-to-do parents are often betrothed at a very early
age.
2 The Bajaus of the Tempassuk District will not have their hair cut when
their wives are expectant.
14 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
Customs connected with Death and Burial
From Omboi and from Tinggi, two Tuaran Dusuns, who
accompanied me on my visit to the Tempassuk District in
1915, I obtained some rather interesting details with regard
to the way in which corpses are protected against evil spirits.
Three spirits seem to be feared as body-snatchers, or as being
able to do harm in some way. One, the Komakadong (com-
parable to the Penanggalan of the Malays), is a flying head
with long hair, and a trailing stomach instead of a body. The
second, the Balan-balan, looks like a human being ; while the
third, the Tandahau 1 , has a bird-like body. The last-named
comes down from the clouds and, when it seizes a body,
carries it off into the centre of the sea, and there cuts it up
into little pieces, which it throws into the water. These become
fish, which the Tandahau eats.
To protect a body from these spirits, two working-knives
are placed under the mat on which it lies, with their points
projecting downwards through the floor of the house, while
a spear is placed upright near the body, its butt resting on
the floor, and its point sticking into the sloping thatch of the
roof. A fire is also lit, usually near the mat on which the
corpse lies.
If a bad thunderstorm comes on while a corpse is awaiting
burial, a fire is lighted on the ground under the house 2 .
Omboi told me that the bodies of well-to-do natives are
sometimes kept in their houses sealed up in burial- jars for
a month before interment. Those of the poor are buried on
the day of death, or on that succeeding, either rolled up in
mats, or in rough wooden coffins.
While walking near the villages around Tuaran it is quite
common to come across an old graveyard in which the rims
of burial- jars project above the surface of the ground. In this
neighbourhood they are frequently dug up and re-used, but,
1 Perhaps suggested by the vulture.
2 Cf . the custom of burning rubbish, jadam, etc. under houses among the
Behrang Sakai (infra, p. 201) in order to drive away a thunderstorm. The
practice of burning evil-smelling substances to drive away spirits is also
known in India; vide The Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ill. 415.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 15
as Omboi told me, thirty years must elapse from the date of
burial before this can be done 1 .
Tuaran Dusun graves sometimes have a small hut built
over them which contains a cooking-place. Packets of rice
are, Omboi informed me, placed on the floor for the benefit
of the dead person's spirit. Those who have attended a funeral
bathe on their return from it.
Various Tabus
The following tabus are observed, though no doubt there
are very many others :
(i) A man may not mention his own name, that of his father,
mother, mother-in-law, or father-in-law. One man (Omboi, if I re-
member rightly) told me that his people were afraid to mention their
mothers' names, because, if they did, their " knees would become big."
(ii) The eating of pork is tabu. I have been told by a Tuaran Dusun
that this is because his people would be ashamed if the neighbouring
Bajaus were to revile them as pig-eaters. The down-country Dusuns
of the Tempassuk have, however, no such scruples, though their
villages are frequently quite close to those of the Bajaus.
(hi) It is forbidden, or rather it is unwise, to point at the rainbow
as the finger that you use to point with will rot away. The rainbow
is Kinharingan's fighting-scarf with which he stopped the rain 2 .
Omens
A flying swarm of bees is considered an omen of evil portent.
If a man sees or hears one he must do no work in his rice-
fields on that day, or his harvest will not be good.
Certain birds are also regarded as omens, but I did not
identify any of these.
1 Other Bornean tribes besides the Dusuns bury in jars, e.g. the Muruts.
It seems possible that jar-burial was at one time in vogue in the Philippines.
Vide p. 8 of the paper on Chinese pottery which I have referred to above
(footnote on p. 6). The author of this believes that the custom of burying
in jars was introduced by Fokien Chinese.
2 This, I believe, refers to some story of a deluge, but I could get no further
details. There was once, I have been told, a Roman Catholic mission station
somewhere on the Tuaran River, so this idea, if not truly native, which I
am rather inclined to think it is, may have been got from the missionaries.
Legends of a flood are known in parts of Borneo where missionary influence
cannot be suspected.
16 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
Various Beliefs and Customs
In the men the incisor and canine teeth in the upper jaw
are filed down — in some cases almost, or quite, to the level
of the gums 1 . This is probably considered a mark of manhood
for the operation is performed at, or before, the age of puberty.
One Dusun man told me that his people "would be ashamed
to laugh if they had long teeth."
A small black and white bird, called by the natives Tempak
longun, is said to be the ancestor of the Chinese, because its
note is thought to resemble the sound of their speech.
The firefly (nenekput) is the spirit of a dead man.
The praying mantis points out a husband for a woman if
she asks it.
(Beliefs of various kinds among them being some with
regard to small-pox, the creation of the world, the Dusun
gods, the eclipse of the moon, etc. will be found below among
the folk-stories told by Tuaran people.)
The Tempassuk District
Deities
Kinharingan and Munsumundok, the Creator and his wife,
figure in the folk-lore of the Tuaran Dusuns, as well as in
that of the Tempassuk people; and how they arose from a
great rock in the middle of a vast water may be read in two
of the tales which are printed below 2 . The creation-legends
of the Tuaran Dusuns and those of the Tempassuk vary in
detail, but present a general similarity. In both districts we
have the story that, after the creation of the world and of
mankind, Kinharingan and his wife killed a child of theirs —
a girl, according to the Tuaran account 3 — in order to give
food to the people whom they had made, and that, when they
had cut it to bits and planted the pieces in the earth, there
arose from them all kinds of food-plants.
1 I believe that the teeth of the women are also treated in this manner,
but I have never made a close investigation. 2 Pp. 45, 46.
3 Their first-born child, according to a Tempassuk legend. I unfortunately
omitted to ask its sex.
pt. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 17
In the Tempassuk District — my evidence comes from low-
land Surun Dusuns (i.e. those of Bengkahak, Piasau, and one
or two other villages), Kinharingan is credited with a son
named Towardakan 1 , who is evilly disposed towards men.
Kinharingan, according to my informants, made all men equal,
but Towardakan, who was jealous of men's happiness, inter-
fered with this condition of affairs and brought it about that
some should be rich and others poor. For this crime he was
banished by Kinharingan. Towardakan does not like a good
harvest, for then all men may become equally well off. It is
said that among the Bengkahak Dusuns women who are per-
forming religious ceremonies sometimes call out that they
have seen Towardakan. One or two Tuaran men whom I
questioned 2 denied any knowledge of this mischievous god-
ling, but it is worthy to note that according to the Tuaran
creation-legend Kinharingan had a son as well as a daughter.
In the lowland Tempassuk villages — my evidence is again
from Surun Dusuns — there seems to be a belief in Kinharingan
Tumanah, or local gods, and these, according to the folk-tales,
sometimes assume the shapes of animals. In one case a Kin-
haringan Tumanah (tumanah is probably connected with the
Malay tanah, which means "earth") becomes a scaly ant-
eater, and in another a monkey, a deer, and a rhinoceros. I
was astonished to find in 1916, that the Tambatuan Dusuns
do not seem to know of these local deities. In consequence
of this I had intended, on my return to the coastal regions
from up-country, to make further enquiries about this belief
from my friends at Piasau and Bengkahak, but, unfortunately,
a bad attack of fever prevented me from carrying them out
before I left the district.
Religious Ceremonies
In the notes under this heading it must be understood that
if I state that a ceremony is performed in one village, it must
1 Perhaps this should be written Tawardakan. The name may be con-
nected with the Malay tawar, which means to neutralize.
2 This was in 191 1, after I had left Tuaran and gone to the Tempassuk
District.
emp 2
18 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
not, therefore, be necessarily thought that it is common to
all the Dusuns of the Tempassuk District. There seems to be
a considerable amount of difference in custom between the
people of the highlands and the lowlands, between groups of
villages, and, in minor matters, between village and village.
The Piasau Dusuns, Sirinan told me, perform the annual
ceremony for ridding the village of evil influences by launching
spirit-rafts, and even the Mohamedan Bajaus observe these
rites in a modified form. Jar-worship is practically, or en-
tirely, non-existent in the Tempassuk, for though there seem
to have been at one time a number of these spirit-haunted
jars in the district, Sirinan said that they had nearly all been
sold to Brunei traders, who, in their turn, disposed of them
to the Dusuns of Tuaran and Papar, where such objects are
highly prized and much venerated. At Tambatuan, in 1915,
I obtained from Gumpus the following names of ceremonies
performed by the people of that village, and the annexed
information concerning them. As might be expected the
majority of them are associated with agricultural operations:
(i) Maulud. This is celebrated in connexion with the pre-
paration of land for planting wet-rice. A fowl is sacrificed to
the earth spirit (or spirits?), and an offering of rice made,
while Kamburonga, a kind of magical plant 1 , is held by the
officiating priestess. The larger feathers of the fowl are tied
together to form an ornament, which is bound to the top of a
bamboo set up in the fields. Two or three of these ornaments,
each on the land of a different owner, were to be seen in the
rice-fields below Tambatuan at the time of my visit in the
month of July. The ceremony takes place before the grass
and weeds are cleared away 2 . Gumpus also referred to it as
Menjoget 3 .
(ii) The festival at the taking of the rice-soul. At the festival
1 Vide infra, p. 26.
2 Maulud, may possibly be partly equivalent to Masalud of the Tuaran
Dusuns (vide supra, p. 9), but Masalud it must be noted is performed after
rice- planting ; Maulud before. There is an Arabic word Maulud, meaning
a birthday, which is used by the Malays (e.g. Bulan Maulud, the month oi
the Prophet's birthday).
8 The joget of the Malays of the Peninsula is a kind of dance.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 19
of the taking of the rice-soul (membaraian) the ceremony is
performed by a woman before reaping begins, the soul con-
sisting of seven ears of rice. When the rice-soul has been cut,
general reaping starts and is continued till the end of the day.
The first day is called Temimpun ; the second — when no work
must be done — Tomingkud; the third Sumauk, the fourth
Sumagang. Another name for Temimpun was given to me,
Ka-in-gonom (or Ka-in-onom) Ka-silau, which is, and, I
believe means, the sixth day of the new moon 1 . Hence, the
membaraian ceremony would seem to begin on the sixth day
of the month 2 . The rice-soul, with offerings of raw cotton and
leaves, is hung up in a hut on, or near, the rice-field, while
there is a ceremony on the first day {Temimpun), but no
sacrifice is made. When reaping is finished the membaraian
is taken to the owner's house and a ceremony called Sumalud
is performed there. The rice-soul is finally hung up in the rice-
store.
(iii) Kokatuan is another festival which, Gumpus told me,
is celebrated about a month after the taking of the mem-
baraian. There is then a religious ceremony carried out by
women ; a buffalo (or buffaloes) and pigs are killed, and large
quantities of rice-wine drunk.
(iv) Maginakan (the big eating) is only celebrated if the
harvest has been plentiful. It takes place eighteen days after
kokatuan. There is a religious ceremony performed by women,
and feasting is indulged in.
(v) Mengahau. A festival called Mengahau, according to
Gumpus, is observed on the fourth day after Maginakan, when
there is feasting; but apparently no religious rites are per-
formed.
(vi) Mengemahau. The Tambatuan Dusuns have a cere-
mony called Mengemahau, or "brushing," which they perform
in order to rid the houses of the spirits of disease. The men
1 See calendar, p. 42.
2 I do not quite see how the Dusuns can always manage to begin their
harvest on the sixth day of a lunar month. Surely the crop cannot always
be ripe at exactly the same time each year. This is a point which, un-
fortunately, I did not thresh out.
2 — 2
20 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
brush down the walls of the houses with bunches of flowers
and bamboo leaves, the former being of two kinds called
tenimong and mumuhau.
The general term for "to perform a religious ceremony,"
used by the Tambatuan Dusuns, seems to be memurinait. In
speaking Malay the Dusuns of the Tempassuk and Tuaran
Districts use the word menghaji in this sense, which means,
primarily, to learn the Koran, but is also commonly applied
to learning lessons of any kind. Since, however, religious or
secular lessons in Malaysia are invariably chanted aloud by
scholars, the Dusuns have applied the term to reciting or
chanting religious formulae.
A ceremony, of which I do not know the name, is performed
at Tambatuan over a man who has returned from another
district, in order to banish any evil influences or spirits that
he may have brought back with him. On a visit which I paid
to the village in 191 1 I was disturbed one night by, if I
remember rightly, the noise of gong-beating and chanting,
and Gumpus, whom I questioned on the following morning
as to what had been going on, told me that a man had returned
to the village from a residence elsewhere, and that a ceremony
had been performed over him with the above-mentioned
purpose.
Celebrants returning to their village from rites during which
a fowl has been sacrificed sometimes strew the feathers of the
bird along their path. I noticed that this had been done near
Pindasan in 1910.
Dusuns who are going to work in another part of the district
take a fowl with them to sacrifice at their destination, so that
the spirits of the place may not affect them with sickness. In
191 1 I met some lowland Dusuns going up-country to work
on the bridle-path, who were carrying a fowl with them for this
purpose.
Ceremonial Dress and Implements
In down-country villages the dress of the priestess when
performing ceremonies is that of every day, but the hood of
dark blue cloth, ordinarily assumed for field-work, is worn as
pt. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 21
well. This holds good, too, for up-country villages, though
more elaborate costume is sometimes to be seen. At Tam-
batuan in 1915, for instance, I saw, and purchased, a complete
woman's ceremonial costume: this, though based on the
ordinary dress, was much more ornamental. It consisted of
a hood (kulu), a short skirt (kinahoyudan 1 ) , and a long cape
(lapoi), the last being an article which, as far as I know, is
not usually worn by Dusun women. These were decorated
with edgings of old shell bead-work, small bells, fine brass
tubing and pieces of money-cowries. The hood and skirt were
of native cotton dyed to a blue-black colour, the cape, also
of cotton cloth, was brown with narrow longitudinal lines of
blue.
Conical hats with thick brims, made of finely woven strips
of rattan dyed red, yellow and black are also worn by women
of Kaung " Ulu " andTambatuan at Maginakan, and, perhaps,
at some other ceremonies. Hats of this kind, which are often
ornamented with shells of the money-cowry and with a plume
of cock's feathers, are called serong linumbagai 2 .
Under the present heading, too, we may perhaps include
war-dress. At Tambatuan I bought a heavy sleeveless war-
coat of lamba (Musa sp.) fibre decorated with a border of
cowry-shells, and a sword whose strap was also set with these
shells.
The weapon was of the variety which the Malays call pedang,
but I understood from the Dusuns that, when decorated in
this manner, it is called binurinsaian. A rattan helmet (kina-
langkang), sometimes also with cowry-shell ornamentation,
was also worn in warfare, and I obtained a fine specimen at
Kaung "Ulu."
Shells of the money-cowry are frequently affixed by up-
country Dusuns to objects used in ceremonies, as may be seen
from the above notes, and, though I have not been able to
find out for certain that they are used as talismans or amulets,
1 The ordinary skirt is called gonob.
2 The hat which was used in the ceremonies connected with the Kiau
murder, which I deal with in the next section, was of this type.
22 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
I strongly suspect that this is the case, since any objects which
appear to them to be unusual, including other kinds of sea-
shells, are tied into bunches and worn for this purpose at
certain ceremonies: furthermore the cowry is regarded as
being a talisman in many parts of the world. Possibly it may
have a phallic significance among the Dusuns, and thus be
associated with fertility 1 , for I have been told that, from its
shape, it is called the brinchi-sheW, brinchi meaning the pu-
denda muliebre. If so, this might account for its use on hats
worn at the harvest ceremony and also on war-coats and
weapons, since the taking of a head will insure good crops.
I have already spoken of the tetubit, an instrument which
is used in religious ceremonies at Tuaran. A somewhat similar
article, the gunding, is employed in up-country villages in the
Tempassuk, and in Tambatuan it is regarded with considerable
reverence, men not being supposed to touch it. Gumpus, of
that village, told me in 1911 that it was " the Dusuns' Koran."
A gunding in a small ceremonial basket, or in a joint of bamboo,
is frequently hung up just inside the doorway of a house in
order to keep away evil spirits. The implement consists
essentially of a small handle of bone, wood, or brass, from
which depend several plates of brass or iron. The plates are
clanked together by an officiating priestess when chanting.
I managed to purchase a fine old specimen of this instrument
at Tambatuan in 1915: it had a bone handle to which, in
addition to brass and iron plates, were attached various seeds
and roots, these, presumably, being fetiches or talismans.
Head-hunting
Head-hunting was formerly prevalent in the upper regions
of the Tempassuk District, and neighbouring villages were
often at feud. The people of Kaung and Kiau, for instance,
were hereditary enemies, as were also those of Kiau and
Wasai 2 . Heads are still preserved in some villages and it is
1 I have a Chinese necklace in my possession from which, in addition to
other talismans to secure good luck and plenty, there hangs a silver cowry
and a peach, both of which, I believe, denote fertility.
2 This village is in the Tuaran Valley.
I
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 23
customary to keep them in a special head-house, or they may
be hung up outside a grain-store, but I have never seen them
suspended in dwelling-houses, as they sometimes are at Tuaran.
A case of head-hunting occurred in the Tempassuk about
two or three years before I went to the district, and the
culprits were not discovered for some time owing to the
collusion of a local headman with the murderers, the former
hushing the matter up and forbidding his people to give
evidence when an enquiry into the affair was held. The
following facts, however, came to light subsequently. Two
young men of Wasai determined to take a head, and, making
their way to Kiau, killed a woman, who was working alone
in a clearing at some distance from the village. (The Kiau-
Wasai feud had long been settled by compensation being paid
for the last head taken.) Hearing, as they thought, someone
approaching, the two young "warriors" then made off, with-
out having had time to remove the woman's head. The
witnesses for the prosecution proved that the two accused
had been seen carrying weapons in the neighbourhood of Kiau
at about the time of the murder, and also that they had later
gone through a ceremony such as is usually performed after
the return of a successful head-hunting party, one of the
witnesses being the woman who had officiated at these rites.
The two head-hunters were hanged at Jesselton shortly after
I went to the Tempassuk District, while the headman who
had assisted them retired to Sandakan gaol, there to be cared
for by a paternal Government.
Three mementoes of the murder were, in 1911, in the
possession of Mr H. W. L. Bunbury, then District Officer,
North Keppel, stationed at Tuaran: they were a thick-
brimmed conical hat of a particular form, from the apex of
which rose a small shaft of wood decorated with several long
cock's feathers 1 and two small, roughly carved, wooden re-
presentations of human faces. These last were, I understand,
1 This, I believe, was used in the ceremonies which were performed over
the head-hunters after their return to Wasai, being, probably, worn by the
officiating priestess. See also the section above on ceremonial dress.
24 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
intended to represent the head, which, as stated above, was
not taken, and, inasmuch as both men had had a share in the
affair, two of these objects were manufactured. The following
are the only other facts that I have been able to gather about
head-hunting practices in the Tempassuk. A purification by
bathing is undergone by successful head-hunters, and the
head is set upon a stone. Yompo, of Kiau, told me that the
wooden models of heads are called tenumpok.
At Tambatuan, in 1915, I saw a couple of human skulls
hanging outside against the wall of a rice-store : these seemed
to have been placed there partly with the idea of protecting
the grain against thieves. They were both very old and
covered with cobwebs, so, as I wished to photograph them,
I tried to get somebody to clean them for me, thinking that
the Dusuns might not like me to do it myself. Nobody,
however, seemed willing, Gumpus telling me that they might
only be touched by someone who had taken a head, or at
any rate been in some war. Eventually a policeman, whom
I had with me, volunteered to do the cleaning, as he had seen
a little active service, and was, therefore, not afraid that any
evil consequences would result from his doing the work. I
made two or three attempts to photograph the heads without
getting a good result, as they were overshadowed by the
thatch, and Gumpus immediately concluded that they did
not like their portraits being taken. I told him that I would
have one more try, and then, if I was not successful, I would
admit that he was right. Luckily, however, this last attempt
yielded me quite a fair picture. The skulls were both those of
Dusuns — one that of a Kinsiraban man, if I remember rightly
— and the names of their former "owners" were still known.
On visiting Kaung "Urn" in the same year, I found there
three small head-houses ; these — one of which had fallen over
owing to the rotting of its posts — were tiny wall-less and floor-
less erections, raised some feet from the ground, and covered
with pent-house roofs of palm-leaf thatch. Under each roof
there hung a basket, or a parcel, containing skulls. One of
these, in addition to two or three human crania, also held
pt. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 25
some of those of the Orang-utan, which represented, I was
told, the heads of people who had been wounded, but who
had managed to make their escape. The two other huts, as
far as I recollect, sheltered not more than a couple of human
skulls each.
There is, Yompo told me in 19 15, also a head-house at Kiau,
but I did not visit the village in that year — I met Yompo at
Kaung — and I did not know that there were any skulls kept
there when I stopped at Kiau in 1911.
The Rice-Soul
I have already given some details with regard to the taking
of the rice-soul, and in this section I deal with its subsequent
treatment.
While I was at Tambatuan in 1915 Gumpus took me on
several occasions into his rice-store, where were hanging from
the rafters the rice-souls of former crops, tied into bunches,
those of several years being thus bound together ; for, contrary
to the custom of many peoples, the Dusuns, it seems, do not
mix the rice-soul with the seed for the next sowing. Some of
these bunches had large sea-shells and small bamboo tubes
tied to them, these being receptacles for offerings. To one,
for instance, were attached two large marine shells and a tube
of bamboo, the former being intended to hold respectively
rice and sm'Meaves; the latter an offering of rice- wine. Placed
on the floor below the rice-souls were big tree-bark bins con-
taining stored padi. A small chamber at the end of the
building, which had no opening into it from the main room,
and was entered from a door outside, contained a couple of
bins of unhusked rice from the last crop, while, on the top
of the grain in one of them — that from which rice was being
taken for daily use — was a small brass pipkin also containing
padi. With regard to this Gumpus told me that, when rice
is first taken from a bin filled with the produce of the new
harvest, a handful or so is set aside as "the rice-soul's share,"
and, that when the bin is finished, the rice-soul's share is
moved on to the next.
26 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
In 1915, too, I obtained from a watching hut on the fields
for wet-rice, which lie in the valley below Tambatuan, two
small bamboo knives with which the rice-soul is cut — the use
of iron for this purpose being tabued — and a bamboo trough 1
in which it is suspended before removal to the village.
Divination
A peculiar method of divination is in favour in up-country
Tempassuk villages, and is resorted to for purposes of dis-
covering a thief, or of ascertaining whether the omens are
favourable before undertaking a journey or any other enter-
prise. The instrument used in divining is a piece of bamboo,
sometimes shaped like a chopping-knife, to one end of which 2
are attached numbers of little pieces of the root of a plant
called Kamburonga 3 . This plant is, it appears, favoured by
some kind of a spirit, and, in divining by this method, a woman
holds the handle end of the bamboo in her left hand, and
places the index finger of the right on it near its proximal end,
a mark of some kind having been previously made just below
the Kamburonga-xoots. Supposing that she is trying to detect
a thief, she then says to the Kamburonga-sphit, "If so-and-so
is guilty, draw my ringer along this handle." Then, if the man
whose name she mentions is not the culprit her finger remains
immovable on the spot where she first placed it, or, if she
applies great pressure, doubles backwards, or shoots off the
handle to one side or the other. Providing this happens she
mentions in succession the names of any other persons against
whom there is suspicion, the same thing occurring every time,
until she comes to that of the thief. When she utters this her
finger passes easily along the stick to the mark which has been
made on it on the near side of the Kamburonga-ioots. The
calling of the spirit of the Kamburonga is known as Semunggu.
At Tuaran, Kamburonga, obtained from up-country Du-
suns, is hung against the doors of houses when there is any
1 These three specimens had all been used at the last harvest. The knives
were stuck into the thatch, while the trough was hanging from a cross-beam.
2 To the point, if the bamboo is shaped like a knife.
3 This grows in abundance close to Kaung "Ulu" village.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 27
sickness about, or, if it is unobtainable, ashes from the fire,
which are also thought to keep away the spirits of disease,
are thrown out of the door instead. My Tuaran Dusun in-
formant, Omboi, further told me that the plant is used for
treating headache or pains in the eyes, being applied to the
parts affected.
The above information was obtained at Tambatuanin 1915,
and as it was my intention to proceed a little further up-
country from there, before making my way back to the coast,
I suggested to Gumpus that he should get a Dusun woman to
ascertain by some method of divination whether I should
have an easy and successful journey; so, after some trouble,
he persuaded an old crone to try our luck for us for a fee of
three gantang-measures of rice. Her audience — consisting, in
addition to Gumpus, myself, and my two men, of a number
of villagers of both sexes — having formed a circle, she stepped
out into the middle of the cleared space, her head being
covered with one of the blue hoods which Dusun women wear.
I give my notes of the performance below, just as I jotted
them down at the time:
She starts singing in a quavering voice; then begins to quiver and
shake as if convulsed with fever — pants — sings loudly — makes hys-
terical noises — moves her feet — jumps about with both feet together,
first backwards, then forwards — stamps about — sings — talks in an
hysterical voice — pants — calls "Adohi! Adohi 1 !" — runs round and
round — goes on all fours — sits — pants — sings — stands up — trembles
— sings — jumps about with both feet together, and does a few dance
steps.
This sort of thing went on for some time, till she finally
tumbled down and pulled the hood off her head. On Gumpus
asking her whether we should meet with any troubles on our
journey, she said that we might go in safety, as she had driven
away all the spirits of disease. Some of her exclamations
towards the end of the performance seemed to amuse her
audience highly, and on questioning Gumpus he told me in
Malay what she had called out. Her remarks were all ex-
tremely indecent.
1 "Oh, dear! Oh, dear!"
28 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
Sirinan, of Piasau, told me that these female priestesses
or shamans are termed berberlian, while male shamans are
called sunduk.
A curious method of divination is resorted to by the Dusuns
of Tambatuan which is very similar to that formerly, and
perhaps still, employed by the Sakai of the Ulu Kampar in
the Federated Malay States, for the purpose of finding out
whether a certain piece of ground will be unlucky to clear
for planting crops, or whether it will give a good yield 1 . Seven
leaves of the Mandahasi-tree are placed under a stone in the
centre of a piece of ground about six feet square, on the site
of the intended clearing, which has previously been swept of
rubbish, and the ends of the leaves trimmed off evenly. The
man who wishes to make the clearing then says to the earth-
spirit, " If I shall die while using this clearing, let the spirit
pull out one of these leaves." The next morning he comes to
examine the leaves, and if they have remained undisturbed,
he considers that it is allowable to fell the jungle there, but,
should one leaf project beyond the others, he takes it as an
evil omen. Then, selecting another piece of land, he again
goes through the same performance. If, too, on the morning
that he visits the leaves he finds that a twig or a leaf has
fallen into the cleared space, or that a hole has appeared in
the ground, he takes these signs as evil portents, and will not
make his clearing in that spot.
Sacred Stone at Kinalabu: Guardian Spears and Stones:
Amulets and Talismans
Some of the objects with which I deal in this section would
probably be correctly termed fetiches, since they are tenanted
by indwelling spirits.
In 1911 at Kinalabu or Penalabu (either name does equally
well), a hill village of the Tempassuk District, I came across
the only representation of a human figure which I have seen
in Borneo that could by any possibility be called an idol. It
was a natural water-worn boulder of greyish stone some two-
1 Vide p. 240 for a similar custom among the Sakai of the Malay Peninsula.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 29
and-a-half to three feet in height, the shape of which acci-
dentally resembled a human head and bust. The stone was
set in the ground, and eyes and a nose had been marked upon
it with roughly smeared lime. On one side of the figure a
slender upright bamboo was planted in the ground, the upper
end of which was divided and bound so as to form a small
receptacle 1 , which contained an offering of hen's eggs. Behind
the image were several Lempada-tiees 2 . The natives were
reticent concerning the stone, but said that it kept off sick-
ness from the village. Possibly it may have only been a
guardian-stone like those described below.
On my arrival at Tambatuan in 1915 I found that news
had reached the village that some disease (dysentery or a
mild form of cholera) was prevalent at Kiau, which is situated
some few miles away on the lower slopes of Mount Kinabalu.
For fear of this every villager was wearing as an amulet a
little piece of some kind of wood (or root) tied to a string
which was bound either round the wrist or the ankle. Wishing
to be in the fashion I asked Gumpus to obtain one of these
prophylactic articles for me, and he told his wife to prepare
one. I was instructed that I must, according to custom, give
a small measure of rice as its price; so, not having any rice,
I asked how much I was to pay in money as its equivalent.
Gumpus said, however, that mone}? could not be received
directly, so I had first to buy the rice from his wife for cash
and then hand it back to her.
Owing to fear of this epidemic, wooden models of spears
— about how spirits take up their abode in these may be read
in one of the folk-stories 3 — had been set up in front of several
houses to prevent the entry of the spirits of disease ; and near
the steps of one house was a real spear, on the blade of which
a rough figure of a man, upside down, had been drawn with
1 In the Malay Peninsula, where similar bamboo receptacles are used for
holding offerings or burning incense, they are known as sangkak. The cup
at the top of the bamboo is of the shape of an inverted cone.
2 Vide infra, p. 31.
3 P. 53. Wooden figures of men as well as spears, are, I have been told,
sometimes set up, but I have never seen any of the former. The stone at
Kinalabu may, however, have served this purpose.
3 o BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
lime, while a joint of bamboo, containing toddy, and two
crossed sticks had been planted in the ground before it.
In up-country villages near much frequented tracks, which
are thus exposed to infection (disease spirits according to
Dusun ideas) several groups of standing stones are often to
be found outside the radius of the houses 1 . These stones guard
the approaches to the village, and protect its inhabitants
against disease 2 . They seem in fact to have an exactly similar
purpose to the spears mentioned above.
In 1911 I saw a wooden spear, two shaved sticks, and the
horns and part of the skull of a goat — the animal had, I
presume, been sacrificed — planted close to the bridle-path, and
at the top of the divide which separates the Tempassuk Dis-
trict from the Residency of the Interior. The horns of the
goat were affixed to a post, and a little packet of rice and salt,
enclosed in a piece of palm-spathe was suspended from them.
A small boulder was placed in front of these objects, which,
being set up at a bend in the path, dominated the approach
from down-country. I was told that they had been put there
by Bundutuhan 3 people to prevent spirits of disease passing
to their village along the bridle-path.
All Dusuns make use of amulets, and many will not start
on a journey without taking some with them as a protection
against any perils that they may encounter. Belts of cloth,
or string network, are frequently made to contain such amu-
lets as their owners may wish to wear on their persons, and
each one of these is sewn, or netted, into a separate compart-
ment. The articles used for this purpose are of many kinds,
especially any which are rare or unusual; among those that
I have seen being little bundles of some kind of wood, rhino-
ceros' teeth, quartz crystals, a fossil shell, and curiously-
shaped stones and roots. Probably also the marine shells,
1 E.g. at Kaung "Ulu."
2 Similar guardian-stones are found among the Tinguians of Luzon in
the Philippines. Vide Customs of the World, p. 657, and the illustration on
p. 658. The stones depicted on the latter page are smaller than those that I
have seen in Borneo which were about three or three-and-a-half feet high.
3 A village on the far side of the divide.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 31
seeds and hard fruits, little bundles of wood, and skulls of
animals, which are attached to cross-belts, and worn by men
at Tambatuan during certain ceremonies, are also regarded
as prophylactic against evil spirits.
Brass bells are sometimes to be seen suspended from cords
round the necks of Dusun children, and these, I have been
told, scare away evil spirits : thus it seems probable that the
little brass bells which up-country Dusun women often wear
on their girdles, and those occasionally to be observed on
women's ceremonial hoods, capes, and skirts at Tambatuan
(and probably in other hill villages as well) may be intended
to be more than ornamental. Among lowland Dusuns stones
of curious appearance are frequently placed in the bins which
contain the unhusked rice, and act as talismans to keep it
in good order.
The Lempada, a Sacred Tree
The Lempada 1 is a tree which the Tempassuk Dusuns con-
sider sacred to Kinharingan, who has decreed that nobody
shall climb up into it, cut its wood, or take its fruit. If such
an impious act were performed, the offender would be afflicted
with ulcers, and eventually die of them. According to one
story that I was told, the Dusuns in ancient days used to take
their most sacred oaths under its shade, and they are still
much afraid of it. Nevertheless if a tree of this species is
encountered, when a clearing is being made in the jungle, it
may be cut down if a religious ceremony is performed first,
though it is frequently left standing. The Lempada grows to
a good height : it has long shiny lanceolate leaves and its fruit
is large, red, and oval. Whether the tree, or rather its juice,
has any power of producing ulcers, I do not know, but it is
quite possible, as several Bornean trees and forest plants have
extremely irritating saps.
During my 1915 visit to the Tempassuk District, having
rather forgotten the appearance of the Lempada, I asked
Gumpus to draw my attention to a specimen, should we pass
one while coming down from up-country. He did so, and,
1 Vide also p. 51.
32 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
naturally enough, I stopped for a minute to look at it, though
I did not go near it, owing to my respect for Gumpus' pre-
judices. He immediately exclaimed "Don't stop! Don't stop,
Tuan ! I can't bear the sight of it ! There is a spirit in that
tree!" At the same time turning away his face and scowling
hideously.
Sirinan of Piasau told me that his people sometimes use
the sap of the Lempada as a medicine for treating certain
diseases. When this is to be collected, however, the ordinary
name of the tree must not be mentioned, but it must be called
Gugutakan.
Graves and Burial
Burial in large earthenware jars of Chinese manufacture
is fairly common 1 , but not so general as at Tuaran. It is
interesting to note that where jars sufficiently large to hold
corpses cannot be obtained, various attempts to comply with
custom are observable. In some villages fair sized jars are
placed on the head of the grave, while the body lies below
encased in a rough coffin, or wrapped in mats; in others
perhaps only a tiny jar, about a foot high, will be found
standing on the grave.
The grave-mound is frequently covered with a chevaux-de-
frise of sharp bamboo points to prevent wild pigs from digging
up the corpse. Over the whole, in some lowland villages, is
built a small wall-less hut, the roof of which has long eaves
which are often rudely carved: sometimes umbrella-like
structures, covered with European-made calico, two to each
grave 2 , are erected instead of a hut. Under the hut is occasion-
ally placed a wooden representation of a human figure 3 , but
whether this is intended to represent the deceased, or is a
remnant of some custom of human sacrifice (i.e. takes the
place of a sacrificed slave) I have not been able to gather from
the natives whom I have questioned. At Nabah, at Piasau,
1 Jars are not now in use for burial at Piasau, though it is said that they
were formerly. They are expensive and are not always easy to obtain,
especially at short notice.
2 Grave-huts and umbrellas of this type seen at Nabah in 191 1.
3 Also at Nabah.
!pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 33
and in some other lowland villages the bamboo fence which
! surrounds the grave is profusely decorated with models of
chopping-knives, cocks, hens, buffaloes, swords, spears and
guns carved from the pith of some kind of palm, or from soft
wood, these being, presumably, offerings for the benefit of
the deceased's soul. Sirinan, of Piasau, informed me that
offerings of food are not put on graves by his people — a custom
which obtains at Tuaran — though bamboo- joints containing
water are hung on the fences which surround them. The clothes
of the dead are placed either on the fences, or else on the
boughs of trees close to, as to wear the clothes of a dead person
would, it is thought, be to court disaster. At Tambatuan those
of young unmarried women who have died are embroidered
before being disposed of in this manner. After a funeral
(among the Piasau Dusuns) the mourners all go to bathe in
the river in order to purify themselves, and when they return
to the village a buffalo is killed and a feast is made, but, for
what reason I do not know, one man must eat a little of the
food before the others begin. In this village, too, the people
of the house where a death has occurred must not go about
and visit other houses for three days, neither must they
receive visits from neighbours, nor perform any work except
such as is absolutely necessary.
Before leaving the subject of burial, I may remark here,
that as far as I know, old jars are never removed from grave-
yards and re-used, as I have already noted is often done at
Tuaran. In some cases of jar-burial, when the only jar obtain-
able is too small at the neck to allow the corpse to pass, but
big enough to hold it otherwise, the jar is cut into two
horizontally. The body is then placed in the bottom half, and
the top fixed on again with resin.
Kinabalu, the Dusun Afterworld
The Dusuns, as do several Bornean tribes and peoples,
believe that the souls of the dead ascend a mountain, and,
as Kinabalu (or better, Nabalu) towers up to a height of about
13,500 feet, dominating the whole Tempassuk District and,
EMP 3
34 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
indeed, the country for many miles beyond it, what could
be more natural than for them to choose this magnificent
mountain for the resort of departed souls? They believe, how-
ever, that the ghosts of the dead may linger near their former
homes before undertaking their journey, for, in the lowland
villages of the Tempassuk, when a death has occurred, the
old women weep and cry aloud to the spirit of the deceased:
"Do not stop here, for your path lies to the left!" (i.e. to
Nabalu) , since they are afraid that if the ghost were to loiter
near the village it would do the survivors some mischief. With
the object, too, of preventing the soul's return, the bamboo
bier on which the corpse has been carried is sometimes cut
to pieces at the grave-side 1 , while I have been told that in
some lowland villages mourners on returning from a funeral
slash with their chopping-knives at the steps of the house and
the door of the room in which a death has occurred. The Piasau
Dusuns, I noticed, avoid graveyards as much as possible, but
whether this is due to fear of the ghosts of the dead, or of
grave-haunting spirits of a ghoulish nature, I do not know.
The villagers of Kaung "Ulu," an up-country village, say
that the spirits of the dead cross a small stream near-by, which
is called the Koraput, or Uraput, and that they rest there
on their way to Nabalu, sitting on some stones in the middle
of it 2 . Another stop is also said to be made at a large rock
called Pomintalan, which lies between Mount Nunkok and
Nabalu. Here the souls leave signs of their passing; the men!
a wrapping-leaf of a native cigarette; the women some thread, 1
and the children some dirty little shreds from their loin-cloths, i
Since Nabalu 3 is the home of the dead a ceremony has toj
1 1 have seen a bier, which had been treated in this manner, near Piasau. |
Sirinan, a headman of the village, told me that the mourners, after the
burial, say with regard to the bier, "This is no longer of use. We will cut
it up." He also informed me that the souls of the dead go to Nabalu before!
their bodies are buried, but subsequently return again, as I understood, only
for a time. 2 See also folk-tale on p. 50.
3 I do not think that the Dusuns ever call the mountain Kinabalu, except
in speaking to Europeans. The name has, I am convinced, for reasons which
are too long to set down here, nothing to do with " Chinese Widow," as has
been so often stated. The native name is Nabalu or Peng-alu-an, which
seems to mean "the place where the dead go to."
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 35
be performed, and offerings made, before its ascent can be
undertaken by human beings. In addition those who climb
the mountain must not use its ordinary name while on it, but
must refer to it as Agayoh Ngaran, which, I understand,
means " big name." Sompot, of Kiau, told me in 1911, that it
is also forbidden to mention the names of the different streams
encountered during the climb. The requisite offerings he said,
were seven eggs and two hens. When the ceremony in con-
nexion with the ascent has been performed, a spirit, the Kiau
Dusuns say, is often heard to howl like a dog 1 . If the ceremony
were omitted, those who went up the mountain would be
unable to find their way home again.
Tabus
The tabus connected with mentioning one's own name, or
those of near relations, which are in force at Tuaran, also
I hold good among the lowland Dusuns of the Tempassuk
i District, and, I believe, among the people of the up-country
villages as well. The most interesting examples of tabu that
I have been able to collect are those relating to war, which,
I though somewhat fragmentary, I give below :
(1) When their men are on the war-path the women must not
: weave cloth, or their husbands will be unable to escape from the
enemy, because they will become uncertain in which direction to run;
\ for in the weaving of cloth the backward and forward movements of
! the shuttle represent those of a man running confusedly first to one
1 side, and then to another, in order to escape from an enemy.
(2) Women may not eat rice from the winnowing- tray ; for the
edges of it represent mountains, over which their men would not be
able to climb.
(3) The women must not sit sprawling about, or with their legs
crossed, else their husbands will not have strength for anything.
On the other hand:
(4) It is lucky for the women to keep walking about, for then the
\ men will have strength to walk far.
We now come to other tabus, connected with newly-built
i houses and villages, sickness of an epidemic nature, with
1 Possibly the guardian dog of Nabalu, mentioned by Dalrymple. Vide
. Natives of Sarawak and B. N . Borneo, 1. 220.
36 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
religious ceremonies, and with the dyeing of cloth. Some others
which I obtained will also be found scattered throughout this
paper under sections dealing with other matters.
A house tabu. Nobody but the owners may enter a new
house until a religious ceremony has been performed over it.
It may be mentioned here that bunches of leaves which have
been used for sweeping out the house at the performance of
these rites are afterwards suspended from the rafters and
carefully preserved.
A village tabu. If a person dies in a newly-built village
within six months of its completion, nobody may remain there : i
it must be abandoned and another site chosen.
A colour tabu. No one must hold anything white, yellow j
or red where a religious ceremony is being performed 1 .
Sickness tabus. As among the Dyaks, it is forbidden to
make any kind of a loud noise when there is sickness in the
country. While I was at Tambatuan in 1915, Gumpus, the
headman, reprimanded some of his people for beating gongs,
as there was epidemic disease at Kiau, a neighbouring village.
When there is small-pox in the district the lowland Dusuns
will not eat Indian corn, as they consider that the grains of
it resemble the pustules of the disease, and that to eat them
would, therefore, be to court an attack 2 . Caladium-roots, too,
and some kind of fish which has red flesh, are also interdicted;
the former, for the reason that they are thought to cause
irritation of the skin ; the latter, because the colour of its flesh
is, by sympathy, thought to cause the rash of the sickness to
appear. Cats, dogs, and fowls must not be struck when there!
is small-pox about, even if they steal food; and there alsoj
seems to be a dislike to killing animals at such times.
Property tabus. I was told that no evil results from super-
natural causes are feared by a person infringing a tabu of thisi
kind. Property tabu marks seem to have merely the signi-|
fixation of notice boards, showing that what they are tied to
is private property and must not be used by other people.
1 Vide folk-tale, p. 81.
2 The Bajaus of the Tempassuk District also have this belief.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 37
Coconut trees are marked by tying bands of grass round
their trunks, but faggots of thorny brushwood, placed at a
considerable height from the ground, are also employed in
order to prevent thieves from climbing the trees. A number
of slender bamboo sticks planted in a circle and bound together
with a ring of rattan cane are often to be seen on the banks
of rivers in the hilly country. These denote that there are
fish-traps in the stream, which are used by the people of the
village, and must not be interfered with by strangers. A
pointer of wood attached to the circle of bamboos generally
indicates the position of the traps.
Omen-Animals
The barking-deer, or muntjac (called paus by the Dusuns),
is regarded as an omen-animal, and if a man is going to his
clearing and hears a muntjac bark once he will return to his
house and remain there; to do work on that day being,
it is thought, unlucky. If, however, the animal barks more
than once, no ill-luck will be incurred if he goes about his
business as usual. Should a man hear a muntjac bark once
while he is on a journey, he will either return home — if his
house is not far away — or will stop where he is until the next
morning, when he may set out again 1 .
A kind of bird, which the Dusuns call mantis, is also thought
to be an omen, and if anyone sees one "near the river," when
going to work, he (or she) must return to the house and
abandon all idea of field-work for that day.
Similar prohibitions (kadat) apply to anyone who sees a
bird which the Dusuns call domolok (unidentified) and another
species named molohing.
To meet a nanagan, a bird which Gumpus, who gave me the
above notes, described as having a yellow body, a white head,
and red legs, is lucky. You must ask it to follow you and
help you.
A large and common species of Julus or millipede is also
a bad omen if it is seen to be crossing a man's path, or coming
1 Information chiefly obtained at Tambatuan.
38 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
towards him. If one is met in this manner, the person con-
cerned must return home, and not go to work in the fields
on that day 1 .
Some kind of snake, a species with a skin of variegated
colours, is also feared by the Dusuns as being of evil portent, and
I was told that if anyone were to go to work in the fields after
meeting one, he (or she) would lose all the hair of the body 2 .
Various Beliefs and Customs
A belief in the existence of tailed men is very general, and
they are said to be cannibals. There are also legends of giants
called Tempulalongoi, but I have been able to gather but
little information about them, beyond that they seem to be
supernatural beings who have a liking for visiting burial-
places and calling upon the dead to rise from their graves.
The latter, however, pay no attention to them, and the Tem-
pulalongoi pass on their way.
With regard to the Singkalaki, seemingly a kind of goblin,
who makes his appearance in one of the folk-takes 3 , 1 gathered
a few fresh details in 1915 from Gimbad, of Tempassuk village.
It appears that the Singkalaki's wife is named Gergadohan,
and he told me that when a man picks up another person's
child he will sometimes dance it on his knee, saying as he
does so, "Dance, dance, child of the Singkalaki, child of
Gergadohan! Short, short legs; long, long beard; No teeth
yet!" Then everyone laughs. When a child, who is not yet
able to walk, crows and laughs to itself, people say that the
Singkalaki is amusing it.
A rather curious custom with regard to the clearing of the
jungle for planting hill-rice is observed in some up-country
villages. I noticed in 1915 that in one of the fields on the hill-
side near Tambatuan, a single tree was left in the middle of
the clearing. Guessing that this was not preserved without
some good reason (according to native ideas), I made inquiry
and was told that it was customary to leave a single tree
standing, "lest the birds, having no perching place, should
1 From Lengok of Bengkahak. * From Gumpus of Tambatuan.
3 Vide p. 106.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 39
curse the crop." A similar custom obtains among some of
, the Dyak tribes of Sarawak, where it is said that the tree is left
as a refuge for the spirits of the jungle which has been felled.
A peculiar belief, which is found both among some of the
pagans and among the Malays of the Peninsula 1 , is also held
by the Dusuns, namely, that it is particularly unlucky for
anybody to go out into the jungle, or start on a journey, with
an unsatisfied craving of any kind. For instance, should a
man hurt his foot, fall ill, be stung by a scorpion, be bitten
by a snake, or meet with any other misfortune, and then
remember that he had intended to chew betel, smoke a
cigarette, or eat rice before leaving the house, but had omitted 1
to do so, he would immediately put down his ill-luck to his
not having satisfied his want. The Malay word used in con-
nexion with this belief is kempunan 2 {kopohunan, of the
Dusuns) . It is difficult to translate it properly — in some cases
it merely seems to have the meaning of a longing, or very
strong desire, for some article of food, such as is sometimes
felt by pregnant women — and the dictionary is not very
helpful, but kena kempunan in Malay seems to mean to the
more unsophisticated villagers of the Peninsula "to get into
trouble through going out without having satisfied some
craving" (lit. to be hit by a desire). I may remark here that
I have seen a mouse which had been killed divided up between
a dozen or more Dusun coolies of mine (Tambatuan people)
so that everyone might eat a little of it, and thus not be ex-
posed to danger on the journey that they were undertaking,
which would have been the case with anyone who wished to
taste the animal, but did not receive a portion of it.
Various marks on buffaloes are considered very unlucky.
If an animal has, for instance, two whorls of hair under the
belly, something very bad will happen to its owner, while a
Y-shaped white mark on the neck means that the animal will
be killed by lightning.
1 Vide infra, pp. 237-239, 294-296.
2 Vide Sixteen years among the Sea Dyaks, by E. H. Gomes, p. 320, for
similar beliefs among the Sea Dyaks. The Dyak word is puni.
4 o BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
The belief in dreams as a means of divination is very strong,
and any warning which may seem to be conveyed by them
is scrupulously heeded.
Markets are instituted with the sacrifice of a buffalo, the
blood of which is smeared on a stone. Curses are pronounced
on anyone who shall violate the market by fraud or other evil
practices.
Totemism
The nearest approaches to totemism of which I have evidence
are some beliefs of the lowland Dusuns that certain of their
ancestors became, or were, animals. A case in point is that
of the Tempassuk people, who do not eat snakes because they
say that one of the women of their village once gave birth to
a reptile of this kind 1 , while there is also a legend which relates
how one Aki Gahuk, of Tengkurus, became transformed into
a crocodile 2 . We have two stories of the inhabitants of whole
villages becoming sparrows and pigs in order to plunder the
crops of others, while there are also tales of certain villagers
who became mosquitoes and bees 3 . I have mentioned above
the belief that Kinharingan tumanah can become animals
at will.
The Giving and Changing of Names
Children, I have been given to understand, are frequently
called after their ancestors, but occasionally they are named
from some event which happened at about the time when
they were born. Thus one Tambatuan boy was called Kam-
badi because his birth occurred on a market (badi) day. A
Tuaran Dusun, too, was named Sembawan, because his mother
had performed a ceremony called membawan, for the purpose
of avoiding the bad luck attaching to evil dreams, not long
before his birth 4 .
1 Vide folk-tale, p. 78. 2 P. 76. 3 Pp. 65, 71.
* In a former paper (J. R.A.I. 1916) owing to a mis-reading of my rough
notes, I ascribed this information about Sembawan to Gumpus of Tam-
batuan. The mistake occurred owing to my having obtained the story from
two Tuaran Dusuns, my "boy" and a policeman, whom I had with me at
Tambatuan in 191 5.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 41
In Tambatuan, in 1915, I found that the practice of
changing a person's name to change his luck was not un-
known, for one day while talking to Gumpus about the giving
of names, he said, "You know, Tuan, my name used to be
Logus, but it was a very dirty name; so I changed it to
Gumpus." Wondering what he meant, and thinking that
Logus had, perhaps, an indecent meaning, I asked him why
he said that Logus was a dirty name. "Oh," he replied, "while
I used that name I was always ill and could not get down to
the river to bathe; so I changed it to Gumpus and then I
got well."
Sagit
Sagit 1 is a word of wide significance, which, in some cases,
has the meaning of compensation, such as may be given in
a lawsuit. For instance, a husband whose wife has been in-
sulted by another man may demand sagit from the offender,
the amount of compensation being settled by a council of the
older men. The term may, however, have a meaning much
less easy to define, and I give an example of sagit of this kind
as the best method of illustration. I was once in want of some
human hair to restore the scabbard of a sword, the bunches
of hair on which had become damaged. While visiting Teng-
kurus in 191 1, 1 saw a man wearing long hair, and I asked him
if he was willing to sell it. He replied that he was, and named
a price, but said that I must also give him a fowl as sagit. This
fowl, I was told, would be sacrificed, and subsequently taken
as a perquisite by the person who performed the ceremony.
The object of the sacrifice was, perhaps, to avert any evil
consequences which might result from my having cut off his
hair, and also to protect him should I try to "make magic"
with it. He told me that it would not be necessary for him
to make a sacrifice if he cut off his hair of his own accord as
he would not be "breaking custom " of any kind, the wearing
of long or short hair being purely a matter of personal taste.
1 I presume that it is a Dusun word, but am not sure. It is commonly
used by natives when talking Malay, but is not understood by the Malays
of the Peninsula.
42
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44 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
The Dusun Month
The Dusuns of the Tempassuk give a separate name to
every day of the lunar month. Certain days, being regarded
as unlucky, are rest-days when no work must be performed ;
while on others, partially unlucky, only work of certain de-
scriptions is allowable. The first calendar, given above, was
obtained at Tengkurus in 191 1; the second, which presents
some differences, at Tambatuan on my 1915 expedition to
the district. It will be noticed in that from Tengkurus that
Tonibul is the first day of the month, while in the Tambatuan
calendar it is given as the last, with Salimpunan ka'silau,
which does not occur in the Tengkurus example, as the first.
Other differences are that at Tambatuan Tentelu (given at
Tengkurus) is omitted as the fourteenth day of the month,
and Maulat inserted as the twentieth, while the twenty-first
is given as Katang instead of Kompusan (Kompusan, accord-
ing to my Tengkurus informant, being followed by Katang).
Ka-in-duoh, Ka-in-teloh, etc. are simply the Dusun ordinals,
second, third, and so forth.
As far as I have been able to gather, there is no method of
reckoning years other than by rice seasons. The plainsmen
go by the wet-rice seasons — from planting to harvest eight
or nine months; the inhabitants of the uplands by the hill-
rice year or season — from sowing to reaping six months —
with, of course, in each case complementary periods between
harvest-time and sowing or planting.
1st
Salimpunan ka'silau
Rest day. No work
2nd
Ka-in-duoh
All kinds of work allowable
3rd
Ka-in-teloh
»i
4th
Ka-in-apat
tt
5th
Ka-in-limoh
M
6th
Ka-in-onom
1 t
7th
Ka-in-turoh
Observed as a holiday by th
circumstances
8th
Ka-in-walu
All kinds of work allowable
9th
Ka-in-siam
»>
10th
Ka-in-hopod
tt
nth
Ka-in-hopodotniso
tt
1 2th
Ka-in-hopodomduoh
it
13th
Kopopusan
a
PT. I
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO
45
14th
Tawang
15th
Telekud
1 6th
Tentong
17th
Rampagas
1 8th
Limbas
19th
Timpun
20th
Maulat
2ISt
Katang
22nd
Geok
23rd
Ka-in-duoh telimah
24th
Ka-in-teloh telimah
25th
Ka-in-apat telimah
26th
Ka-in-limoh telimah
27th
Kopopusan
28th
Sukilab
29th
Tenob
30th
Gogor
3ISt
Tonibul
Rest day. No field-work except sowing allowable
ft »J
All kinds of work allowable
Work on hill clearings allowed, but not work
on wet-rice fields
Work allowed on wet-rice fields, but not on
clearings
Rest day. No work
Rest day, but only observed by elderly married
men
All kinds of work allowable
Rest day. No work
All kinds of work allowable
Rest day. No work
(ii) FOLK-TALES OF THE TUARAN AND TEMPASSUK
DISTRICTS
A Legend of the Creation
A version told by Gensiau, a low-country Dusun of
Tempassuk Village, Tempassuk District
When the world was first made there was only water with
a great rock in it: a man and a woman 1 were on the rock.
The man and the woman were dirty and went down to bathe
in the water, and when they bathed the dirt rolled off from
their bodies. They smelt the dirt which came from them and
the man said, "This will become land," and it became land.
Then the man and the woman made a stone in the shape of
a man, but the stone could not talk; so they made a wooden
figure, and when it was made it talked, though not long after
it became worn out and rotten ; afterwards they made a man
of earth, and people are descended from this till the present
day and from the other earth-men which they made at the
same time. The man and the woman began to think in what
1 Kinharingan and Munsumundok, the chief god of the Dusuns and his
wife.
46 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
way they could give food to their men, but they could not
get anything, as there was no food in the world. Then the
woman gave birth to a child, and the man said to the woman,
"How are we to give food to our men?" The woman wanted
to kill the child. So they killed it, and, when they had cut
it to bits, they planted it in the ground; after a time its blood
gave rise to rice, its head to a coconut, its fingers to betel-nut,
its ears to the sirih-vme, its feet to Indian corn, its skin to
a gourd-vine, and the rest of its body to other things good to
eat. Its throat also became sugar-cane and its knees kaladi
(Caladium esculentum) .
A slightly different Legend of the Beginning of the World
Told by the headman of Timpalang Village (Dusun),
near Tuaran
At first there was a great stone in the middle of the sea.
At that time there was no earth, only water. The rock was
large, and it opened its mouth, and out of it came a man and
a woman. The man and the woman looked around and there
was only water. The woman said to the man, "How can we
walk, for there is no land?" They descended from the rock
and tried to walk on the surface of the water, and found that
they could. They returned to the rock and sat down to think ;
for a long time they stopped there; then again they walked
upon the water, and at length they arrived at the house of
Bisagit (the spirit of small-pox), for Bisagit had made land,
though it was very far away. Now the man and his wife were
Kinharingan and Munsumundok. They spoke to Bisagit and
asked for some of his earth, and he gave it to them. So, going
home, they pounded up the rock and mixed Bisagit's earth
with it, and it became land. Then Kinharingan made the
Dusuns and Munsumundok made the sky. Afterwards Kin-
haringan and Munsumundok made the sun, as it was not good
for men to walk about without light. Then said Munsumundok,
"There is no light at night, let us make the moon," and they
made the moon, and the seven stars 1 , the Spring-trap and
1 The Pleiades.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 47
the Kukurian 1 . Kinharingan and Munsumundok had one son
and one daughter. Now Kinharingan's people wept because
there was no food. So Kinharingan and Munsumundok killed
their girl child, and cut it up, and from the different portions
of its body grew all things good to eat : its head gave rise to
the coconut and you can trace its eyes and nose on the coconut
till this day ; from its arm-bones arose sugar-cane ; its fingers
became bananas, and its blood padi. All the animals also
arose from pieces of the child. When Kinharingan had made
everything, he said, "Who is able to cast off his skin? If
anyone can do so, he shall not die." The snake alone heard,
and said, "I can." And for this reason, till the present day,
the snake does not die unless killed by man. (The Dusuns
did not hear, or they would also have thrown off their skins,
and there would have been no death.) Kinharingan washed
the Dusuns in the river, placing them in a basket ; one man,
however, fell out of the basket, and floating away down-
stream, stopped near the coast. This man gave rise to the
Bajaus, who still live near the sea and are clever at using
boats. When Kinharingan had washed the Dusuns in the river
he performed a religious ceremony over them in his house, but
one man left the house before Kinharingan had done so, and
went off into the jungle to search for something, and when he
came back he could not enter the house again, for he had
become a monkey. This man is the father of all the monkeys.
Kinharingan and Bisagit
Told by Anggor, a Tuaran Dusun
Kinharingan made all men and the earth. First of all he
made the earth, and the earth would not become hard. Then
he ordered the Toripos 2 to fly to Bisagit, the spirit of small-
pox, and ask for earth. The bird flew to Bisagit's country,
and when it came there it said to him, "Kinharingan has
ordered me to come and ask for earth from here." Said
Bisagit, "You can have earth from here if Kinharingan will
1 Constellations. 2 Small green parrot.
48 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
promise to divide his people with me, half for me, and half
for Kinharingan." "Wait," said the bird, "and I will fly back
to Kinharingan and ask for orders, for I have no power to
make the agreement." So the Toripos flew back to the
country of Kinharingan and, going up into his house, said
to him, " I have been to Bisagit's country and asked Headman
Bisagit if he will give earth, but he said, ' I will only give earth
if Kinharingan will share his men with me.'" "Very well,"
said Kinharingan, " I will share my men with him. Fly back
and ask for earth, and say to Bisagit that with regard to his
wanting half my men, I will agree to it, if he will give me
earth." The Toripos went back to Bisagit's country and told
him Kinharingan's words. Then said Bisagit, "Kinharingan
has acknowledged this?" and the Toripos said, " He has." So
Bisagit got earth and gave it to the bird, saying, "Take this
earth and go back." The bird came again to Kinharingan's
country and said to him, " I have got the earth," and Kinha-
ringan said, "Well done !" In the morning early Kinharingan
put Bisagit's earth into the middle of his own, and immedi-
ately the land became hard, and when it had become hard,
he made men. Two or three years afterwards Bisagit came
and asked for his men, and all Kinharingan's people fell ill
of small-pox, half the people died, and half lived. Those who
died followed Bisagit, and those who lived followed Kinha-
ringan. When Bisagit was going home, he said to Kinharingan,
"I am going home, but at the end of forty years I will come
back and ask for more men." "Very well," said Kinharingan,
"but do not kill all of them, for, if you kill all, I shall have no
village left." And up to the present time Bisagit comes once
in forty years and takes his toll of one half of Kinharingan's
people. Kinharingan said to his people, " I am going back to
my country in the sky; if there is any fever or other disease
in your village you must chant religious formulas and you
will gain relief."
The Dusuns of Tuaran do not perform religious ceremonies
for small-pox, as it is useless, since there is an arrangement
between Kinharingan and Bisagit that small-pox shall come
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 49
once in forty years and carry off one half of Kinharingan's
men.
Kinharingan and the Snake
Told by Sirinan, Headman of Piasau Village (Dusun),
Tempassuk District
Kinharingan once pounded rice and made flour from it. When
he had made the flour he called all the animals in the world
and ordered them to eat it. When they had all got their
mouths full, and could not speak, Kinharingan asked them,
"Who can cast off his skin?" Now the snake had only been
putting his mouth into the flour and pretending to eat, and,
being able to answer because his mouth was not full, he said,
"I can." 'Very well," said Kinharingan, "if that is so, you
shall not die " ; so, until the present day, the snake does not
die unless killed by man.
The Eclipse. The Story of the Tarob and the Moon
Told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District.
A Dusun Legend
The children of Kinharingan once pounded rice and when
they had pounded it, the Tarob 1 came and ate it all up. Every
time they pounded rice 2 the Tarob ate it up, and at last they
complained to their father, and said, "Every time we pound
rice the Tarob comes and eats it up." Then said Kinharingan,
" If he comes again order him to eat the moon." So when the
Tarob came again the children of Kinharingan said, "Don't
;you eat our rice; go and eat the moon !" And down to the
present time the Tarob, when he is hungry, goes and swallows
the moon, but the Dusuns chant spells, and he puts it out
of his mouth again, and goes and eats the rice which they
place for him in their winno wing-baskets.
1 The spirit who swallows the moon when it is eclipsed.
2 I.e. padi, or unhusked rice, in order to separate the grain from the
tiusk.
EMP
50 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
The Mengkahalob
(Tuaran Dusun account of the Eclipse of the Moon.)
Told by Omboi, a Tuaran Dusun
The Mengkahalob says to its mother, "I've not had enough
to eat, I want two jars more." When he has finished the two
jars, he asks for another. Then his mother says, "What are
you not full yet?" And the Mengkahalob answers, "No."
"Well," says his mother, "if you are not satisfied yet, go and
eat the moon!" So the Mengkahalob goes and swallows the
moon, and the Dusuns, seeing the moon in his mouth, beat
gongs and drums until he puts it out again.
Towardakan
Told by "Orang Tua" Lengok of Bengkahak,
Tempassuk District. A Dusun Story
Towardakan is a son of Kinharingan. Kinharingan made I
all men equal, but Towardakan did not like this and brought
it about that some men should be rich and some poor. For
this he was expelled by Kinharingan. Towardakan does not
like a good rice year for then all men are equally well off.
The Path of the Ghosts
Told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District
(The ghosts of the dead are supposed, by the Dusuns of the Tuaran
and Tempassuk Districts, to ascend Mount Kinabalu.)
>>
There is a small river to the seawards of Kaung "Ulu
village named Koraput. There are large stones in the middle
of it, and the people say that the ghosts stop there on their
way to Nabalu. If the ghost of an old man is passing the
sound of his walking stick is heard tapping on the stones;
if that of a young bachelor the sound of his sendatang 1 ; if
of an unmarried girl the sound of the toriding 2 ; and if of a
child the sound of weeping.
1 The native banjo.
2 A kind of Jew's-harp which is made of wood, bamboo, bone, etc.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 51
The Legend of the Lempada
Told by "Orang Tua" Lengok of Bengkahak,
Tempassuk District. A Dusun Story
Long ago there was a house in which lived a man and his
wife, and near the house was a lempada-tree. Whenever fruit
fell from the tree, the man and his wife heard a noise like that
of a child weeping. His wife was afraid at the sound of the
wailing, and the man descended from his house ; but he only
saw the fruits which had fallen to the ground. One of these
he pushed with his chopping-knife, and again he heard a
sound of weeping; so he cut it in two. When he had opened
it there was nothing but earth inside. He went back to the
house, and that night, as he slept with his wife, a man came
to him in a dream, and said, "Why have you cut me? I will
be revenged upon you." Then the man of the house spoke and
said, "Do not, I pray you, for I did not see anyone when I
cut open the fruit, but I only heard the sound of a child
crying." The dream-man said to him, "Very well, to-morrow
you shall see me." The next morning the man saw a beautiful
youth, dressed in magnificent clothes, walking below the lem-
Pada-tree. On the following night the man slept and dreamed
again, and the dream-man said to him, as before, "I will be
revenged upon you." "Do not, I pray you," said the man.
"Well," said the dream-man, "I will make a compact with
you. Do not damage this tree, do not walk underneath it,
do not eat its fruit. If you go under the tree and take its
fruit, I will afflict you with ulcers until you die."
Now the man who came in the dream was Kinharingan,
jand the tree is his.
The Making of the Bluntong {Rainbow)
Told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District.
A Dusun Story
Long ago the rainbow was a path for men. Those who lived
up-country used the rainbow as a bridge when they wished
to go down-country in search of wives. For though there were
52 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
women up-country, the up-country men were very fond of
the down-country women. Because of the men's desire for
wives from the coast they made the rainbow as a bridge,
and you can see the floor and hand-rail of the bridge in the
rainbow till the present day. The men when they had first
made the rainbow walked on it to the women's houses. After
the men had fed, the women followed the men along the rain-
bow to their homes. When they arrived up-country the
marriages were celebrated with a feast, and the men became
drunk. Then came a headman from another village and said
to them, "You men are very clever, how long have I lived
in this country, but never yet have I seen anything like your
rainbow ! Do you intend to leave it there or not?" The men
replied, "When we want to go down-country with our wives
we will put it in place, but when we do not want it, we will
take it away," and thus they do to the present day. What the
men were, I do not know, but they were more than ordinary
men. It is an old-time tale of our people. Perhaps it is true,
as just now, as you saw, the rainbow vanished.
The Tompok and the Sungkial
Told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District
Note. This is a story about certain sacred jars, and though jar-
worship is not a feature in the religious rites of the Tempassuk Dusuns
at the present day, it may have been at one time. Sirinan told me that
there were formerly jars of this kind in the district, but that, with the
exception of a few of the variety which is known as sungkial, they had !
nearly all been sold to Brunei traders, who had, in their turn, disposed j
of them to the Dusuns of Tuaran, Papar, and other places. " For,"
said he, "we preferred the money to a jar which contained a (poten-
tially) evil spirit, who demanded constant sacrifices."
There was once a man who was very rich and had all kinds
of goods. After a time he took a wife, but no child came of
the marriage for two or three years. Then said the man, " How \
is it that we have no children, while others who were married !
at the same time all have some? " One night the man dreamed
that a woman appeared in his room and that he said to the,
woman of his dream, ' ' Why have we no children ? ' ' The woman
replied, "You have no children because you have so many;
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 53
possessions. If you wish for a child you must kill a pig and
a hen." In the morning he got up, and, as he very much
desired a child, he killed seven pigs and seven hens. Again
the man dreamed and the woman came to him and said,
"There is evil in your jar; that is why you have no child.
It is in the Tompok 1 . The spirit of your Tompok would like
to do you evil, but I do not wish it for I am also a spirit, the
spirit of your Sungkial 1 . There is also an evil spirit in your
Narajang 1 . When the year is finished you must always kill
a pig for the spirit of your Tompok." After a time the man's
wife gave birth to a child, and at the end of the year he killed
a pig and prayed to the jar ; and this he did at the end of each
year in order that the two spirits should not be angry with
him any more.
Dusun signs for averting sickness
(These signs are figures of men and spears 2 set up to defend
the villages against epidemic disease, particularly small-pox.
The story of how they work is told by Yompo of Kiau, which
village is situated on the slopes of Mount Kinabalu.)
These signs are set up in time of sickness. Sickness spirits
see the signs and meet the spirits which have been called into
the spears and figures by religious performances. When the
spirits of the small-pox are journeying in the country in com-
panies, they come to one of these signs and the spirits of the
spear call to them, "The men of this village set us here to
dispute with you, the men here are our men, and you cannot
pass !" So it is settled that the spirits of small-pox shall not
enter the village, but they ask the spirits of the spear to point
out another to which they can go, saying, "If you will show
us another village we will not enter this one." Then some of
the spear-spirits go with the spirits of small-pox. When they
encounter another village it is dark to their sight, though it
is really daylight ; for the people of the village have set spear-
spirits there also, and have made it dark with their magical
ceremonies. So the spirits of small-pox chant spells, and when
1 Three kinds of sacred jars. 2 Vide p. 29, supra.
54 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
they have finished, and it has become light again, the small-
pox spirits find that they have passed the village while they
have been walking along performing these rites. (There are
spirits of the spear at all the villages, but they do not follow
the small-pox spirits like those of the first.) When the spirits
of small-pox come to a third village it is dark there also, and
the same thing happens again. Then the spirits of small-pox
say to the spirits of the spear who came with them from the
first village, "If we cannot get into another village, we will
go back and get into yours." Now while they are between the
third and fourth villages it is still dark, and they wait there
for five or six days and nights to see if it will become light.
Then the spirits of small-pox say to the spear-spirits, " If we
do not get into this village, we will go back to yours." " Very
well," say the spirits of the spear, "we will go with you into
this village, for we do not wish you to go back to ours." So
the leaders of the small-pox spirits and of the spear-spirits
confer together, and one of the small-pox spirits says, " I will
not go back, for we swore not to." So, the road to both the
third and fourth villages being dark, they try to make their
way into the latter, but coming upon a very large rock near
the village, they cannot fly over it because it is dark and they
cannot see. Then one spirit of small-pox finds a narrow path
to the back of the village, and follows it with the others
behind him, and, when they have walked a little, they look
back and find that it has become light, and they can see the
village clearly, because there is no spear at the back of the
village, but only facing the road by which the small-pox comes.
In the village they see many men, women and children, and
the elders of the small-pox and spear-spirits agreeing that it
would be good to go into it, and not go back, they enter it,
and going into a long house they see many women making
thread, but the small-pox chooses only those who are beautiful
for his sickness ; those who are ugly he does not wish for. Then
says the leader of the spear-spirits, "I have shown you the
way into a village, and we will now go home ; where next you
go is your own affair." So the spear-spirits go home; but they
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 55
become like brothers with the spirits of small-pox and say to
them, "When you have finished here you can come to our
village also." When they leave the village, the spirits of small-
pox go to another, but they fight with the spear-spirits of
that village, for they no longer have spear-spirits as their
guides, and some of the small-pox spirits are killed and some
of the spirits of the spear. After some more villages, only a
few of the spirits of small-pox can enter, for many of them
have died in their fights with the spear-spirits; and at last
there are so few of them left that they no longer dare to make
an attack.
The Story of Langaon
Told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District.
A Dusun Tale
Langaon had made a clearing sufficient in which to sow
two mandor 1 of padi, and after a time his rice bore fruit.
When the padi-harvest came the men of the village went to
reap in their clearings, and Langaon went also to reap in his,
but, when he had finished reaping, he found that the produce
of it was only two mandor, just what he had sown at first.
"Why is this?" said Langaon. "Other men all have a good
return from their sowing; I alone have no padi." So he went
to the old men of the village and told them about it. However,
he decided to make another clearing and this time to sow
three mandor. So he made his clearing and sowed three man-
dor and when his rice came up, it was better than any one
else's in the village; when it began to fruit, too, it was finer
than that in any other clearing. At length harvest came, and
Langaon this time got three mandor of rice for his harvest,
while every other man had at least a full tangkob 2 . Then he
made up his mind to leave the village and search for better
ground in which to sow his padi. So he set out and, after he
had wandered for a long time in the jungle, he came to a small
stream, and built himself a hut there. Here he stopped and
made fish-traps in the stream. The next morning he went to
i A measure of capacity. 2 A large rice-bin.
56 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
look at his traps and found that he had got a large catch of
fish. Then said he, "it would be good to stop here, for there
is no lack of fish ; only I have no salt and no rice, and how can
I live without them?" So he set out with his fish to look for
some place where he might sell them for salt and rice. After
a time he came to a village, and the people said to him, "Oh,
Langaon, where are you going?" " I have run away from my
village and am living near the river," said Langaon. " I have
caught many fish, but. as I have neither salt nor rice, I have
come to sell them." Then they called him to come into the
house, and they gave him rice and salt and cooking-pots and
mats in exchange for his fish. So Langaon was much pleased,
and the people of the village asked him to come every day
and bring them fish. When he got home, he had sufficient to
eat and vessels to cook in, for hitherto he had used bamboos 1 .
So he decided to stop by the river, and make himself a large
hut. The next morning there were again many fish in his traps,
and Langaon thought, " I shall be ashamed if I go every day
to the village, so I will dry these fish in the sun, and to-morrow
I will take them the dry fish and any fresh fish from the traps."
On the following day, Langaon again went to the village and
the people gave him choppers and spears and cloth in ex-
change for his fish. Then Langaon said to himself, "I had
better tell them that I shall not come again at once, as the
river has fallen, since there has been no rain, and until rain
comes again, I shall have no fish." So he told them, but they
said to him, " If you have no fish, come all the same."
Langaon went home, and, though he got many fish, he did
not go to the village again for another week. At last, however,
he started for the village with his fish, but when he got there,
he said, "To-day I do not wish to sell my fish; I will divide
them among you, but I will not take anything in return." So
he divided the fish among them and each man got two half
coconut-shells full. "Why do you not ask a price for your
fish?" said the people of the village. " I am not without food,"
1 Large bamboos, cut into lengths, are sometimes used for cooking in,
chiefly by natives who are on the march.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 57
said Langaon, " I still have much left from what you gave me
before, but if I have no food left, and catch no fish, I will
come and ask you for what I want." So it was agreed, and
Langaon asked them when was the time for making clearings
there, and they said, "As soon as this month is finished we
begin to make them." When the month was finished, Langaon
went back to the village, bringing with him a little fish to
give to the people, and again he asked them when they would
start making clearings. " Oh, any time that we feel inclined,"
said they, "to-morrow or the next day," and they asked him
to come and live in their village, but Langaon refused. So
he went home, and the next day he began to make a clearing,
and when he had cut down all the trees, it was large enough
to sow two mandor of seed in. "Well," he thought, "I will
rest a little till other people begin to burn" (the felled trees).
After about twenty days he saw great quantities of smoke
coming from near the village, and going to his clearing he
fired it until not a single tree-trunk was left. " This is trouble-
some," thought he, "I have no seed to sow in my clearing."
In the morning he took his fish with him and went to the
village to ask for seed, and when he was still far off, they
started calling to him to bring his fish. So he divided his fish
among them, everybody getting a half coconut-shell full ; and
the people asked him if he had sown his rice. "Not yet,"
said Langaon, " I came here to-day, to ask you to give me
some seed." "How big is your clearing?" they asked. "About
large enough to sow two or three mandor of seed in it,"
replied Langaon. So each man in the village gave him a
mandor of seed, until there was none left who had not given.
"Why do you give me so much?" said Langaon, "for my
clearing is not a large one, only enough for two mandor. If
each man were to give me one or two coconut-shells full, I
should not finish it, but this that you have given me is much
more than I shall use; besides, how shall I get it home, for
I shall only be able to carry two or three mandor V "Never
mind," said the people, "whatever you do not want to sow
you can leave here, and you can use it to eat." So when he
58 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
went home he took only three mandor of seed with him, and
the next day he started and sowed two mandor in his clearing.
The rice sprouted and thrived, and Langaon said, "Ah, per-
haps this year I shall have plenty of padi"; and each day
he went to his clearing, though there were no weeds in it.
At last he said, "What use is it for me to go to the clearing,
for there are no weeds in it," and for six days he remained
at home. On the seventh day he went back and found that
Maragang 1 monkeys had broken into his clearing and had
damaged his rice. Then Langaon wept, "Ah," said he, "all
my rice has been destroyed." So he tried to raise the stems
which the monkeys had beaten down, and he resolved to
move his house to the clearing, so that he might guard what
remained of the crop. He stayed there at the clearing until
his rice had recovered, and when it was ripe, he said to him-
self, "I must make my binolet 2 ." Then he went into the
jungle to get wood for the binolet, and slept a night there,
but when he returned home he found not a single grain of
rice left in his clearing, all the ears of grain had been taken
and only the straw left standing, and there were tracks of
many monkeys everywhere. "Ah," said Langaon, "I will
run away from here, for first of all the monkeys damaged
my crop, and now when it is ripe they have come again and
eaten it all." So he set out again, and after he had wandered
in the jungle for a long time, he made another hut, but this
time there was no river near, and he had to live on what-
ever he could find in the jungle. He had brought away with
him the one mandor of seed which he had not planted in his
former clearing, and here again he made a clearing and sowed
the seed in it. This time he made it round his house so that
he might keep a guard on his crop, and when the rice came
up it was very good. There he lived until his rice was in the
ear. One day he went to fetch water from the river, and on
coming back he saw a great many Maragang monkeys near
his clearing; though they had not yet entered it and eaten
his rice. Then he dropped his water-vessel and went to drive
1 Proboscis-monkeys. 2 Wooden store- vessel for ears of padi.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 59
away the Maragang, but they attacked him, and Langaon
ran away, for he had just come from the river, and had neither
chopping-knife nor spear with him. When he got to his hut
he snatched his spear and wounded one of the monkeys, and
they all ran off, except the largest of them, which still fought
with him. Then Langaon retreated from the monkey back-
wards until, without noticing it, he became entrapped between
four large tree-stumps which stood in the clearing ; and there
both Langaon and the monkey stopped fighting, while after
some time the monkey suddenly became transformed into a
beautiful woman. Langaon, seeing this, came out from the
tree-stumps and spoke to her. "Where do you come from?"
said he. "My mother ordered me to come here," replied the
woman. "When you made a clearing before, I came there
also, but you did not guard your rice. The rice, which you
said that monkeys ate, was reaped, and I also was among
the reapers." "Where did you put the rice?" said Langaon.
"In my house," said the woman, "and the people of my
village reaped with me." "Well," said Langaon, "I have no
food, for this rice is not yet ripe." "You had better come
home to my house," said the woman. So Langaon followed
the woman home, and found that her house was in the jungle,
and not far from his clearing. "I am alone here," said she,
"for my father and mother and my companions are in my
village which is a long way off. My father has much pity
for you, and I also, because you have no wife. All this rice
in my house is yours, for when you made the clearing near
your village, it was I who stole your padi, and when you made
a clearing by the river, I went there also." So Langaon stopped
there, and the woman told him how she was really a Maragang
monkey, but had become a woman. Then she became his
wife, and Langaon said, " I will search for some village near,
for it is evil for us to be all alone here." "Oh," said the
woman, "if you want a village, there is one not far off," and
she pointed out one to him which he had not noticed before ;
but she besought him not to go, and so he remained with her.
At last, when they had a child, Langaon said, "I should like
60 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
to go to the village: if I start to-day, I shall return to-day
also, for it is not far away." His wife said, "Do not go, for
I shall be very much frightened while you are away there."
But Langaon did not pay attention to his wife's words, and
after a while she said to him, "Well, if you go, do not sleep
the night there, for I shall be all alone here with the child."
So Langaon started off, and when he got to the village he
found a great feast going on, and, joining in it, he became
drunk and forgot about going home. For seven days he
stopped there eating and drinking, and on the sixth night
he fell in love with a woman of the village. However, on the
seventh day he started home, and when he came to his house
his wife was very angry and would not speak to him. "Why
are you angry?" said he. "Why should I not be angry? " said
his wife, "for you have been unfaithful to me, for, though
you were far off, I know it, and you have a mark on you by
which I can tell." But Langaon denied it. " If," said his wife,
"you deny it, I will take from you the mark by which I know
that you have been unfaithful." "You may take it," replied
Langaon. "Well," said she, "I will show you, for I am the
God of your village (Kinharingan tumanah)," and taking
a looking-glass she showed him the appearance of the other
woman and of himself in it. Then said Langaon, " It is true."
"I will leave you," said his wife, " and take the child with me,
for you have now a wife in the village." But Langaon asked
for pardon, saying that he would pay what was according to
custom as recompense. But still his wife refused to stop with
him ; so when it was near night he bound her hands and feet
to his, for he was frightened that she would run away. So
they slept; but when Langaon awoke in the morning, the
ropes were opened, and his wife and child gone. Then Langaon
wept, for he did not know the village in which his wife lived.
On the second day he stopped weeping and started to look
for his wife, "For," said he, "wherever I find a village, there
I will search !" So he wandered in the jungle and one day he
met a herd of deer which attacked him. Then Langaon ran
away and crept into a hole in the ground, and hid, and the
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 61
deer could not catch him. The next morning he came out of
! the hole and started again, but he had not gone far before
he met a herd of wild pigs, and these also attacked him, and,
as before, he ran away until, coming to the same hole, he
again got into it to hide. There he slept and dreamed, and
in his dream a man came to him and said, "Langaon, you
are a coward to run from the deer and the wild pig, for if
I were looking for my wife I would fight them !" " How can
I fight them," said Langaon, "for I am all alone, and they
are many?" " If you journey again to-morrow and are brave,"
said the man, "you will get your wife back, for she will ride
a rhinoceros." " Formerly I was not afraid even of the rhino-
ceros," said Langaon, "but I found that I was afraid of these
stags and wild pig." " If you are afraid," said the man, "you
will not get your wife back." " How shall I know the animal
she is riding," asked Langaon, "for the other animals had no
one riding them? " " You will know the one," replied the man,
"because it will have bells on it ; that is the one that you must
hunt, but do not let it go, or you will lose your wife." In the
morning Langaon awoke, and set off early in search of his
wife, and, after a time, he came upon a herd of rhinoceros,
and among them he saw a large one which had bells hanging
round its neck. So he waited for the rhinoceros with the bells
to attack him, and did not run away, and when he caught
hold of it by the bells round its neck, all the rest of the herd
vanished. The one he had caught also tried to escape, but
Langaon struggled with it for three days, until he stumbled
and fell close to his own house, and, in falling, he let go of
the bells. The rhinoceros disappeared and Langaon sat down
outside his house to think. After a time he heard a child
begin to weep inside and he went in to see who was there,
and, opening his door, found that his wife and child had
returned.
Note on Kinharingan tumanah. A common form of oath among some
of the lowland Dusuns of the Tempassuk District runs as follows:
"I swear by Kinharingan above and by ' In-the-Earth ' (i.e. by the
Kinharingan tumanah) that I will speak the truth, if I do not do so,
may a crocodile eat me, or may a tree fall on me in the jungle."
62 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
The Belukun (Scaly Ant-eater)
Dusun legend told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District
A long time ago there was a man named Andaraian who
went into the jungle to look for vegetables. He carried his
basong 1 on his shoulders and as he was searching for vegetables
he said aloud, "This is why I have to search for vegetables
to eat; because I have nothing with which to buy rice." Then
a Belukun, who happened to be near, said, "Oh, Andaraian,
what is your work in the jungle here?" Said the man, "My
children are crying for food, and the vegetables that I am
gathering in the jungle are all that I can find to give them."
"Come here," said the Belukun. So Andaraian went to the
place where the Belukun was sitting in a hole in a tree, and
the Belukun again asked him why he was looking for vege-
tables. Andaraian replied as before, "Because I have nothing
with which I can buy food." "Very well," said the Belukun,
"you can throw away your vegetables." " Why does he want
me to throw them away?" thought Andaraian, "I don't see
any rice in his place in the tree." However he took his basong
and poured the vegetables out of it. " Now," said the Belukun,
"place your basong beneath my anus and strike me lightly on
the back, only do not strike hard." So Andaraian struck the
Belukun lightly on his hinder parts, and cloth and cooked
rice and fish ready boiled came out from the Belukun until
Andaraian's basong was full. Then the Belukun told him to
stop striking, "For," said he, "your basong is full. You had
better eat," said the Belukun, "for I know that you are
hungry; and when all the rice in the basong is finished you
can come here again." So Andaraian sat down and ate, and
when he had finished he went home. Then he called together
all his people, and they also ate their fill, but while they were
eating, a dog came, and a grain of rice fell upon its head. Now
this dog belonged to a woman named Lintago, and, when it
went home, she saw the grain of rice sticking to its head. She
took the grain from the dog's hair, and wondering from where
1 A kind of large back-basket.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 63
anyone had got rice, for the people of the village were
starving; she put it into a large jar full of water. Then she
called all her people to "eat rice," and they drank the water
in the jar. But one of Lintago's little children swallowed the
grain of rice, and Lintago was very angry, and asked who
had eaten it. " For," said she, " I wished to divide it so that
everyone might have a little." So she asked all the people
of the house about it, until she was told that the little child
had eaten it, and, being angry, she beat the child. "I will
find out where this rice comes from," said Lintago, and she
started off to inquire in the village. At last she came to
Andaraian's house, and she asked him where he had got rice
from. " I have no rice," said Andaraian. But Lintago asked
him again and again if he had not got rice, but Andaraian
always answered "No." "Very well," said Lintago, "if you
will not tell me to-day I will kill you." Then Andaraian
became frightened, and said, "It is true that the rice was
mine, but it is finished." "Where did you get it from?" asked
the woman, and Andaraian told her how he had got the rice
from the Belukun. So Lintago ran home and got a basong
as big as a house, and off she went into the jungle, saying that
she would not stop hitting the Belukun until he had filled
her basket. When she got to the place where Andaraian had
been, she started shouting that she was gathering vegetables
as she had nothing with which she could buy food. At last
the Belukun called to her, " Oh, Lintago !" " Where are you?"
said she. "Here I am," said the Belukun, and he came out
of his hole in the tree and asked what she was doing. "Oh,"
said Lintago, " I heard how Andaraian got rice here, and I
also am too poor to buy it. Will you give me some?" " I have
not much," replied the Belukun, "but there is a little," and
he told her to place her basong as Andaraian had done. "But,"
said he, "when you strike me, do not hit hard." " If you do
not fill my basket," said Lintago, "I will not stop hitting
you," and she began to beat him hard; but there came from
him only tapioca roots and Caladium, and, when the basong
was nearly full, about a gantang measure of uncooked rice,
64 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
and also a little raw fish. When the basong was full, Lintago
went off with it as fast as she could to get home. So they ate
the Caladium tubers and the tapioca in her house, and Lintago
said, "When these are finished I will go and get some more,
for there are plenty there." Now Andaraian heard about all
this, and he thought, "Perhaps Lintago will kill the Belukun;
to-morrow I will go and see." The next day Andaraian started
off, carrying only a small bar ait 1 , and going straight towards
the Belukun' s house he called to him from a distance. After
a long time the Belukun answered him, for he was very ill
from Lintago's treatment of the day before. "Why did you
not answer at first?" asked Andaraian. "I am very ill,"
replied the Belukun, "because Lintago struck me so hard
yesterday. Why did you tell her about me?" "I did not want
to tell her," said Andaraian, " but she kept on asking me from
where I had got rice, and at last she threatened to kill me,
and then, being afraid, I told her." "Why did not you bring
a basong to-day?" said the Belukun. "Because I have not yet
finished what you gave me before," said Andaraian. Then
said the Belukun, " I am your brother, and though you have
not brought a basong, still I will give you something. Take
this blow-pipe." " I only came to see if you were ill," said
Andaraian, "and I do not want a gift." But the Belukun gave
him the blow-pipe, saying, "Whatever you aim at with this
you will hit; if your house is old, blow through this sepok 2
and it will become new, and if you wish for buffaloes or pigs
or hens blow into the sepok and they will appear ; only do not
show it to anyone. For I am not really a belukun but the god
of your village (Kinharingan tumanah) and I have a great
liking for you." So Andaraian promised that he would not
show the blow-pipe to anyone, and went home, and when he
got to his house he hid it. The next morning Lintago went off
again to look for the Belukun, taking her basong with her as
before. She was not long in getting to the place, but when still
a little way off she started calling, "Belukun, Belukun!" But
1 A back-basket with, a cover; much smaller than the basong.
2 Blow-pipe.
pt. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 65
the Belukun did not answer, and she could not find the tree
that he lived in. Then she began shouting that if he did not
answer her she would eat him when she caught him. So the
Belukun, thinking that if he did not answer he would be
killed, came out, and Lintago immediately put her basket
below him and struck him with her hand, but only a few
tapioca roots and Caladium tubers came from him. Then she
took a small stick and started beating him, but nothing more
came out. At last she got in a rage and began to beat him
very hard, but still without result. "Why, what's the matter
with the beast?" said she, and looking up the Belukun' s anus
she saw his heart beating inside his body. "Oh," said she,
"here is a Caladium which has not come out yet," and
plunging her hand into the Belukun' s body she seized his
heart. Then the Belukun, being in great pain, began to climb
up the tree in order to get away, and, his anus having closed
on Lintago's wrist, she was drawn up the tree after him.
"Stop, stop !" yelled Lintago. " I have let go of the Caladium
inside you !" But the Belukun climbed to the very top of
the tree, and then releasing Lintago's hand she fell to the
ground and was killed. "That's a bad woman," said the
Belukun; "That was my heart she had caught hold of, not
a tuber."
The Mosquitoes' Village
A Bajau legend told by Si Ungin of Kotabelud
A long time ago a man was once hunting in the jungle, and
when it was near nightfall he wished to return home, but,
having wandered from the path, he was unable to find it.
While he was searching for the way, he came upon a large
house near a village. So he went into it, and meeting there
an old man, he told him how he was lost, and asked leave
to sleep there. "Yes," said the old man, "you can sleep here,
for you cannot find your way home to-night, as it is already
dark." After a time, other people, men, women and children,
came to the house, and the old man told them about the
EMP S
66 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
stranger, saying, " Let us give him a bed for the night." Then
they brought him food, but instead of water they gave him
blood, and for rice they gave him maggots. "Perhaps I am
among evil spirits," thought the stranger; so he ate a little
of what they had given him. "Why do you not eat?" said
the old man; and the stranger replied that he was troubled
about having lost his way home. "If you cannot find your
way home," said his host, "to-morrow I will send one of my
men with you to show you the path." Then the women of
the house said that they would find him a mat to sleep on;
but when they brought it, it was only a banana leaf. So the
stranger and the people of the house lay down, but the former
could not sleep owing to the great number of mosquitoes.
Then, as he heard none of the other men in the house striking
at the mosquitoes, he thought, "Perhaps this is the mos-
quitoes' village," and so he also did not try to kill them, but
brushed them gently from his body; and when he had done
this once, they no longer returned to disturb him. However,
he did not sleep, for he was afraid. When morning came the
old man looked at the stranger's mat, and seeing no mos-
quitoes there, said to him, "Well, my son, you wish to go
home and shall have someone to show you the way. This,
my younger brother, shall go with you, and you shall become
brothers to one another, only do not bring him to your house,
but let him go when you find your path ; for we are all mos-
quitoes, and that was man's blood that you drank last night.
You must take this bamboo box (bombong) with you, and
when you get home call your father and mother and brothers
and sisters to see what it contains, but do not open it before
you get to your house." So the stranger went home, the old
man's younger brother accompanying him till he found the
path. When he got to his house he told his relations what had,
happened to him and how the old man had given him the
bamboo box and had ordered him to open it in the presence
of his father and mother ; speaking thus, he opened the box,
and from it he brought out gold ornaments, rings and brace-
lets and fine clothes. Now when the stranger's elder brother
pt. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 67
saw the gold and the fine clothes he said, "I also will go to
the village, and will tell the people that I am your brother."
So he started, and after a time he, too, lost his way in the
jungle. When it was near night he came to the village of the
mosquitoes and asked the old man to let him sleep there;
and he told the old man how his brother had lost his way in
the jungle before, and how he had come upon a house when
he was lost, and that the people of the house had given him
gold and fine clothing. "But," said he, "I do not know if
this is the house." Then the old man ordered them to bring
food for the elder brother, and for water they brought him
blood, and for rice, maggots. "What sort of food is this you
give me?" said the elder brother. "Blood and maggots! I
cannot eat it!" When the time came for sleep they brought
him a banana leaf instead of a mat; and he said again, "What
is this that you have brought me? This is a house, not the
jungle! I want to sleep on a mat, not on a banana leaf!"
Said the old man, "These are our mats, sleep on them if you
will, but if not, what can I do? Only do not say that I have
no respect for you." So the elder brother slept, but before
long he awoke and found that he was being bitten by swarms
of mosquitoes. Then he started slapping away at them right
and left; and in the morning, when he wished to go home,
there was no blood left in his body. In the morning the old
man told him that he must return and gave him a bamboo,
telling him not to open it till he came to his house. "But,"
said the elder brother, "how can I go home, for I do not know
the way?" The old man replied that he must find the way
for himself. So, setting out, he at length came upon the path
and reached home safely. Then he called together all his
relations and friends and said, "I also have got a bamboo
and I think that there must be gold and fine clothes in it too."
But his younger brother asked him, "Did a man guide you
home?" And the elder brother answered, "No." So the elder
brother opened the box and from it came out scorpions and
other poisonous animals and stung him to death, but no one
else in the house was touched by them. Thus the elder brother
68 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
fell down and died ; and the younger said, ' ' My brother must
have offended the people of the village."
Mosquitoes do not make their buzzing unless they are near
men's ears and then they say, "If these were not your ears,
I would swallow you." (Si Ungin.) (Bajau version.)
The mosquito says, " If these were not your horns, I would
swallow you." (Sirinan.) (Dusun version.)
Rakian
A Dusun legend told by Sirinan of Piasau, but it is an up-
country Dusun tale which is known to the people of Kiau
Once there was a Manggis-tree 1 , in which there were large
bees'-nests, and, when there was sufficient honey in the nests,
a man named Rakian went to the tree and began to drive
bamboo pegs into it so that he could climb up. It was getting
towards evening when he began to work. Now there were
many bees'-nests in the tree and Rakian, seeing that the bees
of the nest right at the top of the tree were white, decided
to take it; "For," thought he, "I have never yet seen white
bees." Then he climbed up the steps that he had made in
the tree to take the bees'-nest, and when he was close, he
drew his chopping-knife to cut it down. But the bees did
not swarm out from the nest, and while he was sawing away
at the branch from which it hung, he heard the bees say,
"That hurts." Then Rakian, wondering, sheathed his knife,
and the bees said to him, " If you wish to take the nest, take
it gently, and do not cut it down." So he took the nest with
the bees still in it, and putting it into his bar ait 2 , he descended
the tree and went home. When he came to his house he put
the bar ait with the bees in it into his room. Early the next
morning Rakian went to his clearing and did not return until
near dark, when, on coming back to his house, he found rice
1 I do not think that this can be the same as the Manggis (i.e. Mangosteen)
of the Peninsular Malays, which, as far as I know, is not found in the Tem-
passuk District. The Toalang, a very tall tree, which has to be climbed by
driving in pegs, as described above, is much frequented by colonies of wild
bees in the Malay Peninsula.
2 A kind of small carrying-basket.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 69
and fish ready cooked on his shelf above the fire. Then Rakian
thought, "Who can have cooked for me, for I am the only
man who lives in this house : the fish is not mine, though the
rice is. The rice is cold and must have been cooked for a long
time. Perhaps somebody has come here and cooked and has
taken away my bees'-nest." So he went to his bar ait and
found the bees'-nest still there. Then Rakian sat down to eat.
"Well," he thought, "if someone is going to cook for me, so
much the better." In the morning he ate the remains of the
rice from the day before, and again he went to his clearing.
As on the previous day he came home before nightfall, and
again there was food prepared for him . ' ' Who is this, ' ' thought
Rakian, "who comes to my house and cooks?" And once
more he went to see if his bees'-nest had been stolen; and
thus it happened that there was always food ready for him
when he came home. One day he determined to return early
and see who was cooking his food for him. So early in the
morning he set out as if for his clearing, but when he had gone
a little way, he went straight home again and hid himself
near the house. For a long time he waited and nothing
happened, but at last the door of his house creaked and a
beautiful woman came out of his room, and, taking his bamboo
water- vessel, went out of the house to the river to get water :
then, when she had gone down to the river, Rakian entered
his room, without the woman seeing him, and went to look
at his bees. But when he opened his barait he found that there
were no bees in it but only the nest. So he took the nest from
the barait and hid it, and concealed himself in the house.
After a time the woman came back from the river and went
to the barait to look for the bees'-nest. " Oh," said she, "who
has taken my sarong 1 }" So she hunted for the nest and at
last began to weep, saying, "Who can have taken it? It
cannot be Rakian for he has gone to work at his clearing. I
am afraid that he will come back and find me!" When it
was nearly dark, Rakian came out from his hiding-place as
if he had just returned from his clearing; but the woman
1 Sarong, a Malay word meaning skirt or sheath (of a weapon, a letter, etc. ) .
70 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
sat there without speaking. "Why are you here?" said
Rakian, "perhaps you want to steal my bees." "I do not
know anything about your bees," said the woman. So he
went to the barait to look for his bees, but of course they were
not there, for Rakian himself had hidden the nest. "Oh,"
said he, "my bees'-nest is not here, perhaps you have taken
it." "How should I know anything about your bees'-nest?"
said she. "Well it does not matter," said Rakian, "will you
cook for me, for I am very hungry?" " I do not want to cook,"
said the woman, "for I am very much vexed." So Rakian
kept on telling her to cook for him, but the woman refused,
and at last she said, "Where is my sarong!" "I have not
taken it," replied Rakian. " I believe that you have hidden
it," said the woman, "and all my clothes and goods are in it."
At last Rakian said, " I will not give it to you, for I am afraid
that you will get into it again." " I will not get into it," said
the woman; "if you like you can take me for your wife. My
mother wished to give me to you in this way because you
have no wife here, and I have no husband either in my
country." Then Rakian took the bees'-nest and gave it to
the woman. "What is it?" said he. "It is my kawal 1 ,"
replied the woman. "But," said she, "if you take me as
your wife, do not ever call me a bee-woman, for, if you do,
I shall be much ashamed." So they married and had a child.
Now one day there was a feast at a neighbouring house, and
Rakian went to eat there. "Where is your wife from?" said
a man at the feast, "for we have never seen such a beautiful
woman before." "She is from this village," replied Rakian.
When all the men had become drunk they still kept asking
him whence he got his wife, and saying that they had never
before seen such a beautiful woman. At last Rakian, who,
up to that time, had always replied that he had taken his
wife from the village, became drunk also. Then he forgot his
promise and said, "The truth is that my wife was at first a
bee." So the men stopped questioning him, and he went
home. When he got to his house his wife would not speak to
1 Meaning unknown to Sirinan.
pt. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 71
him. "Why will you not speak?" said Rakian. "What did
I tell you long ago?" said she. " I think that you have been
saying things to make me ashamed." " I have not said any-
thing," replied Rakian. "You are lying," said his wife, "for
though the house is far off, I heard. When men asked whence
I came, at first you would not tell them, but when you
became drunk, then you told them everything." Then Rakian
in his turn became silent. "I will go home," said she, "for
you have made me ashamed; but the child I will leave with
you. In seven days my father will pass to the up-stream of
this house on his way home to his country; and I will go with
him." So Rakian wept. At the end of seven days Rakian
saw a white bee flying to the up-stream of his house, and his
wife came down the steps from his house and became a bee
again, and flew off after the other. Then Rakian rushed into
the house and seized the child, for it was in his heart to follow
his wife and her father, "For," said he, "if my wife is not
here, the child will die because it is still little." So he hunted
for the bees until he saw them going in front of him in the
jungle. At the end of seven days he had lost sight of them,
and still he had not come to any village. On the eighth day
he came to a bathing-place at a river. Then both he and the
child, being hungry and weary, lay down by the side of the
river and slept. At last a woman came from the village and
woke Rakian and said, "Rakian, why don't you go to your
wife's house instead of sleeping here with your child, for the
house is not far off?" "When I have bathed," said Rakian,
"you must show me the way," and the woman replied, "Very
well." So Rakian bathed, and then he followed the woman,
and it was not long before they came to a village. "That is
her house," said his guide, pointing to a long-house, "but
her room is right in the middle of it. There are eleven rooms
in the house, and, if you enter it, you must not be afraid,
for the roof-beams are full of bees, but they do not attack
men." So Rakian climbed up into the house and found it full
of bees, both large and small, but in the middle room there
were none. Men in the house there were none, only bees.
72 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
Then the child began to cry, and Rakian sat down. " Otun 1 ,"
said a voice in the middle room. " Why do you not come out?"
answered Rakian. "Have you no pity on your child who is
weeping here?" Then after a time Rakian's wife appeared
in the room and the child ran to her at once, and Rakian's
heart became light; but his wife said to him, "What did I
tell you at first, that you were not to say whence I came?
If you had not been able to follow me here, certainly there
would have been distress for you." When she had finished
speaking all the bees dropped down from the roof-beams to
the floor and became people. As for Rakian and his child,
they stayed in the village, and did not go back any more.
Lomaring and the Sparrows
A Dusun legend, told by Sirinan of Piasau,
Tempassuk District
Once a man named Lomaring lived with his father and
mother, and he had much rice, because he worked hard in
his clearing. His mother wished to get a wife for him, but
in the whole village she could find no one suitable. Then
Lomaring said to his mother, "If I cannot find a wife here
we must search in other villages." So they sought in other
villages near, but still could find no one suitable, and at last
Lomaring said to his mother, "Mother, if you cannot get a
wife for me near by, you will do well not to search any more,
for it is tiring work." So the three, Lomaring, his father, and
mother, went back to work in their clearing until the rice
was in the ear, but before it became ripe it was all eaten by
sparrows 2 . Their rice only was eaten, other men's did not
suffer. The next year they again made a clearing and again
the sparrows came and ate up their rice. Then said Lomaring,
'What are we to do, there is plenty of ripe rice, but the
sparrows only eat ours, which is still green?" When the third
1 An expression of endearment.
2 I have translated the Malay burong pipit as "sparrows," they are really,
however, weaver-birds. They go about in flocks, and frequently do great
damage to the standing crops.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 73
year came Lomaring said, "We will try once more, but if we
fail, and the sparrows eat our rice, I will stay no longer in
this village." Again, when it was near harvest, the same thing
happened, and all their rice was eaten by the sparrows. So
Lomaring said to his mother, "I will go and find the sparrows'
village, for I am very angry." Then said his father, "You
are young, yet I who am old have never yet heard of a
sparrows' village." "Never mind," said Lomaring, "if I have
to search for five years, still I will find it." So Lomaring told
his mother to make him seven pairs of trousers and seven
coats, and his mother said to him, "Do not work any more
in the clearing, for it is useless." Said Lomaring, "After seven
days I will set out and I will teach the sparrows to rob us
of our rice." "What will you eat on the journey?" said his
mother, and Lomaring told her to make him some cakes.
At the end of seven days Lomaring set out, and wherever
he went, he thought about the sparrows, and followed them
wherever they flew. After twenty days he saw no more
sparrows, but still he walked on, and for two or three months
he journeyed thus. At the end of this time he came to a
village, and going to it, he climbed up into a long-house of
twenty doors, but there was no one there. One room in the
middle of the house was very beautiful ; its steps were of iron
and its ceiling of looking-glass, while the posts were also of
iron. Lomaring sat down there and waited, and after a time
a betel-nut box appeared before him, but he still saw no one.
Then Lomaring said to himself, "How can I eat betel when
there is nobody here? If people come, they will accuse me of
stealing." Now Lomaring had come to the house after mid-
day, and when he had been there a short time, he was
astonished to see a very little rice appear before him and
water in a very small golden kettle, but he did not dare to
eat since there was no one there. After a long while an old
woman appeared in the room and said to him, "Why do you
not eat, for I can see that you are hungry?" "How should I
eat," said Lomaring, "when there was no one in the house?
People would say that I was stealing." So saying, he began
74 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
to eat, and though there was very little rice, when he had
eaten and drunk his fill some still remained, nor was the
golden kettle empty. Having finished he took betel-nut, and
he began to ask the old woman where all the people of the
village had gone and where their clearings were, "For," said
he, "although there is plenty of rice in the house, I see no
traces of old clearings." When it was nearly dark many men
and women came home, some carrying sacks, some basong 1
and others bayong 1 , all full of rice, and after a time came the
children of the old woman bringing rice with them also. Now
one of her daughters was very beautiful. Then said the mother
of the girls to Lomaring, "We have no trouble about making
clearings, for wherever there is rice, we also must have a
share of it. It is no use concealing it. See how many years
you have worked in your clearing and have not got any rice,
for it is your rice that my children are bringing home in their
baskets. I saw that your mother was searching for a wife for
you, and that is why my people, when they became sparrows,
stole your rice, for I wished you to marry my daughter. All
the men in this village wish to marry her, but I can find no
one who is suitable." Then Lomaring was pleased, but he
said, "How do you become sparrows?" "Oh," said the old
woman, "there is a spring here, and when my people wish
to get rice they go one by one into the spring, and at once
become birds; and when they come home with the rice, they
again go into the spring and become men." So it was agreed
that Lomaring should marry the girl ; and he took her for his
wife. Then said Lomaring to his mother-in-law, "I wish to
go back to my village to see my father and mother, and my
wife shall come with me, but I shall stop there two or three
years." So Lomaring went home with his wife, and his father
and mother were rejoiced to see him. They asked him whence
he had got his wife; but Lomaring said, "From another
village," and did not mention anything about the sparrows.
That year they made a clearing and not a single grain of their
rice was taken by birds.
1 Two kinds of large baskets.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 75
Wild Pig
A legend of the Dusims of Lubah, told by Sirinan of Piasau,
Tempassuk District
A long time ago a man made a clearing and planted it with
tapioca and Caladium. After a while, when the crop was
ready, many wild pigs came and broke into the garden. Then
said the man, " I shall get no food if the wild pigs always come
and eat my Caladium." So he made a spring-trap, and when
he had set it, he went home. The next morning he went to
the trap and found that no pig had been in his clearing that
night. "Why is this," said he, "that when I have made a
trap the pigs no longer enter my clearing?" After another
three or four days he again went to the trap and he found
that a wild pig had been struck by it, but that the head of
the bamboo spear had broken off in the wound, and the pig
had got away. The man followed the track of the pig's blood
into the jungle, and for four or five days he hunted on its
trail, but even then he did not find the dead pig. At last the
trail of blood stopped, but he still followed the foot-marks,
which appeared fresh. When he had been on its track for a
whole month, he at length came to a river with a bathing-
place. The man stopped and bathed, but he saw no one on
the banks or in the river. Then when he had finished, finding
many tracks of people on the bank, he went in search of their
houses, for he had lost the tracks of the pig at the river. For
a whole day he sought for them, but could not find them,
but on the second day he was startled to come suddenly upon
a village where there were many people. The people of the
village came to meet him and asked him whence he had come,
but the man did not answer. " I have never seen you before,"
said one of the people of the village, "and besides strangers
never come here. Never since I can remember have I seen
a stranger here, for our village is a month's journey from any
other." Then the man from Lubah answered, "This is the
reason why I have come. I made a Caladium garden, and
wild pig were always breaking into it. Because of this I made
76 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
a spring-trap and I came here hunting for the tracks of a wild
pig which was wounded by it." Said a man of the village,
"You can come to my house. There are only a few of us here,
for many have sailed away to trade, but one man who
became sick has returned, as he was of no use on the boat."
"What is his illness?" said the man from Lubah, "and how
long has he been ill?" "He has been ill for more than a
month," replied the other, "but he only came back two days
ago. We have all tried our medicines and he does not recover,
but if you are skilful, give us your help." "Where is his
illness?" said the man from Lubah. "Below his arm,"
answered the man of the village. So the stranger went to
see the sick man, and opening his coat saw the sharp part
of his spring-trap spear sticking in the man's body. Then the
man of the village promised the stranger a reward if he could
heal his companion, and the latter said that he would do his
best. So he drew out the spear-head from the man's body,
and put medicine on the wound, and in two or three days
the man recovered, and gave the man from Lubah much
goods in payment. Thus the man from Lubah knew that the
men of this village were able to change themselves into wild
pigs ; and to the present day if many wild pigs come to Lubah
they consider that they are not really pigs, but men in the
shape of pigs, who have come from some far away village to
plunder them.
The Legend of Aki Gahuk, the Ancestor of the Crocodiles
A Dusun story told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District
Long ago, Aki 1 Gahuk was chief of Tengkurus village 2 . He
was a very old man and he had seven sons and four daughters.
His sons all wished to take wives, and his daughters husbands,
and so they married. At last Aki Gahuk became so old that
he could no longer walk, and his children did not wish to
provide for him. Then Aki Gahuk said to them, "Why do
you not wish to support me, for I am an old man and can no
1 Aki = ancestor, grandfather.
z A village in the Tempassuk District.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 77
longer get my living?" But his children answered that they
wished that he was dead, as he was only an encumbrance to
them. So Aki Gahuk wept and said, " If you wish me dead
you had better put me into the river, for although you give
me food, you give me no clothes and I am naked and ashamed."
Then his children put him into the river, for they did not
wish to buy clothes for him; and Aki Gahuk stopped there
in the water, and every night and morning they gave him
food. There was a large stone in the middle of the stream, and
when he was cold Aki Gahuk used to climb slowly up on to
this and sit there like a toad. Now after he had been in the
water for three or four months, Aki Gahuk no longer climbed
the big stone, and his feet and legs, as far as his knees, became
like those of a crocodile. His children who brought him food
saw that his feet had become like a crocodile's, and said,
"Father, we thought that you would die, but you are be-
coming a crocodile." Then all the brothers and sisters came
together to look at their father and said to him, "Father, if
you are not going to die, let us take you home again to the
house and give you clothes, for we do not wish you to become
a crocodile." But Aki Gahuk said, " How can I go home with
you, for I have become a crocodile? Before you had no pity
on me, and now that you have pity on me I am unable to go
home." So his children wept and said that they did not wish
him to turn into a crocodile, and Aki Gahuk said to them,
"You can tell this story to your descendants; perhaps also
it is good that I should become a crocodile. On feast days you
can call to me, and when there is a flood I will take you across
the river on my back." After some days his whole body
became like that of a crocodile, and his children were afraid
that he would eat men, but he could still speak and he told
them that he would never eat men, though perhaps his de-
scendants might do so. Then, after a year, Aki Gahuk called
to his children and told them that he wished to go seawards,
saying that if his children went in that direction they were
to call him, " For," said he, "I wish to take a wife." Said his
children, "How will you take a wife, for there are no other
78 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
crocodiles?" " I will call one to me," said their father, " I will
call the Pang (Monitor-lizard) and she will become my wife."
Then Aki Gahuk went seawards and the Pang became his
wife, and from their offspring arose all the crocodiles.
The Puaka 1
A Dusun legend told by Sirundai, Headman of Kalisas,
Tempassuk District
The Puaka is like a pig in appearance and has a very sharp
tongue. If a man is pursued by Puaka, he is safe if he crosses
a river. Puaka eat the bark at the tops of trees and if they
want to feed, mount up on one another's backs till the top
of the tree is reached and the top Puaka licks the bark off
the tree. If Puaka meet a man, they stop, and the man stops;
and when the man runs away the Puaka hunt him. Should
he climb a tree, the Puaka mount up on one another's backs
until they have caught him and the top Puaka licks off the
flesh from the man's bones. If the man crosses a river the
Puaka follow him, but when they get to the opposite bank
they stop to lick themselves like dogs and their tongues lick
up all their skin and flesh, until only bones remain.
Why the Dusuns of Tempassuk Village do not eat Snakes
Told by Gensiau, a Dusun of Tempassuk Village,
Tempassuk District
There was once a man of Tempassuk Village in this country
who wanted to marry. After he had been married for some
time his wife gave birth, not to a child, but to a snake. When
the snake had grown large, the woman again gave birth ; this
time to a girl. Some time after the child had been born, the
man and his wife went to bathe in the river, and they ordered
the snake to watch the child while they were bathing. So
the snake guarded the child, wrapping it round with its body;
and when the man and the woman came back from the river,
it unwound itself from the child and climbed up on to the
1 Vide Appendix A.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 79
shelf where the rice-stores are kept. The snake lived on the
shelf for some time, and, when it had grown a little larger,
it left the house and travelled about for two days. At the
end of the two days it came home, and entering the house, it
went to its father and wound itself about him. It then climbed
down and for the second time wound itself about him and
descended to the floor. Then said its father, "Why does my
snake-son wind himself around me in this way?" So he
followed the snake, which had gone off into the jungle, and
after a time they came to a dead deer lying on the ground.
Then said the man to himself, "Perhaps my snake has killed
this deer and that is why he wanted me to follow him." So
he went back to the house, and the snake followed him, and
when they arrived the father of the snake said to his com-
panions, "There is a dead deer in the jungle which my snake
has killed." So they went off into the jungle, but the snake
did not follow. When the men arrived at the place where the
deer was, they lifted it, and, carrying it home, made a feast.
The snake, however, did not eat, but remained on the shelf
for three days. At the end of three days it again set out, and
was gone on its journey seven days. Then it returned, and
again coiled itself round its father, as if it wished him to
follow, and its father thought, "Perhaps my son, the snake,
has got something again." So he followed the snake, and
when they got into the jungle there was a dead stag there
as before. So the man carried the stag home, but the snake
stopped on the shelf. Then the man said to his companions,
"I will put a collar and a bell round my snake's neck for
somebody may kill it, as it is poisonous ; but if they hear the
bell, they will know that it is my son and will refrain." So he
told all the men of the village that his son, the snake, was
wearing a bell, saying, "If any of you see a snake with a bell
round its neck, do not kill it, for it is my child !" Now at the
end of seven days the snake set out again, and at length came
to the country of Kinsiraban, and the men of Kinsiraban
killed the snake and ate it. After a long time the father of
the snake heard news that his son had been killed and set
80 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
out for the country of Kinsiraban, and finding the snake's
collar and bell there, he said, " It is my son." So he made war
upon the people of Kinsiraban, and killed them. Then he
went home, and he commanded the people of Tempassuk
Village not to eat snakes — in memory of his son. And though
the Dusuns of other villages eat snakes, we Dusuns of Tem-
passuk do not do so to the present day, for the father of the
snake was a man of our village.
The Orang-Utan
A legend of the Kiau 1 Dusuns, told by Yompo
Long ago some men went into the jungle carrying blow-
pipes and when they got near the river Tenokop they heard
someone singing verses among the trees. Then they looked
and saw an Orang-Utan (Kagyu) sitting on the ground singing,
and this was his song: "First of all I lived at the River
Makadau, but I went to the River Serinsin ; from there I went
to the River Wariu ; from the Wariu to the Penataran ; from
the Penataran to the Kilambun ; from the Kilambun to the
Obang, and from the Obang to the Tenokop. I cannot go up
into the trees again, for I am old and must die upon the
ground. I can no longer get fresh young leaves to eat from
the trees; I have to eat young grass." Then the men who had
been listening said to one another, "This Kagyu is clever at
verses, let us shoot him with our blow-pipes." One man was
about to shoot when the Kagyu saw him and said, "Do not
shoot me, but make me a hut, and let me live here till I die.
When you have made me my hut, bring your sisters here and
I will teach them magic, for I am skilled in it." So the men
made him a hut, and they brought their sisters to him, and
the Kagyu instructed them how each sickness had its own
magical ceremony. He taught them the spells for snake-bite
and fever, and for the bite of the centipede. The men went
home, about three days' journey to get rice for the Kagyu,
but when they came back with the rice the Kagyu was dead ;
1 Kiau is a village on the slopes of Mount Kinabalu.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 81
and from that day, whenever there was sickness in Kiau
Village, they called the women who had been instructed by
the Kagyu, and those who were ill recovered, and, if a man
was wounded, and had magical rites performed over him by
the women, no blood came from the wound.
The Origin of a Dusun Custom
Told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District
Once there was a woman who had newly given birth to
a child. The house she lived in was a large one, ten doors long.
One day the women of the other rooms were dyeing cloth
with indigo (tahum), and the men of the house were away
hunting, some in one place, some in another. About midday
it began to rain and with the rain came much thunder and
lightning. While it was still thundering, the woman who had
newly given birth performed a religious ceremony in the house,
and while she was performing it, she saw a woman chasing
a boy outside on the ground below, and their appearance was
as if they had been quarrelling, for the boy was weeping, and
the woman kept snatching up sticks to throw at him. But
she did not manage to hit him, and she kept calling out, "Stop,
stop, for the people here do not know the custom!" So the
woman who was in the house stopped her chanting, and going
to the door, called out, "Why are you treating your boy like
that?" The other woman stopped and said, "I am treating
him like this because you people do not know the custom."
"What sort of custom?" said the woman, and while she still
spoke the thunder stopped and the boy also stopped running
away. The woman outside answered her, " In this you do not
know the custom, and that is why my son is fighting me. It
is because you women are dyeing cloth when your husbands
have gone to hunt, and it would be good if they, your hus-
bands, were all together in one place in the jungle. See when
they come back; some will bring white, some red, and some
yellow; these women are dyeing their cloth black 1 ." Then the
1 More correctly a dark blue, for that is the colour obtained from the
native indigo.
emp 6
82 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
women of the house said, "We did not know of any custom
like this. What is it?" The woman answered them, "This is
the custom : when you wish to dye cloth (black or blue) you
must not take hold of anything white, red, or yellow." Said
the women of the house, "Instruct us in this custom." And
the woman outside said, " You must keep this custom, and it
would be good if men did not get hit by things thrown by my
son 1 . If the things that he throws only hit a coconut-tree,
it does not matter, but if they hit a man, there will be trouble
for that man. Another time your husbands must not be
seeking for things to eat, red, white, or yellow, when you are
dyeing your cloth black. And do not bring these colours into
the house while you are still dyeing cloth." Then the woman
and the boy vanished. After a time came the men who had
been hunting; four had got a deer 2 , and the other six had
brought turmeric and the young white shoots of the Beluno
tree. When the women saw the men coming, they called out,
"Whatever you have brought from the jungle, do not bring
it into the house this night." So the men slept outside with
the goods they had brought from the jungle. On the morrow
they brought their deer and other things into the house, and
the women of the house told them how the woman had chased
the boy. And to the present day women may not touch red,
yellow, or white when they are dyeing cloth. [I think that
the boy who was being chased by his mother was the Spirit
of Thunder (Sirinan).]
Note. The colours mentioned in the story would appear to be
symbolical of a thunderstorm:
Black, or dark blue = the clouds.
White = the rain.
Yellow and red = the lightning.
The Origin of the Spring-trap, the Ror, and the Puru-Puru
{Three Constellations)
A Dusun story told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District
Long ago men planted only tapioca, Caladium, and beans :
at that time there was no rice. When they had planted them
1 Thunderbolts. 2 Red blood.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 83
they fenced them round, and, after a time, they cleared away
the weeds in the crop. At weeding-time they found that wild
pigs had been getting in, and had eaten all their Caladium.
"What use is it," said they, "our planting crops? The wild
pigs only eat them." In the evening the men went to their
houses, and when it was night, they went to sleep. Now one
man dreamed, and in his dream an old man came to him and
he said to the old man, "All my Caladium, and tapioca and
beans, which I planted, have been eaten by wild pigs." Said
the old man, "You must make a spring-trap at the edge of
your fence where the pigs enter." Then the man awoke, for
it was near morning, and thinking over the dream, he resolved
to set a spring-trap near the edge of his garden. So he ate,
and when he had finished he went out to his clearing and
started making his trap. When he had finished it, he set it
and returned home, and on the fourth day after he had set
the trap, he went back to his clearing to look if it had killed
anything. When he got there, he found a wild pig in the trap,
but it had become decayed, and was not fit to eat. He poked
it with the end of his walking-stick, and found that the head
was separate from the body, and that the under- jaw and
teeth had fallen away from the head. The man went home,
and at night he went to sleep and dreamed that the same old
man came to him and said, "What about your trap, did it
catch a wild pig?" "Yes," said the man, "I caught a pig,
but it had become rotten, and I was not able to eat it." " Did
you take a walking-stick with you?" said the old man, "and
did you prod the pig's head with the stick?" " I did," said
he. "Very well," said the old man, "Do not plant Caladium
and beans this year, plant rice instead." "But where am I
to get rice from?" said he, "for there is none in this village."
"Well, search for it in other villages," said the old man, "if
you only get two or three gantang that will be enough. The
marks where you thrust your stick into the pig's head shall
be called the puru-puru 1 . The lower jaw shall have its name
1 Puru-puru seems to mean "poked close together," or something of the
kind. I could not get an exact translation.
6—2
84 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
of the ror and the spring-trap also shall keep its name, and
all these shall become stars." Then said the man, "I want
instruction from you, for if I get rice, how am I to plant it?"
Said the old man, "You must watch for the spring-trap, the
ror and the puru-puru to appear in the sky and when, shortly
after dark, the puru-puru seems to be about a quarter way
up in the sky, that is the time to plant. The puru-puru will
come out first, the ror behind it and the spring-trap last of
all." When the man awoke he found that the old man's words
had come true and that the puru-puru, the spring-trap, and
the ror had become stars. So to this day they follow this
custom and the rice is planted (sown?) according to the
position of these stars as seen shortly after dark (about
7 o'clock).
The Legend of Nonok Kurgung
Told by Lengok, Headman of the Dusun village of Bengkahak,
Tempassuk District
Long ago when there were no people in this country of the
Tempassuk, there were two people at Nonok Kurgung, a man
and his wife. The woman became with child and gave birth
to seven children at one time, both male and female, four
were females and three were males. When these children were
grown up they wished for husbands and wives, and asked their
father and mother how they were to get them, as there were
no other people in the country. Their father and mother said
to them, "Wait, and if our dreams are good you will get your
wish." When the woman was asleep, Kinharingan came to
her in her dreams, and said, " I have come because I have pity
on you, that you cannot get wives or husbands for your
children. Your children must marry one another as that. was
the reason that I gave you seven at one birth." In the morning
the woman asked her husband if he had had any dreams, and
he said, "No." Then he asked his wife if she had dreamed,
and she said that Kinharingan had come to her and told her
that their children must marry one another. So they con-
sulted together and ordered their children to marry, and after
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 85
they had been married for some time all the women gave
birth, each to twenty children at a time, and these children
intermarried in their turn. Now at this period the people
had no clearings, and they got rice by cutting down the stems
, of bamboos ; the rice coming out from the inside of the stem.
There was a river with many Nonok trees near the village,
and the children used to go and bathe there, and lie under
the trees. Every day they went to bathe there, and every
day a child was lost. This went on until twenty children had
been lost, and the fathers decided to try and find out what
was happening to them. They searched the river and they
searched the banks, but could find nothing, and there were
no crocodiles in the stream. After they had hunted in vain
for three days, they went home, and, when they met together,
they decided that they would run away from the place. So
they collected all their goods to start. One night all was
ready, and the next morning they started out, taking with
them their wives and children, their baggage and bamboos
to give them rice. After they had journeyed for a day, one
man and his family stopped behind to make a house ; a second
man stopped on the second day, and so on, till there was
nobody left to journey on. These families which had stopped
formed villages, and from their bamboos came all sorts of
food-plants, vegetables and Caladium, and these they planted
in their gardens. This is how this country became peopled with
Dusuns to as far away as Marudu.
How the Bajaus came to the Tempassuk and the Dusuns
learnt the use of Beeswax
Told by Sirundai, a Dusun of Kalisas, Tempassuk District
There is a tree named Kendilong which has a white sap
like water, and this sap is very irritating to the skin. The
Kendilong is a home for bees, and if men wish to take the
honey, they cut steps in the tree up to the bees'-nest.
Once there was a poor man, and every night he dreamed
that if he found a Kendilong tree he would become rich. So
he set out to look for one, and, when it was near dark, he
86 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
found a Kendilong and slept the night there. Now, there were
bees'-nests in the tree. The next morning he went home and
brought two companions back with him. Two men climbed
the tree, and one stopped below by the trunk. They took the
bees'-nests, but did not know to whom to sell them. Now
there was a Bajau who had come up the river in a boat, for
at this time there were no Bajaus living in the country. This
man met the Dusun who had got the bees'-nests, and, going
home with him, he saw four sacks of nests and bought them
for a little cloth, saying that he did not know what they were.
He said that he would try and sell the nests, and that he
wished to become the Dusun's brother. So they swore brother-
hood and sacrificed a hen, and the Bajau promised to give
the Dusun his share if there was any profit from the nests;
at the same time telling him to collect any more that he might
find. Then the Bajau sailed away and the Dusun searched
hard for bees'-nests. Now the Bajau had promised to return
in three months' time, and when he came he brought a tong-
kang 1 full of goods, and he found the Dusun's house full of
bees'-nests. So the Dusun got much goods from the Bajau,
and became rich; and that is how the Dusuns got to know
about beeswax.
Pots
Told by a Dusun of Tambahilik, Tempassuk District
A long time ago men had no cooking-pots, and when they
wished to cook they had to use (joints of) bamboos (as
vessels 2 ). One day a youth went out into the jungle with
his dog to hunt, but the dog would not hunt and kept stopping.
So the youth, wondering, went to look why the dog had
stopped, and saw that there was a small mound. He scratched
in the mound and taking some of the earth, which was potter's
earth, he carried it home and told the women to make pots
of it. When they had finished making the pots, they found
that they were useless and fell to pieces. "Ah," said the
1 Large boat of Chinese type.
2 The Sakai of the Peninsula still frequently cook rice in bamboos. I
have also seen bamboo used for this purpose by Dusuns when on the march.
pt. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 87
youth, "this will not do." So going back to the mound, he
made a large hole, until he came to sand. Then he took both
sand and potter's earth, and, coming home again, told the
women to make pots. This time the pots were good, and thus
pots are made to the present day, by mixing sand with potter's
earth.
Lamongoyan
There is an earthwork some little way above Singgaran
halting-hut in the "Ulu Tempassuk," into which the bridle-
path to the interior now cuts. It consists, as far as can be
seen, of a ditch and a vallum on the hillside, the ditch being
above the mound. I measured both of these and found them
to exceed sixty feet in length. The mound has been much
damaged by the construction of the bridle-path, but appears
not to have been of any great breadth. Unfortunately, I had
no opportunity of excavating the site, but the Dusuns tell
the following legend about it :
There was once, long ago, a very tall man named Lamon-
goyan. He could cross a river at a single stride, and he died
on the top of the hill on the side of which his grave now is.
His people were unable to lift his body, and so they rolled
it down to the place where they had made his grave, and there
he lies to the present day. His head points inland, and his
feet seawards.
Tudu
In May, 191 1, I made some small excavations on the
legendary site of a Dusun village which is situated at the top of
a hill (about 1000 feet high) not far from Peladok, an Illanun
settlement in the Tempassuk District. My diggings, I may
remark, proved that there had formerly been a village there.
The following story is told about the place. The name of the
old village (and of the hill) is Tudu:
Long ago some men of Tudu Village were looking for wood
to make a fence, and while they were searching they came
upon what appeared to be a great tree-trunk, which was
lying on the ground. They began to cut it with their chopping-
88 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
knives, intending to make a fence from it, but to their surprise
blood came from the cuts. So they decided to walk along
to one end of the trunk and see what it was. When they came
to the end, they found that they had been cutting into a great
snake and that the end of the "trunk" was its head. They,
therefore, made stakes, and driving them into the ground,
bound the snake to them and killed it. Then they flayed the
skin from the body, and taking it and the meat home, they
made a great feast from its flesh. The skin of the snake they
made into a great drum, and, while they were drinking, they
beat the drum to try its sound; but for a long time the drum
remained silent. At last, in the middle of the night, the drum
began to sound of its own accord, " Duk duk, kagyu 1 ; duk
duk, kagyu!" Then came a great hurricane and swept away
all the houses in the village ; some of them were carried away
out to sea together with the people in them; while others
settled down at what is now Tempassuk Village and elsewhere,
and from them arose the present villages.
The Puak (Homed Owl) and the Moon
Told by Sirinan of Piasau, a Dusun village in the
Tempassuk District
The moon is male and the Puak is female.
Long ago when the sky was very low down, only a man's
height from the ground, the moon and the Puak fell in love
and married. At that time there was a man whose wife was
with child. This woman came down from the house and, as
the heat of the sun struck her on the stomach, she became ill.
Then the man was very angry because his wife was ill, and
he made seven blow-pipe darts. Early the next morning he
took his blow-pipe and went to the place where the sun rises
and waited. Now at this time there were seven suns. When
they rose, he shot six of them and left only one remaining;
then he went home. At the time that the man shot the suns
the Puak was sitting on the house-top in the sky, combing
3 Kagyu, according to the Dusun who told me the story, is Bajau for
"hurricane" or "typhoon."
pt. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 89
her hair. The comb fell from the sky to the ground, and the
Puak flew down to get it, but, when she found it, she could
no longer fly back to the sky ; for, while she had been looking
for her comb, the sky had risen to its present place; since,
when the man had shot the six suns, the remaining sun, being
frightened, ran away up into the air, and took the sky with
it. And so, to the present day, whenever the moon comes out
the Puak cries to it, but the moon says, "What can I do,
for you are down there below, while I am up here in the
sky?"
The Three Rajas
A Dusun tale, told by Gergoi of Nabah, Tempassuk District
Long ago there were no men in this country of the Tem-
passuk; men's first home was at Naragang Nonok up-country.
In this village there were many Nonok trees, and men lived
in them. When the village was over-full they called a council,
and they agreed to divide the country between them. So
three men with their wives and children and followers set out
from the village at different times. The first man who started
at length came to a place where there was a threefold fork
in the road; he kept straight on and set a mark on the road
by which he had travelled. The second man chose the road
to the left hand, and the third took that to the right. So the
companions of the first man followed him along the straight
road, and at last they made a village. The parties of the second
and third men who had gone to the left and right also made
villages. Seven days after the first man had made his village,
a white stag came to the place. The men of the village agreed
to try and catch the stag, but it always escaped them,
although it did not go far away. Now the name of the man
who followed the straight road was the Raja Kapitan, and
he had seven wives, and he said to them, " I cannot catch this
stag; you had better make me some cakes of banana and
flour" (linobok). Then the Raja, taking with him seven cooks
to carry his food and baggage, got on his horse and set out
to hunt the stag. So he hunted, and at night the Raja and
go
BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
the stag both stopped. The next morning early, as soon as the
Raja had eaten, he again started off after the stag, and for
three days he chased it, but at last he lost it. Then the Raja,
finding that he did not know where he was, agreed with his
men to push on till they should come to some village, if there
was one. At last they arrived at a village and the Raja said,
"Why there are other people in this country; I thought that
my village was the only one." Then he asked in the village
whose it was, and he was told the Raja Kretan's 1 , and that
the Raja had seven wives. "Well," said the Raja Kapitan,
"if it is true that he has seven wives, he is like me, and I will
ask him for betel-nut, telling him, if his wives come to me,
to send those which are the most beautiful." So the Raja's
two most beautiful wives came to him, one to give him betel-
nut, and the other to make him cigarettes. They were lovely,
one as a star, and the other as the moon. The Raja Kretan,
however, slept in his house. When the two beautiful women
had waited upon the Raja Kapitan, he immediately killed
them both, and cutting off their heads, started for home. This
he did because he was angry at losing the stag. Then the Raja
Kretan awoke, and when he found what had happened, he
caught his great dog, and using it as a horse, pursued the
Raja Kapitan. Now the Raja Kapitan, who was afraid of
being attacked because of the heads that he had taken, when
he had got home, made a fort three fathoms in height. So
the Raja Kretan came to the fort, and his dog jumped the
wall. When he had got inside he asked whose village it was,
and men answered, "The Raja Kapitan's." "How many
wives has he got?" he asked, and a man answered, "Seven."
"If that is so," said the Raja Kretan, "let them bring me
cigarettes and betel-nut." So the two most beautiful wives
of the Raja Kapitan came out to give him cigarettes and betel-
nut, and when he had been served, he immediately cut off
their heads, and, leaping on his dog, called out that he was
now avenged on the Raja Kapitan. The dog took the wall
at a bound, and in a little time the Raja Kretan was nearly
1 Kretan = shark.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 91
home. Now the Raja Kretan was the second man who had
started from Naragang Nonok, but the Raja Kapitan knew
nothing of the other men who had followed behind him. When
the Raja Kapitan awoke, for he had been asleep, he asked
where his two favourite wives were, and he was told how they
had been killed. So he started out alone on his horse to hunt
the Raja Kretan and overtook him just as he was going to
enter his house. Then the Raja Kretan, seeing him, threw the
heads on the ground and made off on his dog, and the Raja
Kapitan hunted him on his horse. After they had been going
thus for a week, the Raja Kretan running away, and the Raja
Kapitan pursuing him, they left the Raja Kretan's country
behind and came out upon a plain. So the Raja Kretan dis-
mounted from his dog, and the Raja Kapitan from his horse
and the two fought, but neither conquered the other. Now,
while they still were fighting, they came into a village, but
did not know it until they struck their backs against the posts
of the houses. And the people of the village were astonished,
for they saw that the two men were strangers. Then the Raja
Bassi, who was the Raja of the village, awoke, and coming
out of the house, asked why they were fighting, and the Raja
Kapitan told him how he had hunted the stag, and how, being
angry at losing it, he had cut off the heads of the Raja Kretan's
wives. And the Raja Kretan related how he had avenged
himself upon the Raja Kapitan, and how the latter had
pursued him. Then said the Raja Bassi, "Do not quarrel any
more about your wives, for I have twenty-seven, who are all
beautiful, and you can replace your dead wives from them.
This only, I beg, do not fight in my country." So the Raja
Bassi's twenty-seven wives came out of the house, and the
Raja Kapitan and the Raja Kretan each chose two wives like
their former wives in appearance. And the Raja Bassi said,
"I have given you wives, and you must fight no more; for
we three men all came from Naragang Nonok, but I only
know the way back. You, Raja Kapitan, have become a
Dusun, you, Raja Kretan have become a Mohamedan (Bajau,
Brunei, etc.), while I have become a white man; and in future
92 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
time, if I have any trouble, you must give me your help." Then
the Raja Kretan and the Raja Kapitan thanked him and
promised to help him. "For," said they, "you have become
a great Raja, and we will help you; and you shall judge us
and our children, and shall help us in time of sickness." So
the Raja said that their answers were good, and that they
should help him, and that he would judge their peoples and
give them help. "And," said he, "you must pay me a yearly
tax on each head (male) of your people." And so to the
present day the Raja Bassi (the white people) judges the Raja
Kapitan (the Dusuns) and the Raja Kretan (the Mohame-
dans) and takes a tax from them for each man. Further,
he spoke, saying, "There shall be in this pelompong 1 many
people, for that is my wish." So we Dusuns to the present day
are descendants of the Raja Kapitan and the Bajaus of the
Raja Kretan, and, as the white people are descendants of the
Raja Bassi, we obey the Government and clean the paths and
do other work in which the Government asks our help. For
the Raja Bassi said, "Though you have made me great, I
am mortal and shall die, but I will tell this story to my grand-
children, and you, Raja Kapitan, and you, Raja Kretan,
shall tell it to yours, and they shall observe it."
The Half Men
A Dusun story, told by the Headman of Tambahilik,
Tempassuk District
Once a woman gave birth to a boy child, but one half of
it was wanting; it had only one arm, one leg, half a body, and
half a head. The child grew up, and his tongue and his deeds
were equally evil. If a woman was spinning he would get
a chopping-knife and slash her loom and cloth ; and the women
of the village used to say to him, "You are like a beast, and
besides you are only half a man !" Then he would be ashamed
and think whence he could get his other half. So at last he
set out in search of it. All the people in the country knew
1 Island, i.e. the country round Mount Kinabalu.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 93
him, and when he came to a village they would say, "Where
are you going?" And he would answer, " I am going in search
of my other half." Long he journeyed, and at last he came
to a susendatan, a place where people get water from the river,
and there he bathed. Directly he had finished, he set out
for the village, and soon saw the houses. When he got there,
a man asked him where he was going, and he replied that he
was looking for his other half. "There is a half man here,"
said the man of the village. Now the half man who was
travelling in search of his other half was looking for his right-
hand side, and the man in the village was without his left-
hand side. So the half man who was a stranger asked how
they could become one man, and somebody said, " You must
wrestle together, and then you will become one man." So
they wrestled together for a long time, and at last they
became one man. Then the "whole man" asked how he was
to go home, "For," said he, "I do not know the way."
"Why, it is not troublesome for you to go home," said a
villager, "your village is quite close"; and the "whole man,"
looking, saw his village not far off. So he went back, and his
father and mother asked him whence he had got his other
half, and he said, "I got it from a village far away; perhaps
it is Kinharingan's village." Then his father and mother were
very glad that their son had found his other half.
The Monkeys
A Dusun story, told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District
The monkeys were once men. The people who became
monkeys were dyeing cloth, and, while they were working,
they were struck by hail and became monkeys. Their hands
became black from the dye, and so they remain till the present
day, and the movements of the monkey's hands still resemble
those of people dipping the cloth in the dye (i.e. the sort of
patting motion often made by monkeys with their two
hands).
94 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
Kaduan
A Dusun legend, told by Limbong of Tambahilik,
Tempassuk District
Once there was a man named Kaduan who had a wife and
seven daughters. His wife and daughters were ill with balang 1 ,
and they were all so hungry that in a short time they would
have been reduced to eating the ashes from the fire. Then
Kaduan said to his daughters, "It is no good going on like
this, I will search for husbands for you." Now his daughters
were wearing dampon 2 for clothes. They said to him, "Father,
why do you want to search for husbands for us? It is not
fitting; for we are women, besides we are almost dying with
disease and we are so poor that we have nothing to eat ; our
house, too, is worn out, and the roof-beam has fallen down at
one end till it touches the ground." However, the next
morning Kaduan set out, and at length came to a bathing-
place on the river, where the sand of the river was composed
of beads of gold; there were also Kalian trees there whose
fruits were gongs and bells, and the gongs and bells were
sounding in the wind. So Kaduan bathed and crossed the
river to the house of a man named Gerlunghan. The place
below the house was full of fowls, for Gerlunghan was very
rich. Then Kaduan climbed the steps of the house and Ger-
lunghan met him and asked where he was going. ' ' I am looking
for husbands for my daughters," said Kaduan, "for, though
it is not very fitting that I should seek for them, still your
people are the same as mine, both in appearance and in wealth.
I have been in the jungle for seven months, and my clothes
are worn out, but when I first left my village they were all
covered with gold like those which you are wearing." "How
hungry you must be," said Gerlunghan, "after being in the
jungle for seven months ! I will cook for you." Said Kaduan,
" If you cook for me do not cook as for three men or four men,
but for five or six, for I am very hungry indeed." So Gerlun-
ghan had rice cooked in huge pans and with the rice he gave
1 An ulcerating disease of the leg. 2 Cloth made of tree-bark.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 95
Kaduan three fowls. When Kaduan had finished the rice, a
man in the next house remarked, "How big is this man's
stomach ! It must be like a basong 1 ." Then Kaduan, turning
round, looked at the trenchers from which he had eaten, and
they had again become piled up with fish and rice, but no
man had put the food upon them, it had appeared of itself.
"Perhaps it is true that this man is rich in his own village,"
thought Gerlunghan, " for he had finished the food, but when
he turns round to look at the plates from which he has eaten,
they become full once more." Then Kaduan ate again, and
he said to Gerlunghan, "Inquire of your sons whether they
will marry my daughters, for I am tired of searching for
husbands for them, since I can find none like them for beauty
in this country, and none who can approach me in respect
of my wealth." So Gerlunghan inquired among his seven sons,
and the eldest said, "Father, I do not wish to go, for I have
never seen this man Kaduan before and I do not know what
sort of a man he is, whether good or bad," but his seventh
son said, "Whatever my father orders I will follow." "Per-
haps you think that he is poor," said Gerlunghan, "but his
clothes are worn out because he has been so long in the
jungle." So the eldest son refused to go, but at last, seeing
that the others were willing, he said, "Well, I do not wish
to be left behind, so I will go too." "If it is settled," said
Kaduan, "I will go home for seven days and at the end of
that time I will come back and marry your sons, for it is not
right for my daughters to come here, for it was I who sought
husbands for them." So Kaduan went home and when he
got to his house he found his children eating the ashes from
the fire. So he said to them, " I have found husbands for you,
the children of Gerlunghan, and in seven days I go to marry
them . " "You will only make us ashamed, ' ' said his daughters,
"for we are all ill with balang and we have nothing to eat."
'Why do you not follow my orders," said Kaduan, "as Ger-
lunghan's children followed his?" When the time was up,
Kaduan started off again in his clothes made of dampon. At
1 A large back-basket.
96 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
last he came to Gerlunghan's, and before he climbed the steps
he called to Gerlunghan and said, " I have come here in my
old clothes for everyone knows how wealthy I am, and I was
afraid of being robbed and killed by the way for the sake of
my golden dress; for the clothes I wear are always of gold;
my house is seven doors long, and the windows in the roof
are seven also, my sleeping mats, too, are more than a span
high from the floor. I have seven jars for my rice-wine, and
when I eat I have five trays of rice before me, and I finish
them at a meal." Then somebody said, "A man who eats
like that should have a big stomach," but they looked at his
stomach and saw that it was like that of a man who eats but
seldom, and they were all astonished. "Well," said Kaduan,
"my feast is ready at my house, and you, Gerlunghan, must
follow me with your sons, but though I have killed buffaloes
and cooked rice, I have not a single fowl." The next day they
set out for Kaduan's house, Kaduan, Gerlunghan and his
seven sons, and Kaduan walked as though he were flying, so
that he had always to stop and wait for Gerlunghan and his
sons. Thus Kaduan arrived first at the house, and told his
wife and daughters to run out of the house and hide. So they
rolled away into the jungle, for they could not walk because
of their balang. When Gerlunghan and his sons came to the
place they looked about expecting to find a beautiful house,
but all they could see was a small tumble-down house with
a path leading to it which looked like the track of a single
man — Kaduan himself had also made off into the jungle.
After a time Kaduan returned saying, "Gerlunghan, you can
kill me." So he asked first one and then another to kill him,
but no one was willing. Then Gerlunghan's youngest son said
to his father, " I will strike him," and snatching out his
chopping-knife he wounded Kaduan on the arm, cutting him
to the bone, and much blood came from the wound. Now, as
Gerlunghan's son yelled and chased Kaduan near the house,
the blood which fell from Kaduan's wound turned into
buffaloes and cattle and fowls. The house also became new
and beautiful, and the sound of gong-beating was heard from
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO
97
within. Then Gerlunghan marvelled and said, "This man is
even more wealthy than I." But Kaduan went to look for
his children in the place where he had hidden them, and he
found them well and beautiful and dressed in magnificent
clothes, and Kaduan 's own clothes also had turned to gold.
So Kaduan killed seven buffaloes and seven cattle and brought
out seven jars of rice- wine; and made a great feast for Ger-
lunghan; and when the eating and drinking were over Ger-
lunghan returned home, but his sons remained with Kaduan.
The Legend of Ligat Liau
A Dusun tale, told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District
There was once a man named Tamburan. One day he took
his choppmg-knife, his spear and his barait 1 , and went off to
look for vegetables in the jungle, for he was poor and had no
food. He searched and searched, but could find nothing; at
last, however, he came to an old clearing, and seeing a hut
near it, he went to look if there were any people in it, for he
thought that the clearing was still being used, as there were
many gourds growing there. Putting down his barait and
spear, he climbed up into the hut, and there he saw a woman
lying down. Now she was unable to sit up because her head
was very large, while her neck was only as thick as my little
finger. The woman, whose name was Ligat Liau 2 , spoke to him
and said, "Tamburan, why have you come here?" "I have
come looking for vegetables," answered Tamburan, "for I
have nothing to eat, and nothing with which I can buy rice."
"If you are hungry," said Ligat Liau, "there is some rice
ready cooked there on the shelf above the fire, which you can
eat, and you will find fish there too." "How does she manage
to pound her rice?" thought Tamburan, " for she cannot even
sit up." Then he said, " I do not like to eat alone." " I have
just eaten," said Ligat Liau, " do not be ashamed to eat." So
Tamburan took the rice and ate, and, when he had finished
Ligat Liau asked him to come and search for lice in her hair;
so he went to search, but, instead of lice, he found in her hair
1 Small carrying- basket. 2 Said to mean "little neck."
EMP 7
98 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
scorpions and little snakes and centipedes, and all other sorts
of poisonous animals. Then he killed them all until there were
none left, and Ligat Liau thanked him, saying that none of
the women who came there would search for lice in her hair.
"But now," said she, " I shall be able to stand up, since my
head is light now that I am free of all these lice." So she stood
up and said to Tamburan, "Take seven gourds from this
clearing." So Tamburan took the gourds and brought them
into the hut. Then said Ligat Liau, "Take this first gourd as
soon as you get home and cut it in two; the second one cut
open when you are in your own room; the third you must
open in your store-room ; the fourth on the rice-shelf, the fifth
on the verandah, the sixth below the steps, and the seventh
below the house." Then Tamburan went home and, on
reaching his house, he did as Ligat Liau had instructed him,
for his children were crying for food. When he cut open the
first gourd he found rice and all other kinds of food ready
cooked in it, together with plates and drinking-cups. So they
ate, and when they had finished, he cut open the second gourd
in his sleeping-room, and in it were mats for sleeping on and
all the furnishings of a bedroom. The third gourd he opened
in his store-room, and from it came gongs of all kinds, tawags 1
and chanangs 2 and tenukols 3 and other goods besides. The
fourth gourd he opened on the rice-shelf and from it came
great quantities of unhusked rice. The fifth he opened on the
verandah, and in it were many hens. The sixth he opened
below the steps and out of it came great numbers of pigs.
The seventh held many buffaloes; this also he cut open, as
he had been ordered, within the fence below the house. Now,
when the gourds were cut open, there was a man in the house
named Sikinding 4 , who lived in another room. This man was
also poor and he came to Tamburan and said, " Brother (Pori
San), where did you get all these goods from?" Said Tam-
1 The tawag-tawag is a thick and deep gong with a protruding boss.
2 The chanang is a shallow gong with the boss almost on a level with the
surface.
3 The tennkol is a large and rather cheap kind of gong.
4 More correctly Si Kinding.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 99
buran, "I was astonished at getting them myself, for I
dreamed that I was rich, and, when I woke up, I found that
it was true." "Ah," said Sikinding, "I always dream at
night, but I have never become rich from it"; for he did not
believe Tamburan's words. " It is true," said Tamburan, "for
you know well that yesterday I was as poor as you and went
with the rest of the men to look for vegetables in the jungle."
But Sikinding still did not believe him, and said, "Perhaps
you got them from someone." "I spoke truth," said Tam-
buran, "and this is my dream, I dreamed that I came to an
old clearing and that I went into a hut there, and that I got
the goods from the person who lived in the hut." "Well,"
said Sikinding, "I will try and find this clearing, and the
person that you dreamed of." "Just as you like," said Tam-
buran, " for, as I told you, I only dreamed of the place." " I
shall start to-morrow," said Sikinding. "Well, I am not
ordering you," replied Tamburan, "you are going to please
yourself." So the next day Sikinding set out to look for the
clearing, but having searched for two days, and not finding
it, went back and told Tamburan that he thought that he
was a liar, saying that he had searched for the clearing for
two days and not found it. " For," said he, " I think that you
really went there, and not that you dreamed about it." But
Tamburan again replied that it had been a dream. "Ah,"
said Sikinding, "I don't believe you, how many times have
men dreamed in this village and never yet got rich from it?"
"Well, try once more to find the place," said Tamburan, "and
perhaps you will succeed." So on the next day Sikinding set
out again, and, not finding it, returned after he had searched
for four days. Thought Sikinding, "Perhaps Tamburan is
trying to kill me by sending me into the jungle; this time I
will take my spear and chopping-knife when I ask him, and
if he will not tell me, I will kill him." Then Sikinding went to
Tamburan's door and said, " I still do not believe your story,
though I have hunted for the clearing for four days. If you
do not tell me the truth this time, I will kill you, for if my
luck had been bad in the jungle, I should have died there."
7—2
ioo BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
But Tamburan still declared that it was a dream, and Sikin-
ding, getting angry, snatched the sheath from his spear, and
Tamburan ran away. Then Tamburan cried out that he would
tell the truth, for he was afraid that Sikinding would kill him.
So Sikinding stopped chasing him, and Tamburan told him
how he had gone to the clearing, and how he had marked
the trees with his knife, so as to know the way back. "Well,"
said Sikinding, "I will not kill you if you will show me the
way." "But perhaps," said Tamburan, "you will not be
brave enough to hunt for the lice in her hair." "Oh," said
Sikinding, "however brave you are, I am braver." "Well,
when you come to the clearing," said Tamburan, "if anybody
asks you to search for lice, you must not be afraid, for many
men have been there, but I only was brave enough." "Oh,
I shall not be afraid," said Sikinding. So the next day he set
out and followed the marks which Tamburan had made on
the trees, and at length he came to the clearing. When he was
still some way from the hut he began calling out to know if
there was anyone inside; but no answer came. So when he
had come to the hut, he put down his bar ait, and, going in,
saw Ligat Liau there, and she said to him, "What do you come
for?" "Oh," said Sikinding, " I have no rice and I have come
to look for vegetables; I am very hungry; where is your rice?"
" How should I have rice?" said Ligat Liau, " for I cannot get
up to pound it." "Oh, that's not true," said Sikinding, "for
how can you live if you have no rice?" "Well, it is true,"
said Ligat Liau, " for as you see yourself, I cannot get up." So
Sikinding went to get rice from the shelf over the fireplace,
but on taking down the plate he found nothing but earth in
it. "Ah," said he, "you people in this village are no good;
you eat earth !" "I told you that I had no rice," said Ligat
Liau, "but you can take a gourd from the clearing." Then
Sikinding went and took a gourd, and going up again into
the hut, he asked Ligat Liau how he was to eat it. "You must
cut it open," said she, "and eat what is inside." So he cut
it open and found a little rice and one fish in it, and from this
he made his meal. When he had finished eating the rice and
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 101
fish, he said to Ligat Liau, "That is not enough; I'll go and
take another gourd and that will be sufficient." "You can
take another," said she, "but only one." So he brought
another gourd, and, cutting it open, found inside only rice
in the husk and uncooked fish. "I've not had enough to eat,"
said he, "where can I get it from?" "You can cook the food
here," said Ligat Liau. "No, I won't do that," said Sikinding,
" I will take it home and cook it; but I want seven gourds to
take home with me." "I will give them to you," said Ligat
Liau, "but first come and look for lice in my hair." So Sikinding
went to look for lice, but when he saw the scorpions and
snakes and other poisonous things, he cried out and was not
brave enough to kill them, and he let Ligat Liau's head fall
first to one side and then to the other. "Well," said Ligat
Liau, "if you are afraid to kill my lice, you had better go home.
But take one gourd with you ; you may take a large one, but
do not take more than one." Then Sikinding took the gourd,
and Ligat Liau said to him, "When you get home and wish to
open this gourd, get into yourtangkob 1 and make yourwife and
children get into it as well ; but shut up the top of the tangkob
well so that nothing can get out." So Sikinding ran home,
and calling his wife and children, they all got into the tangkob,
with the exception of one small child, for whom there was no
room. Then Sikinding opened the gourd, and from it came out
snakes and scorpions, which bit Sikinding and his wife and
children until they died. The only person who remained alive
was the small child for whom there was no room in the tangkob.
Note. A variant of this tale is known among the Dusuns of Tuaran.
Tamburan is, however, replaced as hero by a man named Rahah
Bujang, and there are other points of difference.
The Lazy Woman and her Bayong
A Dusun story, told by the Headman of Tarantidan,
Tempassuk District
Long ago there was a lazy woman ; she would not work, and
as for bathing, she was so lazy that she only washed herself
1 Large store-vessel of tree-bark for holding unhusked rice.
102 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
once in ten days. One day she went to the bathing-place and
a nipah-palm called to her from across the river. The palm-
tree kept on calling, but she was too lazy to answer, or to
cross the river to see what it wanted. At last the nip ah said,
"Why are you so lazy that you will not cross the river? There
is a boat on your side of the water and you can row across
and take my shoot." So the lazy woman went very slowly
and got into the boat, and going very lazily across the river
in it, she took the shoot from the palm. Then said the nipah,
"I called you because you are so lazy. You must take this
shoot and dry it a little in the sun and make a bayong 1 from
it." Now the lazy woman nearly wept when she heard that
she was to make a bayong ; however, she took the sprout home
and made a bayong from it. When this was finished it spoke
to the woman and said, "You must take me along the path
where people are going to market, and put me down near the
side of the road where everybody passes; then you can go
home." So the woman took the bayong and left it near the
road where people were going to market. Many people passed
there, but no one noticed the bayong until a rich man came
along and, seeing it, said, "I will take this bayong to market,
as it will do to put anything I buy there into, and if the owner
is at the market, I can give it back to him." Presently the
rich man came to the market and he asked everyone if they
had lost a bayong, but nobody acknowledged it. " Well then,"
said the rich man, "it is my gain, and I will put what I have
bought into it and take it home ; but if anyone claims it he
can come to my house and get it." So the rich man put all his
goods: sir eh, lime, cakes, fish, rice and bananas, into the
bayong until it was full, and while the man was talking to
some of his friends, the bayong started off of its own accord
to go home to the lazy woman's house. When it was still some
little way off from the house, it began calling to the lazy
woman, "Come here, come here and help me, for I can't
stand the weight !" Then the woman went to the bayong,
though she was nearly weeping at having to go and fetch it
1 A kind of large basket.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 103
home, but when she saw that it was full of all sorts of good
things, she said, "This is a splendid bayong, but perhaps it
will want some payment. At any rate, if it is always like this,
I shall get an easy living by just leaving the bayong on the
road to market." So on market-days the woman always
placed the bayong near the side of the path, and it always
came home full; but it never met any of the men who had
found it before until it had cheated six men. Now at the
seventh market the men who had filled the bayong at the six
previous markets, and had thus lost their property, happened
to be going to market all together, and when they saw the
bayong left near the road they all recognized it as the one which
had cheated them. So the six of them collected buffalo-dung
and filled the bayong to the top, "For," said they, "this
bayong is a proper rascal." Then the bayong, being full, started
straight off for home, and did not go to the market. When the
lazy woman saw it coming, she rushed to help it home, but
when she found that it was full of buffalo-dung, she began
to cry, "For," said she, "if the bayong does not bring food,
surely I shall die." As for the bayong, it would never bring
food from the market again.
Serunggal
A Dusun legend, told by Sirinan of Piasau,
Tempassuk District
"Ah," said Serunggal, "it is no use my stopping here, I
had better go and marry a Raja's daughter." Now Serunggal
was a very ugly man to look at. So he set out for the Raja's
village. After a time he came to a place near a river, and
hearing men screaming, he went to look what it was, and saw
many men killing an ant. "Why are you doing that?" said
Serunggal, and the men ran off and left the ant, which crawled
away. When he got to the bathing-place of the village, he
again heard men shouting. " Why is this?" thought Serunggal,
and again he went to look what it was. When he got to the
place, he saw men trying to kill a firefly (ninekput 1 ). He spoke
1 The firefly is said to be the spirit of an ancestor. Ninekput, has, no
doubt, this signification, since nenek is the ordinary Malay word for a forbear.
104 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. r
to them, and, as before, the men ran away. At length he came
to another village, and for the third time he heard men calling
out near the river, and going towards the sound, he saw many
men trying to kill a squirrel. "Do not do that," said Serunggal,
and the men at once ran away. After a long time Serunggal
came to the Raja's palace, and the Raja said to him, "Se-
runggal, whither are you going?" "Well," said he, "I will
not hide my intention; I came to ask for your daughter to
make her my wife." Said the Raja, " You see this bayong full
of rice? If you can collect it all after a man has scattered it
from horseback, and put it all back into the bayong until it
is full, you shall have my daughter." Then thought Serunggal,
"How can I collect that rice, if it is scattered from horse-
back?" but at length he said, "I will try, for," thought he,
"if I cannot collect it all I will go home, for I shall not wish
to stop here any more." So the Raja ordered a boy to take
a horse, and scatter the rice as the horse ran, till it was all
finished; and the boy took a horse and scattered the rice in
the plain, until it was all finished. "Now," said the Raja,
" I will go home and wait for you for two or three hours, but
if you do not collect all the rice, you shall not have my
daughter." Then Serunggal started to collect the rice, but at
the end of half-an-hour he had only got about a coconut-shell
full, and he began to weep. After a time came the Ant, and
said to him, "Why are you crying?" "Because the Raja will
not give me his daughter," said Serunggal, "unless I collect
this rice, which he has scattered, and I have only been able
to find a coconut-shell full in half-an-hour." "Well, stop
crying," said the Ant, "and I will help you, for you helped
me when the men wished to kill me." Then the Ant called his
companions, and they collected all the rice, until the bayong
was full; and Serunggal carried the rice home to the Raja's
house. The Raja saw him coming from afar off and wondered ;
but when he arrived the Raja said to him, "You shall have
my daughter, but you must climb my betel-palm first and get
me a betel-nut to eat." Now the Raja's betel-palm was so
high that its top was in the clouds and could not be seen. When
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 105
Serunggal saw the tree, he said to himself, " How shall I climb
this tree, for I shall fall before I get half-way up." So the
Raja went home, and Serunggal began to climb the tree, but
when he got about two fathoms up it, he fell to the ground.
Then he began to weep ; but after a time the Squirrel came and
asked him why he was crying, and Serunggal told him how
the Raja had ordered him to climb the tree before he should
have his daughter. "Well," said the Squirrel, "I will help
you," and he climbed the tree, and brought Serunggal the
fruit until there was none left. When Serunggal was still far
from the house, the Raja saw him and said, "This man is
greater than I, for he has got the betel-nuts which so many
men have tried to reach in vain." So the Raja told Serunggal
that he could have one of his daughters. Now the Raja had
seven daughters, and it was of the seventh and most beautiful
that Serunggal had heard. Said the Raja, "You must go to
my house, when it is dark, and the first daughter of mine that
you find in the sleeping room shall be your wife, and you must
carry her away to another room, but you must come late at
night, when it is very dark." "Ah," thought Serunggal, "how
shall I find his seventh daughter, for, if it is dark, I shall not
be able to see?" That night Serunggal went to the Raja's
house and waited outside till it was dark enough, and he
began to weep because he did not know how to find the Raja's
youngest daughter. At last the Firefly came and asked him
why he was crying ; and Serunggal told it how he had to take
the first of the Raja's daughters to whom he should come,
and how he wished to get the seventh. "Never mind," said
the Firefly, " I will search for you, and I will settle on the nose
of the seventh daughter; so wherever you see a light, that will
be the place where the Raja's youngest daughter is." Then
Serunggal went into the women's sleeping room, and seeing the
Firefly, carried away the woman on which it had settled to
another room. In the morning, when the Raja came to see
which daughter Serunggal had chosen, he found that he had
taken the youngest and most beautiful. And thus the Raja
was forced to acknowledge him as his son-in-law.
io6 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
The Singkalaki and his Slaves
A Dusun legend, told by Ransab, Headman of Piasau,
Tempassuk District
The Singkalaki once wished to set out on a voyage, so he
called to his wife, " Baing," said he, " I am going on a voyage,
so you must prepare rice for me." When all was ready the
Singkalaki took the buffalo fence from below his house, and,
when he had made a raft from it he loaded his rice and other
baggage upon it. So he sailed away, and after a time he came
to an island. There he found a Takang, and taking him on
board he bound him to the raft. Sailing away again he came
to another island where he found a toad (Buangkut) and this
too he bound to the raft before he left. At length he came to
a third island, and from there he brought away a Padtong.
On another island he found a Korutok 1 , and this also he loaded
on his raft, and, his rice being finished, then sailed home.
When he came to his house he called to his wife, "Baing,"
said he, "you can carry the four slaves, that I have got, from
my vessel." So his wife brought the four slaves to the house.
When night came the Padtong began to cry, "Tong, long!"
Then the Singkalaki called to his wife, "Baing, this slave of
mine wants to hang (gantong) me; you had better tell him
to run off!" Next, the Korutok started to cry "Tok, tok!"
"Ah," said the Singkalaki to his wife, "this slave wants to
chop (totok 2 ) me ; you had better throw him out !" " Buangkut-
kut! Buangkut!" said the toad, and the Singkalaki called
again to his wife, "Baing, this slave, too, has been plotting
with the others and wants to bury (memukut 3 ) me ; throw him
out too!" But the Takang did not make a sound and the
Singkalaki said, "This slave has not been plotting." So when
he went to his clearing, he took the Takang with him, and
gave him a working-knife, but the Takang, not being a man,
did nothing with it. Then the Singkalaki said to his wife,
"This Takang is new to the work; don't force him, and
1 All these four animals are species of frogs or toads.
2 The Malay Utah.
3 The literal meaning of this word is, I believe, to dig.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 107
perhaps to-morrow, or the next day, he will have learned."
So he brought the Takang back to the house and the next day
again took him to the clearing and'gave him a chopping-knife,
while he himself and his wife went to work. When they
stopped working they went to look at the Takang and, finding
that he had not done any work, the wife said, "Why has he
not done any work?" "Oh," said the Singkalaki, "he is new
to it, and besides, he is grieving for his relations." Then the
Singkalaki took the Takang and tied him up outside the hut,
giving him a knife so that he might learn to work. After a
time it began to rain hard, and the Takang started crying,
"Kang, kang." "Ah," said the Singkalaki, "this is very bad,
for he wants to use me as a horse, and place a bridle (kakang)
in my mouth." Then the Singkalaki threw out the Takang
also, and thus he had no slaves left.
Ginas and the Raja
A Dusun legend, told by a man of Tambahilik,
Tempassuk District
A long time ago there was a man and his wife whose names
were Rakian and Sumundok 1 . On the day when they married,
many others also married, and each couple had at least two
children; but Rakian and Sumundok had none, though Su-
mundok was expecting a child. Rakian fell ill, and he said
to his wife, "Perhaps I shall die before I see my child, but
you must bring him up well, for we are not wanting in pos-
sessions." Then Rakian died, and after a time Sumundok
gave birth to a male child, and she said to it, " I will give you
a name; your name is Ginas, but I will not bring you up, I
will put you into a box." So Sumundok put the child into
a box, and after two or three months she went to look at it,
and she found that it had grown and could walk. When the
child had come out of the box, it spent its time in hunting
the pigs, and its mother did not forbid it. "For," thought
she, "if it should kill a pig I can replace it." But the people
of the village became angry because Sumundok's child was
1 Sumundok = " virgin." Cf. Munsumundok.
108 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
always chasing their pigs. One day Ginas went to the Raja's
house, and for two days he hunted the pigs there below the
house. Then the Raja said to one of his men, "Go to Ginas'
house and tell his relations that he must not hunt pigs any
more, for I have had no sleep from it for two nights. If he
does not follow my orders, I will make him my slave." So
three men went to Ginas' house and told him that if he
chased the Raja's pigs any more, the Raja would make him
a slave. But Ginas paid no heed to the Raja's words, and
going to the Raja's house, he again hunted the pigs. Then said
the Raja, "All men follow my orders, this Ginas only, who is
still small, does not obey me." So the Raja sent to Ginas,
saying, "For three nights I have not been able to sleep for
the noise of the waves in the sea. Go and chase them, and
see if you can stop them." When the Raja's men came to the
house of Ginas, they said to him that the Raja wished him
to stop the waves, and Ginas replied, "You must stay here
to-night, and eat with me." The three men stayed there, and,
when it was night, Ginas went down to the sea-shore, and,
taking sand, wrapped it in his handkerchief. Then going back
to the house he woke the Raja's men and said to them, "Give
this sand to the Raja, and tell him to have a rope made from
it, and, when the rope is made, I will use it to catch the waves
with." So the men went home, and the Raja asked them what
Ginas had said about his order to stop the waves. Then the
Raja's men told him that Ginas had said that he would catch
the waves, only that, as he was short of rope, he was sending
some sand to the Raja of which to make a cord, and that when
the cord was made, he would catch the waves with it. And
the Raja had to admit that he was beaten, and threw the
sand away. Then the Raja had seven jars of rice-wine made,
and killed three head of cattle ; and he sent three men to call
Ginas to drink. The three men came to Ginas and he replied
that he would come on the next day. On the morrow Ginas
brought out clothes all covered with gold, and putting them
on, set out. When he got to the Raja's house, the Raja asked
him to sit down on his mattress, and all kinds of food and
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 109
drink were brought to them, and there was a bowl there for
washing the hands, seven spans 1 in circumference. After they
had eaten, the Raja said to Ginas, "Ginas, you shall wash
your hands on my mattress, and if the mattress is not wetted
you shall replace me as Raja, and shall have all my property
and my daughter as your wife; but if you wet the mattress
you shall become my slave." So when Ginas was washing
out his mouth he was afraid of spitting the water out on to
the mattress, so he sent it into the Raja's face instead, saying,
" I was afraid to put it anywhere else, but your face does not
matter, since you are blind in one eye, and thus your face is
damaged. Take this looking-glass and look." So the Raja took
the mirror, and, seeing that one of his eyes was damaged,
and that no one else had so ugly a face, was ashamed, and
ran away from the country, taking with him only one of his
wives. As for Ginas, he took his place and became Raja.
The Kandowai and the Kerbau (Buffalo)
Told by Anggor, a Tuaran Dusun
Note. The Kandowai is the white padi-bird (Bubulcus coromandus) ,
which so often accompanies herds of buffaloes in the coastal regions.
The bird said to the buffalo, " If I were to drink the water
of a stream, I could drink it all." " I also," said the Kerbau,
"could finish it, for I am big, while you are small." "Very
well," said the bird, "to-morrow we will drink." In the
morning, when the water was coming down in flood, the bird
told the buffalo to drink first. The Kerbau drank, and drank,
but the water only came down the faster, and at length he
was forced to stop. So the Kerbau said to the bird, "You can
take my place and try, for I cannot finish it." Now the
Kandowai waited till the flood had gone down, and when it
had done so, he put his beak into the water and pretended to
drink. Then he waited till all the water had run away out of
the stream, and said to the Kerbau, "See, I have finished it !"
1 The span of the hand, when widely opened, from the extremity of the
thumb to that of the middle finger.
no BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
And since the bird outwitted the Kerbau in this manner, the
Kerbau has become his slave, and the bird rides on his back.
The Lungun, the Bobog and the Monkeys
A Dusun story, told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District
The Lungun (adjutant-bird) was watching at its nest one
day and fell asleep, and while he was sleeping, monkeys came
and pulled out all his feathers. Then the Lungun cried, for
he could no longer fly in search of food. After a time his mate
came and brought him food and asked him how he had lost
his feathers. The Lungun explained how the monkeys had
come while he was asleep, and that when he awoke they were
plucking out all his feathers. After about two months the
Lungun was able to fly, for his feathers had grown again. He
thought and thought in what way he could revenge himself
upon the monkeys, but he could find none. One day, however,
when he was walking about, he met the Bobog 1 and he told
him how the monkeys had stolen all his feathers and how he
had not been able to fly for two months, and he asked the
Bobog how he could take his revenge upon them. " I will help
you," said the Bobog, "but you must go and hunt for a boat
first." "What is the use of that?" said the Lungun, "I am
not clever at rowing." "Never mind," said the Bobog, "just
get it, but it must be one with a good large hole in it, and I will
go into the hole and stop it up." So the Bobog and the Lungun
agreed to meet again in seven days, and the Lungun set out
to look for a worn-out boat with a hole in it. He was not
long in finding one, and at the end of seven days the Bobog
and the Lungun met at the place where the boat was lying.
Then the Bobog crept into the hole so that the water could
not get in any more, and the boat started away down-stream
with the Lungun standing on it. The monkeys saw the boat
and the Lungun on it, and called to him, asking him where
he was going, and the Lungun replied that he was going for
a sail. Then the monkeys asked the Lungun if they might
1 A kind of small tortoise. Probably the same species as that which the
Peninsular Malays call Kura-kura.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO in
come with him, and the Lungun replied, "Certainly," for he
recognized among them many of the monkeys who had pulled
out his feathers. So the monkeys, twenty in all, got into the
boat, and when they were enjoying themselves, drifting in the
boat, another monkey called from a tree, and he and his com-
panions, twenty-one in number, also got into the boat. Many
other monkeys called to them, but the Lungun would not let
any more come on board, for he said that the boat would not
hold more than forty-one. When the boat had drifted out
from the river into mid-ocean, it was struck by the waves,
and the Lungun told the monkeys to tie their tails together,
two and two, and to sit on opposite sides so that it should not
roll. Then the monkeys tied their tails together because they
wished to stop the rolling, but the forty-first monkey, who
had no tail and only one hand, had no companion. When they
were all tied up, two and two, the Lungun called, "Bobog,
I'm going to fly off." " Very well," said the Bobog, " I'll swim
off too." So the Lungun flew up, and the Bobog coming out
of the hole, the boat sank. Then the monkeys tried to swim,
but could not do so because their tails were tied together. So
the fish ate them, and the only monkey who escaped was the
forty-first, who had no companion tied to him. As for the
Lungun he flew away, saying, "Now you know what you get
for pulling out my feathers."
The Bobog (Water-Tortoise) and the Elephant
A Dusun story, told by Sirinan of Piasau, Tempassuk District
Note. The Bobog has movable plates, fore and aft, on the under-side
of his shell and with the help of these he can shut up his body com-
pletely.
The Bobog was walking one day near the river when he
met the Elephant. Said the Elephant, "Bobog, what are you
doing here?" "I am looking for food," replied the Bobog.
"Well," said the Elephant, " I'm going to eat you." "Why?"
said the Bobog. "Because I choose to," said the Elephant.
"Won't you have pity on me?" said the Bobog, " I can't run
away as I can only walk slowly." " If you don't want me to
ii2 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
eat you," said the Elephant, "I will burn you." "But I am
very much frightened of fire," said the Bobog, "if I see it,
I run away at once into the water. Well," continued the
Bobog, "if I don't burn, may I try and burn you afterwards?"
And the Elephant said that he might. So the Elephant made
a pile of wood as big as a hut, building it on the sand near the
river. ' ' Bobog, ' ' said the Elephant, ' ' to-morrow morning early
you must go into the pile of wood and I will burn you." "Very
well," replied the Bobog, " I will go in to-morrow, but as I
am going in you must keep on calling me, and when I no
longer answer you any more, you can set the pile alight." So
the next morning the Bobog went into the heap of wood, and
for a long time, whenever the Elephant called, he always
received an answer; at last, however, the Bobog was silent.
Then the Elephant set fire to the pile all round, so that there
should be no chance of the Bobog getting out. The fire burnt
down, and the Elephant said, "Certainly the Bobog is dead."
So off he went to the river to drink; but when he came back,
there was the Bobog walking about among the ashes of the
fire, for he had buried himself in the damp sand of the river,
and shut up his shell ; and thus had not been hurt. " You are
very clever to have got out," said the Elephant; "how does
the fire feel, does it burn, or not?" " It is a little unpleasant,"
said the Bobog, "but what can one do if an elephant wishes
to burn one?" So the Bobog asked the Elephant to help him
to collect wood for his own burning, and for three or four days
the Elephant brought wood until he had made a heap far
larger than that which had been used for burning the Bobog.
Then the Bobog asked the Elephant when he would go into
the heap, and the Elephant answered that he would go in
early the next morning. On the following day the Elephant
went into the pile and made a nice place for himself to lie
down in. Then the Bobog called to him, "Elephant, are you
comfortable, for I want to burn you?" "Burn away," replied
the Elephant. So the Bobog set fire all round the pile, and,
after a time, the Elephant called out, "The fire is very hot."
" Well, I did not say anything about it," said the Bobog. Soon
pt. I BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 113
the Elephant began to cry out that the fire was burning him.
"Be quiet, can't you?" said the Bobog, "I never cried out,
and besides it's your own fault, for you suggested burning me;
I should never have thought of burning you." So the Elephant
was burnt to death, but the Bobog laughed and said, "Ah,
Elephant, you tried to burn an animal whose back is hard,
and whose face is hard ; besides you cannot dig into the ground
as I can !" Then the Bobog made a toriding 1 from a small bone
of the Elephant, and while he was walking along, playing
upon it, he came to a large tree. Now there was a Monkey
in the tree, and he, hearing the beautiful sound of the toriding,
came down to see who was playing. "Bobog," said he, "where
did you get your toriding?" "From the Elephant's bones,"
replied the Bobog. "How did you get the Elephant's bones?"
said the Monkey; "I should like to try your toriding." But
for some time the Bobog would not let the Monkey try it : at
last, however, he gave it to him, and immediately the Monkey
snatched it and ran away with it to the top of the tree; and
the Bobog wept because his toriding had been stolen. After
a time there came a small Crab 2 and asked the Bobog why
he was crying. "Because the Monkey has stolen my toriding,"
said the Bobog. "Where is he?" said the Crab. "Up in that
big tree there," replied the Bobog. "All right, don't worry,"
said the Crab, "I will go up the tree after him." Now the
Monkey had his child with him, and, when the Crab had got
up into the tree, the Monkey's child saw the Crab, and called
out, "Father, there is a crab up there close to you." "Oh,
nonsense," said the father, "I expect it is only a knob
of wood that you see." Then the Crab pinched the Monkey,
the Monkey dropped the toriding, and the Crab dropped out
of the tree. So the Bobog ran to get his toriding and he thanked
the Crab, "For," said he, "without your help I should never
have got it back again."
1 Jew's-harp.
2 Such as are found near streams in the jungle.
EM P
ii4 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
The Magical Boats
A Dusun story told by a man of Tambahilik,
Tempassuk District
A man named Lomaring once made a beautiful gobang 1 , and
when he had finished it, he ordered it to sail away. The gobang
set sail of its own accord and sped over the sea until it came
to a Raja's bathing-place near the coast, and there it waited.
Soon a beautiful young woman, the Raja's daughter, came
down to the river to bathe. "Whose gobang is this," said she,
"which has floated away? What a nice plaything." Speaking
thus, she climbed on board, and immediately the boat sailed
away to Lomaring, taking the woman with it. When it arrived
at Lomaring's bathing-place, he was bathing there, waiting
for it to return. "Oh," said he, "perhaps this is my boat,
which is bringing a beautiful woman." So he took the woman,
and brought her home to his house, and made her his wife.
Now another man of the same village, Tamburan by name,
who was also a bachelor, but very ugly, heard of Lomaring's
luck with his boat. "Ah," said he, "I also will make a boat
and try my fortune." So Tamburan made his boat, and
ordered it to sail away for him, but for seven days the boat
refused to move. Then said Tamburan, "If I talk Dusun
perhaps it does not understand; I will try Illanun." So he
spoke to it in Illanun, saying, "Go and find a beautiful house,"
and immediately the boat sailed away, until, at last, it came
to a place where a ship was moored, which had a dead woman
on board. "Ah," said a man on the ship, who had caught
sight of the boat, "what luck, here is a small boat in which
I can row the dead woman ashore!" So he put the corpse
into the boat, and immediately it rushed away with its freight
to find Tamburan, and arrived at his bathing-place just as
he was going to bathe. Tamburan, seeing his boat with the
woman in it, went and raised her up, but, since the corpse
could not stand, he said, "Perhaps she is fast asleep; let her
rest, for she must be tired." So the dead woman remained
1 A small boat made from a single tree-trunk : a dug-out canoe.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 115
in the boat. On the following day Tamburan went down to
the boat again, and the woman's stomach being near bursting,
he said, "What a wretch is this boat of mine; it has brought
me a dead woman"; and, getting very angry, he broke up
the boat. Then Lomaring made a beautiful basong 1 , and, when
it was finished, it started off of its own accord. Now there
was a Bajau woman in a village, who was making cakes for
a festival, and the basong, having come into the village,
stopped there. So the woman, seeing the basong, took it and
placed cakes in it, until it was full to the top. Then the basong
set off immediately for Lomaring's house, and when he saw it,
he said, "What sort of basong is this? As soon as I finished
making it, it ran off, and now here it is again, full of cakes."
So Lomaring and his wife ate their fill. "My boat," said
Lomaring, "got me a woman, and now my basong brings me
cakes." Tamburan heard that Lomaring's basong had come
home full of cakes, and he said, ' ' I made a boat to get me a
woman, but it only got me a rotten corpse; perhaps I shall
have better luck if I make a basong." Then Tamburan made
a basong, but when it was finished, it would not go where it
was ordered. "Perhaps," he said, "I must speak Illanun to
it," so he said in Illanun, "Basong, go and get food for me,"
and the basong started off, and went after a herd of cattle,
and, as it followed close behind them their droppings kept
on falling into it. When the basong was full of dung, it went
into the jungle and under bushes, until the top was covered
with leaves, and the dung could no longer be seen. Tamburan
saw the basong coming when it was still some little way from
his house, and said, "I will go and help it, for it cannot climb
up into the house, since it is so full of cakes." So he went
and carried the basong into the house, and plunging his arm
into it to get at the "cakes" he brought it out covered with
cow-dung. "What a rascal is this basong," said he, "it has
brought home only filth" ; and he fell upon it with his chop-
ping-knife.
1 A kind of carrying-basket made from the leaf-stems of the sago-
palm.
n6 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
The Buffalo and the Banana Plant
An Illanun story told by Orang Kaya Haji Arsat
of Fort Alfred, Tempassuk District
A herd of buffaloes wished one day to cross a river, but was
afraid to do so, as there were many small calves in the herd,
and the river was both swift and deep. As the buffaloes were
debating how they were to cross, some banana plants, which
were growing near, spoke and said, "Cut us down, and then
you can make a raft from us on which your children can cross
the river." So the buffaloes felled the banana plants, and,
making a raft, set the calves upon it. But when the raft got
out into the river the force of the stream seized it, and carried
it down the river to its mouth, where, meeting with great
waves, the raft was dashed to pieces, and all the young
buffaloes were drowned. Then the buffaloes, being very angry,
attacked the remaining banana plants with their horns until
none were left standing; and that is the reason why till the
present day buffaloes like to knock down banana plants with
their horns.
The Raja and the Pauper
A Bajau tale told by Si Ungin of Kotabelud,
Tempassuk District
There was once a very handsome man who had married
a beautiful wife. The husband said one day to his wife, "If
I were to die, would you marry again?" The wife did not
answer him properly, but asked him in turn, "And if I were
to die, would you marry again?" The man replied, "If you
were to die first, I would not marry another." Then said his
wife, " If that is your answer, neither should I wish to marry
again, if you were to die first." The husband and the wife,
therefore, agreed that, if either of them died, the remaining
one should not re-marry. Some time afterwards the man
became ill, and, when he had been sick for three or four days,
he died. His mother and father came and wished to bury
him, but his wife would not allow them to do so. Then said
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 117
his mother and father to the woman, "What do you want?"
And the wife replied, "I wish to lie near him until nothing
but his bones are left." So the woman slept near her husband's
corpse, and she became defiled with its putrefaction. When
nothing remained except the bones, she went to bathe, and,
having done so, she again appeared beautiful. All the men
in the country wished to marry her, but she would have none
of them, saying, "I still have a husband." At last the Raja
of another country heard a report of her beauty. He loaded
his vessel with costly gifts and prepared to set sail with his
companions. Now a certain poor man, who as yet had not
married, was in the Raja's train and, when the ship was laden,
this poor man said to the Raja, "Your Highness, your slave
would like to go with you and see this woman." Then said
the Raja, "What is the use of your going there, you are only
a pauper; you have no goods, and the only thing that you
possess is your own body." The poor man answered, " If your
Highness will take pity on your slave, your slave would like
to go and see this country." "Very well," said the Raja,
"you can come, but to-morrow I set sail." So the poor man
thanked the Raja and went home. That evening he said to
his mother, "Mother, put me up some rice in a bundle." His
mother asked him, "Where are you going?" and he replied,
"I am going with the Raja to see this woman." The same
night he went to the graveyard and, digging open a grave,
took the bones from it, and carried them home. The next
morning, when the Raja was about to sail, he placed the bones
in a large basket and went on board. The ship sailed away
and, after a time, arrived at its destination. When the Raja
had disembarked, he gave it out that he wished to marry the
woman. Next he sent men requesting an answer to his pro-
posal, and the woman replied, " I do not wish to marry, for
I have a husband already — these bones." Then said the Raja,
'Tell the woman to throw away the bones and I myself will
occupy their place and will give her as dowry all that my ship
contains"; but the woman answered again that she already
had a husband.
u8 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
That evening the poor man left the ship and, taking his
basket with him, went to the woman's house. When he got
there it was dark, and he said to the woman's father, "Will
you let me sleep here to-night, for darkness has come on while
I have been walking?" The woman's father replied, "Very
well, you can sleep here." So the woman's father gave him
food and, when all the people of the house had fed, he un-
rolled a sleeping-mat and gave it to him. Now when the poor
man had spread out his mat, he opened his basket, took out
the bones, and placed them near him. The father of the woman
said to him, "What are those?" The poor man replied, "They
are the bones of my wife, and wherever I go, I take them with
me." "Allah !" said the father, "why my daughter also keeps
the bones of her husband; look for yourself." Said the poor
man, "I promised my wife, when she was alive, that if she
died first, I would not marry again, and she made a like
promise to me. Now she is dead, I do not wish to marry again,
and I carry my wife's bones with me. ' ' Then spoke the woman,
"I made a promise just such as yours, and now I do not wish
to marry a man, however handsome he may be, or however
many goods he may have." After this the people of the house
went to sleep, but the poor man kept awake, and at midnight
he took away the bones of the woman's husband, mixed them
with those that he had brought with him, and put them near
the cooking-place. Then he feigned sleep, and, at about five
o'clock in the morning, sat up and pretended to weep. So
because of his great lamentation, the father of the woman,
the woman herself, and all the other people of the house
awoke. And the father said to him, "Why do you weep?"
The poor man replied, "My wife is not here near me; where
can she have gone?" Thereupon the woman began to bemoan
herself because the bones of her husband were missing as well.
So the people of the house searched for the two skeletons,
and found them near the cooking-place. Then both the man
and the woman lamented afresh, since the bones of the
woman's husband were lying with the skeleton which the
poor man said was that of his wife. Thus there arose a lawsuit
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 119
because the bones of the poor man's "wife" had been un-
faithful with those of the woman's husband ; and the judgment
of the elders was that, as the bones had been unfaithful, the
man and woman were absolved from their promise, and, con-
sidering the facts of the case, they thought it fitting that the
man and the woman should marry. So they were married,
and the Raja was very angry with the poor man, and went
home to his own country ; but the poor man stayed with his
wife. As for the bones, the people of the house took them and
buried them.
P'landok Stories
These stories about the cunning little mouse-deer are great favourites
in Borneo among the coastal peoples. Variants of them are also well
known in the Malay Peninsula and a number of them are given by
Skeat in his Fables and Folk-tales from an Eastern Forest.
The P'landok and the Gergasi
A Bajau story told by Si Ungin of Kotabelud,
Tempassuk District
Once upon a time there were seven kinds of animals, the
Buffalo, the Bull, the Dog, the Stag, the Horse, the P'landok
(mouse-deer) and the Kijang (Muntjac or barking-deer). These
animals agreed to catch fish, and when they had cast a round
net into the sea, they drew it to the edge, and there were many
fish in it. They placed their fish on the sand, and someone
said, "Who will guard our fish, while we go and cast the net
again? For we are afraid of the Gergasi 1 ." Then said the
Buffalo, "I will guard the fish, for I am not afraid of him;
if he comes here I will fight him with my horns." When the
other animals had gone away, the Gergasi came, and said,
"Ha, ha, ha, what a lot of fish you have caught ! I'll eat them
directly, and if you don't like it, I'll eat you too !" Said the
Buffalo, "All right, come here and I'll horn you!" "Very
well," said the Gergasi, "if you won't give me your fish I will
eat you." When the Gergasi had got close, and the Buffalo
1 A mythical giant demon who carries a spear over his shoulders. Tusks
project from his mouth.
120 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
made as if to horn him, he seized hold of his horns, and he
could do nothing, because the Gergasi was very big and strong
Then the Buffalo cried out, "Let go; if you let me go, you
can eat the fish !" So the Gergasi let him go, and the Buffalo
swam off to his companions, who were in the sea catching fish.
When he came there, he said to them, "The Gergasi has eaten
our fish: he caught hold of my horns, and I could do nothing."
Then the other animals were angry with him, and said, "If
we were to go on fishing till we died, the Gergasi would get
all our fish " ; and the Horse said to him, "You fish with these
others this time; I'll guard the fish and, if I don't manage to
bite the Gergasi, at any rate I'll kick him." So the animals
brought the fish to the same place, and leaving them in charge
of the Horse, went again to catch more. When the other
animals had been gone a good time, out came the Gergasi
again, and said, "Ha, ha, ha, if you don't swim off again to
your companions, I'll eat you as well as the fish!" "Well,"
said the Horse, "come and take them if you can, but I will
guard them till I die !" On the Gergasi' s approach, the Horse
tried to bite him; but the Gergasi caught him by the head,
and he could do nothing. Then the Horse reared up and the
Gergasi let go his head. When he had got free, he let fly at
the Gergasi with his heels; but the Gergasi caught him by
his hind legs. So the Horse begged to be let go, and the
Gergasi released him, and while the Horse was swimming away
to his companions, the Gergasi ate the fish. When the Horse
reached his companions, he said, " I, too, have done my best,
but the Gergasi has got the fish. First I tried to bite him, and
he caught me by the head. Then I reared, and, having shaken
him off, tried to kick him, but he only caught me by the legs,
and I had to give in." Then his companions said, "What is
the use of our catching fish? We only get tired, and the
Gergasi eats them; it is best that we should go home." So
the Bull, the Stag, the Dog, and the Kijang, said, "What is
the use of our trying to fight the Gergasi? For we are afraid:
all the strong animals had tried, but they have all been beaten.
Let us go home." The P'landok only remained silent, and
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 121
when all the others had had their say, he said, "You go and
catch fish again, and I will stop on guard." "What can you
do," said the Horse, "you who are so small? How can you
fight the Gergasi}" "Never mind," replied the P'landok, "I
can't fight him, or kill him, but I should like to guard the
fish." The other animals wanted to go home, but the P'landok
persuaded them ; and they again caught many fish, and these
they placed on the sand in the same spot. Then said the Stag,
"Who is going to guard the fish?" and the Buffalo replied,
"Why the P'landok said just now that he would." "Very
well," said the P'landok, "I will guard them, but perhaps
some other animal would prefer to, as my body is so small?"
But none of the other animals was willing, so the P'landok
said, "All right, I will guard them, but put them in a heap,
and cover them with leaves, so that they cannot be seen."
Then his companions heaped up the fish and covered them
with leaves, and, having done so, went back to the fishing.
When the others had gone the P'landok went and got some
rattan canes, and cut them into strips, such as are used for
binding anything. As soon as he had finished, out came the
Gergasi and said, "Ha, ha, ha, is the P'landok guarding here?
Why, I got the fish from the Buffalo and the Horse, what
do you think you, who are so small, can do? You had better
give me the fish, or I'll eat you along with them !" Then the
P'landok said, "I'm not guarding fish, I'm cutting up rat-
tans " ; and the Gergasi, who had come near, but had not seen
the fish, said, "What are you doing with the rattans?" " I'm
binding them round my knees," replied the P'landok. "Why
are you doing that?" said the Gergasi. "Don't you see the
sky?" answered the P'landok, "it looks like falling; see how
low it has got ; that's why I am binding up my knees." "Why
do you bind up your knees if the sky looks like falling?" asked
the Gergasi. " I'm binding up my knees so that I can get into
our well here ; for, if the sky falls, I shall not get hurt when
I'm down there." Then the Gergasi looked at the sky and
saw that it was very low. "Don't bind up your legs first,"
said he, "bind mine." "All right," said the P'landok, "only
122 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
go over to the well first." So the two went to the well, the
P'landok carrying the rattans. Then the Gergasi said, "You
bind yourself up first," but the P'landok replied, "If I bind
myself up first, how can I bind you up afterwards?" "Very
well," said the Gergasi, "bind me first, but you shall be the
first to go into the well." "If I do that," said the P'landok,
"I shall not die from the sky falling on me, but from your
falling on top of me in the well." So the Gergasi agreed to go
first, as what the P'landok said seemed reasonable; and the
P'landok bound up the Gergasi firmly, tying his hands to his
knees. "Why have you bound me so tightly?" said the
Gergasi, but the P'landok only gave him a push, and he fell
into the well. "Ah, now you can stop there till you die,"
said the P'landok; "you don't know the P'landok' s clever-
ness!" "I suppose that I shall die here," said the Gergasi.
"Yes," said the P'landok, "for you have always stolen our
fish." After a little time there came the P'landok's com-
panions, bringing more fish. "Ah, see how clever I am," said
the P'landok, "for I have bound the Gergasi ! You said the
Gergasi was strong. How then have I managed to tie him
up?" " You lie 1" said the Buffalo and the Horse, " How could
you manage to bind him?" "If you don't believe me," said
the P'landok, "look into that well and see if he's not there."
So all the animals went to the well, and saw the Gergasi. Then
said the Horse and the Buffalo, "How did you bind him?"
"What's the use of your asking?" said the P'landok, "you
don't know the P'landok's cunning! However, you'd better
kill him with a spear or something, because he has stolen our
fish so often." So they killed the Gergasi with a spear. When
the Gergasi was dead, they agreed to eat on the shore, and
when they had cooked their fish and rice they found only one
thing wanting, and that was chillies. So as they had no
chillies, they did without them, though, as they were ac-
customed to them, they did not enjoy their food much. Then,
while they were eating, the P'landok saw that the end of the
Dog's penis was showing red; "Ah," said he, " we were seeking
for chillies just now — there's one I see !" And he pointed to
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 123
the Dog's penis. The Dog did not understand; and the Stag
and the Kijang said, "Where is the chillie?" 'There," said
the P'landok, and again he pointed to the Dog. Then the Dog
became very angry, because he was ashamed, and the Stag
and the Kijang had laughed at him. So the Stag, the Kijang
and the P'landok became frightened, and ran away, and the
Dog pursued them. And the Dog always hunts these three
till the present day, because they made him ashamed. The
Dog was hot on the track of the P'landok when they entered
the jungle. The P'landok, however, managed, by using its
teeth and feet, to climb a tree. The Dog came below the tree,
but could neither see the P'landok's tracks, nor follow its
scent, beyond this spot. So the Dog left following the P'landok,
and went to hunt the Stag and the Kijang. When he got to
the place where the animals had fed, he found that they had
all gone, but their rice and their fish were left behind. Then
he hunted the Stag and the Kijang, but could not catch them .
At last he said, "Well, if I ever see the Stag, the Kijang, or
the P'landok again, I will kill them, and my children and their
descendants shall do the same!" And so they do down to
the present day. A little time after, the Dog met the Horse,
the Buffalo and the Bull, and these four animals shared the
food, for the Dog was not angry with the other three, because
they had not laughed at him.
The P'landok and the Tiger
Told by Si Ungin, a Bajau of Kotabelud,
Tempassuk District
When the Dog had gone home, the P'landok went in search
of the Tiger, and on his way he came across a lot of snakes,
which were lying coiled up in circles near the Tiger's house.
The P'landok waited there, and the snakes did not move.
Then came the Tiger, and the Tiger and the P'landok saw
each other at the same moment. The Tiger, however, did not
see the snakes, and said to the P'landok, "P'landok, what are
you doing here?" "Oh," said he, "I've been waiting here
124 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
for a long time on guard, because the Raja has ordered me."
"What are you guarding?" said the Tiger. "I am guarding
the Raja's goods here, his orut 1 ," said he, pointing to the
snakes. Then the Tiger looked at the " orut," and seeing them
coiled up, he said, "What if we drag them undone, then I
can tie them round my waist and see if they are good ones
or not?" "I dare not let you do it," said the P'landok, "as
the Raja has put me here to guard his goods, but, if you like,
I will ask him." Now the P'landok was frightened of the
Tiger, and wanted to beat a retreat, so he said, "I will go
ahead, and if I meet the Raja, I will call to you." Then the
P'landok started in search of the Raja, and when he had got
some little way off, he called to the Tiger and said, "I have
met the Raja, and he says that you can try on the cloths."
Then the Tiger caught hold of the snakes and dragged at
them, and they, waking, attacked him, winding themselves
about his body and biting him. Thus the Tiger died. As for
the P'landok he ran off, saying, "Ah, you Tiger, you consider
yourself strong, don't you? But you are no match for the
cunning of the P'landok !"
The P'landok and the Bear
A Bajau tale told by Si Ungin of Kotabelud,
Tempassuk District
When the Tiger was dead, the P'landok began to think how
he could get the better of the Bear, for he had heard that the
Bear was also a strong animal. As he was walking along one
day, he came across a bees'-nest in a tree, and sat down near
it to wait. After he had been there for some time, there came
the Bear. "What are you doing here?" said he. "I am
guarding the Raja's tawag-tawag 2 ," answered the P'landok,
"which he has left in my charge." "May I try its sound,"
1 The orut is a long scarf -like cloth used for swathing the body, and
especially the stomach, during war. It is said that if a man who is wearing
an orut is stabbed in the abdomen, the intestines will not project from the
wound.
2 Tawag-tawag, called tawak-tawak or tStawak, in the Malay Peninsula,
a large gong; vide footnote to p. 98, supra.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 125
said the Bear, "whether it is good or not?" The P'landok
answered, as before 1 , that he must ask the Raja first, and
when he had gone off, and had got some distance away, he
called out, "The Raja says that you can strike the gong."
So the Bear struck the nest, and the bees, coming out in a
fury, stung him to death.
The P'landok and the Crocodile
Told by Anggor, a Tuaran Dusun, but doubtfully
a Dusun story
The P'landok was walking one day near the edge of a river
and saw some fruit on a tree on the other side. He was just
going to cross when he espied the Crocodile. 'Who is that?"
said the P'landok, but the Crocodile did not answer. Then
said the P'landok, "Ah, I know who you are, you are the
Crocodile ! In seven days' time I will bring my whole tribe
to fight you, and do you also bring your people." When the
seventh day had arrived, the P'landok went down to the river
very early, before the Crocodile had come, and walked back-
wards and forwards until the whole of the river margin was
covered with its tracks. After a time the Crocodile and his
companions arrived. Then the P'landok, who was awaiting
them, spoke and said, "You are late in coming: my followers
waited and waited for you, but at last they grew tired, and
have gone home. If you do not believe me, look at their
tracks on the bank. I should like to count how many you
and your companions are, so draw yourselves up in a row
from one side of the river to the other." Then the crocodiles
did so, and the P'landok started walking on their backs
counting, "one, two, three," when suddenly he gave a jump
and reached the other bank. Then he called out, "Ah, I have
cheated you, for how else could a P'landok fight with croco-
diles? I saw the fruit on the other side of the river, but I was
afraid to swim across, as I knew that you were waiting for
me." "Very well," said the Crocodile, "wait till you come
down to the river to drink and I'll eat you." A few days
1 Just as he had answered the tiger about the orut.
126 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
afterwards, the P'landok, who had forgotten all about the
Crocodile, came down to the river to drink, and the Crocodile
caught him by the leg. Then the P'landok took hold of a piece
of wood and pulled it towards him, and when he had done this,
he called out, "That is not my leg you have caught hold of;
this is my leg," said he, pointing to the piece of wood. So
the Crocodile let go of the P'landok' s leg, and the P'landok
sprang away, calling out, "Ah, I have cheated you again;
ho w foolish is the Crocodile ! " ' Very well, ' ' said the Crocodile,
"another time I won't let go of your foot so easily."
The P'landok in a Hole
Told by Ransab, Headman of Piasau, Tempassuk District
(Though the tale is told by a Dusun, I doubt its Dusun origin)
The P'landok when wandering in the jungle one day fell
into a large hole in the ground, and could not get out again.
After a time the Timbadau 1 came to the hole, and seeing
the P'landok, said, "Why, P'landok, what are you doing
there?" " Oh," said the P'landok, " I've come here to see my
mother and father, my sisters and brothers." "Wait a bit,"
said the Timbadau, and I will come down too, for I also wish
to see my mother and father, sisters and brothers," but the
P'landok told the Timbadau that he was not to come down.
Then the Timbadau answered, that if he said that again, he
would fall on him from above, and he, the P'landok, would die.
So the P'landok gave the Timbadau leave to get into the hole,
and the Timbadau came down. When he had come down, the
Timbadau said to the P'landok, "Where are my father and
mother?" "Wait a little," said the P'landok, " I've lost them
just at present." So the Timbadau waited, and after a long
time the Rhinoceros came to the hole and asked them what
they were doing. Then the P'landok answered as before that
he was amusing himself, that he was seeing his father and
mother, and that there were lots of shops down there. Where-
upon the Rhinoceros came down too, "For," said he, "my
father and mother are dead, and I would like to meet them
1 Bos sondaicus.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 127
and see how they have come to life again." Next came the
Stag and asked what they were doing, and the P'landok
replied that he was seeing his father and mother, and that
there were many people sailing away on voyages down there.
So the Stag also jumped down. After that came the Kijang 1 ,
and he, receiving the same answer from the P'landok, came
down too. Then since the other animals were standing on each
other's backs in the hole, the Timbadau at the bottom and
the Kijang at the top, the P'landok was able to scramble up
to the top on their backs and make his escape. Now, when
he had got out, he met a man, who was hunting with his dog,
and the dog, having got on his scent, pursued him. Then the
P'landok made for the hole, and, running round it once or
twice, departed. So the dog, while following the scent of the
P'landok, came to the hole, and seeing the Timbadau and the
other animals, stopped there barking; and the man came up
and killed them all. As for the P'landok he got off scot-free.
The P'landok and the Omong 2,
Told by Si Ungin, a Bajau of Kotabelud,
Tempassuk District
When the P'landok had cheated all the strong animals and
had brought about their deaths, he wished to have a contest
of wits with an animal who considered himself clever, so he
went in search of one. At last he met the Omong, and the
Omong said to him, "P'landok all the strong animals have
been killed by your cunning, but if you like to try your wits
against mine, I am ready." "Very well," said the P'landok,
"that is just what I am looking for, animals who consider
themselves long-headed; but how would you like to compete
with me?" "I should like to race you," said the Omong,
"and if you win, I will acknowledge your cleverness and your
power of running." "What, you want to race with me}" said
the P'landok, "you can only walk sideways on the sand, and
you don't race with your body only, for you have to carry
a shell as well." So the P'landok felt ashamed to run a race
1 Muntjac (Muntiacus muntjac). 2 The Omong is the hermit-crab.
128 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
with the Omong, but he said, "When are we to race?" "To-
morrow," replied the Omong, "we will meet in the middle of
the sands and race. You had better call your companions,
and I will call mine too." "Very well," said the P'landok,
"I will come to-morrow." " We will make a four-sided course
for the race," said the Omong, "and we will race along the
sides of the square from post to post." On the morrow, the
P'landok and his companions came, and also the Omong with
his, and it was decided that whoever won should be considered
the champion over all the animals — for the P'landok had
already overcome all the strongest of them. When they
arrived at the open sand by the sea they made a square,
placing stakes at the corners. Now the P'landok collected
all his followers into one place, as did also the Omong. The
Omong, however, had made a plot and had chosen three of
his followers like himself in appearance and size, and had
told them to bury themselves in the sand by three of the
corners of the race-course, but to leave the fourth corner, the
starting-point, vacant. Then said the Omong to the P'landok,
"When you get to the first post call out 'Omong,' and if I
don't answer, you will know that I have been left behind,
and that you have won the race." So the P'landok and the
Omong started to race from post to post, the Omong saying,
"Run!" When the P'landok heard the Omong say, "Run!"
he gave a jump and the Omong, who, of course, was left
behind, quickly buried himself in the sand, without anyone
seeing him; for the spectators were some way off, and the
Omong was small. So the P'landok ran without looking back,
and when he got near the first post, the second crab had come
out of the sand, and was waiting for him. When the P'landok
got to the post he called out, "Omong!" and the crab answered,
"Yes." So the P'landok, seeing what was apparently the
same crab, gave another jump, and started running for the
second post. The same thing happened here also, and the
P'landok said to himself, "How is it that the Omong, who
walks so slowly, manages to keep up with me?" At the third
post the crab again answered, and the P'landok, who was
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 129
breathing heavily from running at top speed, set off as fast
as he was able for the original starting-post, which was also
to be the finish of the race. When he got there, the Omong
was waiting for him, and again when the P'landok called out,
"Omong," he was answered. Then the P'landok was ashamed
and wished to die; so he ran from stake to stake until his
breath was exhausted, and when he reached the starting-
point he again called out, " Omong!" and the Omong answered
"Yes." Thereupon the P'landok, who had no breath at all
left, fell down and died, and the hermit-crabs cried out that
the Omong was champion; but the P'landok' s followers were
silent.
(hi) NORTH BORNEAN MARKETS
The tamu 1 , or market, is a regular institution in some parts
of British North Borneo, and of such markets two kinds can
be distinguished. One is the small local market, at which
only the inhabitants of a few neighbouring villages are present,
which chiefly serves as an excuse for cock-fighting, toddy-
drinking, and gossiping, the amount of trading done being
almost negligible. Of this kind is Tamu Asam, in the Tem-
passuk District, where the Mohamedan natives of the coast,
Bajaus and Illanuns, meet the people of the neighbouring
Dusun villages. The other variety of tamu is devoted to serious
trading, and to such a market natives come many days' march
from the interior, carrying on their backs heavy baskets of
damar gum (salong), native grown tobacco, beeswax and other
products of the country. These they trade with the Chinese
shopkeepers of the district, who have stalls at most of the
more important markets, and ride 2 up regularly from their
shops near the government post.
A very good example of the larger type of market is Tamu
Darat, also in the above-mentioned district. This is held once
1 This word for "market" is used by natives when talking Malay. It is
derived, no doubt from ber-temu, to meet together, temuan, "a meeting."
The word is, however, in Borneo pronounced as spelt (not temu).
2 Buffaloes, cattle — especially bulls — and native ponies, are all used for
riding purposes. A Bajau or an Illanun will scarcely travel anywhere on
foot if he has a beast to ride.
emp 9
130 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. r
in twenty 1 days, though a smaller tamu also takes place on
the same ground on the tenth 1 day after Tamu Darat. To
this is given the name of Tamu Sesip (Malay sesip, "slipped
in between ") . Formerly the markets were, I understand, held
further up the Tempassuk Valley than is the case at present,
the change of site having been made by a former District
Officer, partly in order to get these meetings under better
control by having them nearer to the government station,
now about six miles away, and partly for the convenience of
the Chinese traders. In past years, when the district was in
a disturbed state, there was a very natural dislike on the part
of the natives both of the interior and of the coast to venture
too far into each other's country 2 ; consequently, certain mar-
kets, as was the case with that under discussion, were held
on more or less neutral ground, though even then everybody
came to tamu fully armed, fights being by no means of rare
occurrence. Up-country natives to the present day come down
to market armed with spear and chopping-knife, but these
have to be left outside the ground in charge of the lance-
corporal or policeman who is there to assist the native chief
appointed to preserve order.
With the growing feeling of security of the up-country
natives in visiting the coasts, the old half-way market, though
still largely attended, appears to be in some danger of falling
into neglect, for it is now no uncommon thing for the people
of the interior to go straight through to Tamu Timbang, which
is held every Wednesday, not far from the government station
and the Chinese shops. By doing this a man bringing in a
load of jungle produce is enabled to obtain slightly higher
1 It is worth noting that these up-country markets are held once in
twenty days in view of the fact that some Indonesians have a week of five
days, but for all I know, though I doubt it, the days for the markets may
have been fixed by some European officer. The point only occurred to me
recently, and I have now no opportunity of looking further into the matter,
still I have never heard that the Dusuns have a week of any kind. The
markets in the coastal regions are held every seven days, for the Mohame-
dans, like the Christians, have a week of that number of days.
2 The Dusuns of the interior were much more frightened to trust them-
selves among the Mohamedans of the coast than vice versa, the Dusun
being a lamb compared with the Bajau or Illanun wolf.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 131
prices, and can also have a better selection of shop goods to
choose from in return. The up-country native is a great walker,
and will carry a very heavy load of damar or tobacco for many
days together. Jungle produce is brought down in large
baskets, which are generally fitted with a back-board and with
three straps of tree-bark; two of these go over the shoulders
while the other is worn round the forehead, the head and
neck thus having to bear a considerable part of the weight.
The jungle produce business is entirely in the hands of the
Chinese; but besides damar, beeswax and wild rubber, the
Dusuns bring with them various articles of their own manu-
facture — hats of various types made of plaited and dyed
rattan or bamboo, rope of twisted tree-bark and coils of rattan
cane cut into strips and dyed black or red, these last being used
for ornamental bindings — as well as rice, mangoes, durians,
belunos and other kinds of fruit, and, most important of all,
tobacco, which is largely cultivated at Kiau, on the slopes of
Mount Kinabalu, as well as at Bundutuhan and other more
inland villages. These they trade with the coast peoples who
expose for sale, fresh and sun-dried fish, shell-fish, turtles' eggs,
coarse native-made salt and head-cloths, which are woven
by both Bajau and Illanun women on their primitive looms.
Straits Settlements' silver dollars and the North Borneo
Company's notes, copper and nickel coin pass freely, and
payment in cash is at a premium, but a great part, probably
the greater part, of the trade in the tamu is done by barter 1 .
This is of course very much to the liking of the Chinese, who
will not part with cash unless forced to do so, since by bar-
tering their cotton goods, beads, gambier, kerosene and other
articles, they obtain a double profit on every deal. Buffaloes
are to some extent traded in at the large tamu, but such
transactions have to take place in the presence of a chief, and
the animal must be branded with the chief's brand before
the sale is complete. This is extremely necessary, as buffalo
1 The trade in jungle produce, and in large quantities of tobacco, is very
frequently done by barter. Buffaloes are brought to market by the Chinese
to trade for heavy loads of damar, etc.
9—2
132 BRITISH NORTH BORNEO pt. i
thieving, in spite of all attempts to suppress it, remains one
of the "industries" of the Tempassuk District. Bajau and
Illanun women do not come much to Tamu Darat, though
they resort in large numbers to the coast markets, where they
prove themselves even more inveterate hucksters than their
men-folk. Dusun women, however, will go a six or seven
days' journey to any important tamu, and frequently carry
almost as heavy loads as the men.
Before the Tempassuk District was properly pacified, the
Chinese were afraid to move far away from the protection of
the government station, and the Bajaus, therefore, performed
the part of commission agents for them ; but with the growth
of security this method of gaining a living has gradually
become closed.
Native-grown tobacco, mentioned above, is prepared by
cutting it into strips, which are sun-dried and rolled into
bundles of from about nine inches to a foot long. A bundle
of this kind is termed a perut 1 (stomach). A considerable
export trade in tobacco is carried on from the district, chiefly
to Brunei; whence, no doubt, it is distributed to other parts
of Borneo. The Dusun is not in reality so simple as he appears
to be at first sight, and buyers of tobacco generally take a
sample from the middle and bottom of a vendor's basket,
as it is no uncommon thing for the rolls at the top to be of
good quality, while every other perut in the basket consists
of only a wrapping of tobacco outside a core of grass or other
make-weight. Adulteration of rubber is also not infrequent,
and after a deal has been concluded, it is advisable for the
purchaser to cut open and inspect the balls of crude rubber
before making payments for them; otherwise the wily Dusun,
who has filled them with rubbish inside, will have made him-
self scarce.
It is interesting to note the Dusun's preference for using
his ancient routes when coming down to market from up-
country. At the time that the writer was stationed in the
Tempassuk District there was an excellent bridle-path reaching
1 This is a Malay term.
pt. i BRITISH NORTH BORNEO 133
from Kotabelud, the government post, to the divide which
forms part of the boundary of the Residency of the Interior.
The path was necessarily somewhat winding, as it was im-
possible to get a better trace owing to the fact that the hills
rise up steeply from the river, and the track is perforce cut
in the side of them. The Dusuns, as a rule, neglect the bridle-
path in favour of the old-time track, which largely follows
the bed of the Tempassuk (or Kadamaian) River, a stream
shallow nearly everywhere in its upper reaches. In times of
flood, when the Tempassuk, swollen by the torrents which
descend from Mount Kinabalu, becomes a raging and im-
passable flood, the up-country native is, however, thankful for
the government path, and the river loses the toll of lives which
it was its wont to exact in former days from those Dusuns
who foolhardily attempted the impossible.
Before bringing this paper to a close, mention should
perhaps be made of the Dusun's habit of camping to chat
and rest on the night before market. In the majority of cases
only natives from villages comparatively near come straight
into the trading place from the march. Those from a distance
time themselves so as to reach a spot some way up-stream
from the tamu ground on the evening before ; here they camp,
cook their food, and meet together to exchange news and to
discuss the prospects of the rice crop. The next day they start
off so as to reach the tamu about an hour before noon. Each
village has its own particular place in the market, the Tiong
(Ulu Tuaran) people near a fallen tree on the river bank; the
Kiau people under a large Ficus, and so on. At 12, when the
chief in charge hoists the flag on the flagstaff, the market
springs into full life. The Bajaus, who up to this time have
been divided off from the Dusuns by a rope drawn across the
centre of the ground, rush over to trade their fish for such
articles as they may require; and those Dusuns who have
brought baskets of damar gum or tobacco make their way to
the stalls of the Chinese traders, where pandemonium is let
loose owing to the clamour of rival shopkeepers, each of whom
endeavours to get the best of the trade into his own hands.
PART II
THE MALAY PENINSULA
(i) Some Beliefs and Customs of the Negritos.
(ii) Some Beliefs and Customs of the Sakai.
(iii) Some Beliefs and Customs of the Jakun.
(iv) Miscellaneous Notes on Malay Customs and Beliefs.
(v) Malay Folk-tales.
(vi) Malay Back-slang.
(vii) Setting up the Posts of a Malay House.
(viii) Bela Kampong.
(ix) Customs of the Camphor -hunters and Bahasa Kapor.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS
THE Malay States which are under British control, apart
from the representatives of the many races and peoples 1
which have flocked into them — chiefly during the last thirty
years or so — in connexion, directly or indirectly, with the
development of the tin-mining industry and of rubber-
planting, are occupied by the native Mohamedan Malays and
the pagan tribes, the latter being found chiefly in the more
inaccessible parts of the country. The former — it is certainly
true in the case of some of them {e.g. those of the Negri
Sembilan 2 ) — are, according to their own legends, chiefly in-
vaders from Sumatra 3 , who displaced, intermingled with, or
exterminated certain of the aborigines.
1 The Chinese almost equal the Malays (native and foreign) in numbers
in the four Federated States. They come chiefly from the southern maritime
provinces of Canton and Fuhkien and the island of Hainan, and include
Hokkiens, Khehs, Cantonese, Hailams and others. There are also many
thousands of Indians, both from the north and south, the most important
peoples numerically being Tamils, Telugus, Malayalims, Sikhs and Pathans.
Other foreigners present in large or small numbers are Sinhalese, Japanese,
Siamese, Javanese, Sumatran Malays, Banjarese (from Banjar Masin in
Dutch Borneo), Boyanese, Siamese, Burmese, Manilamen and Dyaks.
2 Negri Sembilan means "the nine countries." It was at one time com-
posed of nine states.
3 I doubt whether this holds good for the people of Trengganu and
Kelantan and the Malays of the states under Siamese jurisdiction. Further-
more, there appears to be a very considerable Bugis element among the
native Selangor Malays and also a non-Sumatran admixture in Perak,
Pahang and parts, at any rate, of Johore.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 135
The pagans are representative of three races. Firstly, we
have the woolly-haired Negritos, almost certainly the oldest
inhabitants of the country, who seem to have once had a much
more extended range, but, nowadays, are only found in Kedah,
Trengganu, Kelantan and parts of Perak and Pahang, in so
far as the British-protected states are concerned, but extend
into the Siamese portion of the Peninsula, and have been
reported from as far north as the Province of Chaiya. They
are, of course, related to the Andamanese and the "Aetas"
of the Philippines. Secondly, the wavy-haired people (Sakai) ,
of whom the purest tribes are probably to be found in the
mountains which form the boundary between Pahang and the
Kinta and Batang Padang Districts of Perak. Thirdly, the
Jakun, or pagan Malays, of the south of the Peninsula.
Many groups are of mixed origin, the mixture sometimes
including all three elements 1 . In the mountainous regions
of Upper Perak, for instance, the inhabitants are of mixed
Negrito-Sakai type, though their dialect and culture are Sakai.
As we go further south, still in the mountains, the Negrito
element becomes less and less until, in the neighbourhood of
the Kerbau (or Korbu) River and around the head- waters of
the Kinta, it has almost disappeared 2 . From the Ray a, the
next considerable river, down to the Selangor border, the
people of the Main Range are as pure Sakais as can be found.
When, however, we pass this limit we encounter mixed tribes,
generally with Jakun physical characters predominating, some
of whom speak Sakai dialects as their mother-tongue; some
a rather archaic form of Malay (Jakun). These mixed tribes
also occupy a large portion of Pahang. In this state there are,
however, some groups, which may, I think, be regarded as
1 Especially in parts of Pahang, where, among tribes talking Sakai (Mon-
Annam) dialects, but with Malayan (Jakun) physical characters generally
dominant, individuals are frequently to be encountered who have obviously
a considerable strain of Negrito blood in them.
2 These hill people, who live in the neighbourhoods of the Temengoh,
Plus, Piah and Kerbau Rivers and around the head-waters of the Kinta,
ranging also into Kelantan and N.W. Pahang, form the linguistic group
known as Northern Sakai. They are diligent agriculturists, and are also
remarkable for building communal houses.
136 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
being fairly typical Jakun, those in question occupying the
coast and a considerable strip of hinterland between the
mouth of the Pahang River and the Endau, which forms the
boundary between Pahang and Johore. In Johore, where I
have never visited any of the pagan groups, we are in the chief
stronghold of the Jakun, who appear to have originally come
over from Sumatra and to be related to the Orang Kubu and
some other wild tribes of that island.
The Malays, from the point of view of the student of
primitive religion and custom, are not particularly interesting
as compared with the pagan peoples of the Malay Archipelago,
for, though they still retain a good number of ancient beliefs
and customs, they are Moslems, and though their present
religion forms only a thin veneer over a slight layer of Hin-
duism, and a mass of animism, shamanism and fetichism, yet
Mohamedanism has had sufficient influence partially to de-
stroy the older beliefs and customs — such as can still be studied
in their entirety among the pagan peoples of Borneo. With
the present facilities for communication by rail and road, and
their greater extension in the future, the advance of educa-
tion, and the opportunities that the Malays now have of
obtaining orthodox Moslem instruction in their religion, the
older beliefs — though still showing a great deal of vitality —
will, probably, gradually pass away.
Concerning the beliefs and customs of the pagans in general,
though Skeat has told us a good deal about the Besisi, and
the present notes add, I hope, something to the total of our
information about various groups, really not very much is
known. To get into touch with most of them is not particularly
difficult, but to live with them for any length of time, often
on clearings in the heart of the jungle, into which the sun beats
remorselessly all day long, shut off from breezes at night by
the surrounding forest, is, as I can testify, neither pleasant,
nor particularly good for the health. Europeans, who wish
to investigate their affairs must have either a fairly good work-
ing knowledge of colloquial Malay — the only really possible
medium of communication, or must employ an interpreter
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 137
who can speak Malay and English, and satisfactory men for
the purpose are not, I should imagine, very easy to obtain.
Apart from visitors to the Malay States, who have given
merely travellers' impressions of the pagans, savants fresh
from Europe, who have been hindered by the shortness of the
time at their disposal, and the above-mentioned difficulties,
from gaining much knowledge of the inner life of the wild
tribesmen, what work has been done in this connexion is
chiefly to be ascribed to European residents ip the Peninsula,
who have devoted a part of their leisure to finding out what
they could about the pagans whom they have encountered
on their (generally official) travels, or who were to be found
living close at hand. Of these Skeat stands head and shoulders
above the others 1 , and his book is, and will probably remain,
the standard work on the aborigines.
One worker on the customs and beliefs of the wild tribesmen,
and one of the most prolific in his writings, has proved, un-
fortunately, the bugbear of those who have come after him.
This is Vaughan-Stevens. Now it is by no means fair for one
investigator of the religions and customs of uncivilized peoples
and tribes to brand another as a liar, for in such work so much
depends on the temperaments and tempers of those who
undertake it, as well, sometimes, on circumstances over which
they have no control 2 , still I think that it would not be unjust
to say that in Vaughan-Stevens' case very little evidence in
confirmation of a good deal of his work has yet come to light 3 .
Let us now see with regard to the three racial divisions of
the aborigines — the Negritos, the Sakai and the Jakun —
whether it is possible to say that such and such beliefs or
customs are characteristic of, or confined to, any of the three.
1 Of the earlier workers Logan, Hervey and Newbold should be remem-
bered with gratitude.
3 In Malaya they sometimes have to encounter the results of bad be-
haviour on the part of other Europeans who have preceded them in visiting
the natives: sometimes hostile rumours, started owing to stupidity, or for
material reasons, by Malays or Chinese.
3 Especially with regard to his elaborate stories about the magical use
of the comb-patterns of the Negritos, and the subject of totemism among the
Sakai. Some of his work, I myself, however, have been able to verify to a
certain extent.
138 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
To attempt this, however, is somewhat dangerous, for our
knowledge is deficient and if we state that certain practices,
or beliefs, are common only, let us say, to the Jakun tribes,
further evidence may prove that our statement is incorrect,
and that they are found among Sakai, or Sakai and Negrito,
groups as well. I will content myself, therefore, by trying to
point out tentatively in what respects the three racial divisions
seem to differ from one another, and in what they seem to
have common ideas or observances. It is, of course, much
more easy to go astray in making negative than positive
statements. The Malay States do not form a very large area,
and as certain of the groups are of mixed origin, and others,
belonging to different racial divisions, are in contact and tend
to become of mixed blood, it is not to be wondered at, if, for
instance, what appear to be really Jakun beliefs and customs
are found among groups which we should describe as being
Sakai; or the reverse.
Skeat gives the following analysis of the religious beliefs
of the three racial divisions:
(a) The Semang 1 religion in spite of its recognition of a " Thunder-
god" (Kari) and certain minor "deities" has very little indeed in the
way of ceremonial, and appears to consist mainly of mythology and
legends. It shows remarkably few traces of demon-worship, very
little fear of ghosts, and still less of any sort of animistic beliefs.
(b) The Sakai religion, whilst admitting a great quasi-deity, who
is known under various names, yet appears to consist almost entirely
of demon- worship ; this takes the place of the Shamanism so widely
spread in south-east Asia, the Shaman or Medicine-man (hala) being
the acknowledged link between man and the world of spirits. In the
words of Mr Hale it is a form of "demon-worship" in which demons
(Hantu) are prayed to but not God {A llah) .
(c) The religion of the Jakun is the pagan or pre-Mahomedan
(Shamanistic) creed of the Peninsular Malays, with the popular part
of whose religion (as distinct from its Mahomedan element) it has
much in common. It shows no trace of the tendency to personify
abstract ideas found among the Semang, and its deities (if they can
be so called) are either otiose or a glorified sort of tribal ancestors,
round whom miraculous stories have collected. The few elements that
it has in common with the Semang religion are no doubt due to
cultural contact 2 .
1 Negrito. * Pagan Races, n. 174, 175.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 139
Now I rather doubt whether Skeat's analysis will stand in
its entirety in view of the further information contained in
the present papers. To take a few points, the Semang Thunder-
god appears to be a deified tribal ancestor 1 , and the Jakun
deities are also, according to his statement, of this class. He
says that Negrito religious ideas show "very little fear of
ghosts and still less of animistic beliefs," whereas according
to my experience the Negritos are in great fear of the ghost
of a deceased person for from six to seven days after death 2
while they also seem to have fairly strongly marked animistic
ideas with regard to the spirits of trees 3 . In addition he states
that there are "few traces of demon-worship." If he means
of shamanism, which I am inclined to think that he does, it
is worth noting that shamans and shamanistic practices 4 are
found among, at any rate, some of the Negritos. In his analysis
of Sakai and Jakun beliefs I can find few points on which to
differ from him. It is perhaps worth pointing out, however,
that "the great quasi-deity" of the Sakai is, it seems, either
actually the sun, or is in some way considered closely con-
nected with that luminary.
Before trying to point out what beliefs or customs are
characteristic of each of the three racial divisions of the pagans,
I will make an attempt to demonstrate certain similarities.
It is curious to note in this connexion that, in some respects,
the beliefs of the Negritos of the Western States seem to show
greater correspondence with those of the mixed tribes (Sakai-
Jakun) of Selangor and the Negri Sembilan, than with the
Sakai proper, who lie much nearer to them ; for instance, the
legend of a bridge leading to an island paradise of fruits is
found among the Negritos of the Ulu Selama region of Perak
and the Besisi of the Selangor coast, while though I have
obtained evidence of a similar belief among the aborigines of
the Behrang Valley (in Perak near the Selangor boundary)
and from a community of Sakai dwelling on the flat lands
near Sungkai (Perak) — among both of whom I know that
1 Pagan Races, II. 174, 175. 2 Vide p. 178, infra.
3 Vide p. 171, infra. 4 Vide p. 158, infra.
140 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
there was a Selangor (Sakai-Jakun) element — I have, so
far, not discovered that such ideas are known among the
purer Sakai groups, and Skeat considers beliefs with regard
to the "Island of Fruits" to be of "Malayan" {i.e. Jakun)
origin.
The magic circle, or circular hut, within which some abo-
riginal medicine-men place themselves when they call upon
their familiars, is found among the Negritos of Ulu Selama,
some of the Sakai-Jakun tribes of Selangor and of Negri
Sembilan, the Behrang and Sungkai Sakai mentioned above,
and among Sakai living near Tapah in the Batang Padang
District of Perak. In all these cases I have myself seen the
hut or circle which is employed for this purpose. The Ulu
Selama Negritos and the Selangor and Negri Sembilan tribes
construct a beehive-shaped hut of palm-leaves, though some-
times, among the last two, only the semblance of such a hut
— the circle is generally incomplete in such cases — is erected
within an ordinary house. The Tapah people and the Behrang
and Sungkai tribesmen make a large ring of rattan cane,
which is suspended within the house, and has a thick fringe
of shredded leaves attached along its perimeter, this reaching
almost to the floor. Messrs Annandale and Robinson have
also reported these circular structures from Bidor in South
Perak, while I have verbal evidence of the use of round huts
or circles among the Sakai of the Ulu Kampar (Perak), and
the Jehehr Negritos of Upper Perak. I know from personal
experience, however, that the magic circle or round hut is
not in use among some Kemaman Sakai-Jakun whom I met
in Central Pahang in 1917, while the Rompin 1 Jakun told
me that they did not use it either.
In some parts of the Peninsula the shaman holds a whisk
of shredded, or whole, leaves when calling his familiar, and I
have seen such implements among the Sakai-Jakun of the
Selangor-Negri Sembilan boundary, the Behrang Valley abo-
rigines, and the Sungkai people (the last two of whom, as
stated above, have a Selangor strain in their blood), the
1 The Rompin River is in Pahang.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 141
Kemaman Sakai-Jakun, and the Jakun of the Rompin River
District, but do not know that it is employed among the
Negritos.
When a death occurs fear of the ghost makes many abori-
ginal groups shift their quarters, and I have evidence of such
customs among the Ulu Selama Negritos, the Sakai (fairly
pure) of the Kerbau River neighbourhood in Perak, the Sakai
of the Ulu Kinta, a Sakai-Jakun tribe in Pahang, the Jakun
of the Rompin District 1 and others. For the same reason,
too, various tabus are in force for from six 2 to seven days
among the Negritos of Ulu Selama and of Grik, and for five
days among the Sakai of the flat lands near Sungkai. There is
also, perhaps, reason for thinking that the Sakai of the Ulu
Kampar believe that a ghost lingers near at hand for seven
days, for I was told that a fire is lighted at the grave for the
first six days after a body has been buried.
Offerings of food, too, and the belongings of the dead are very
generally placed upon graves 3 by tribesmen of all three races.
The idea that storms accompanied by subsidence of the
ground, and involving the swallowing up of villages and their
inhabitants, are sent as punishments by the Powers Above,
when somebody has offended them by some impious action,
is well known among some of the Negrito and Sakai tribes,
as also to certain groups of Sakai-Jakun, to some of the Malays
of Pahang, and — outside the Peninsula — to the Dusuns of
British North Borneo 4 . The kinds of actions which are par-
ticularly likely to give offence, and to be punished in this way,
are teasing domestic or other animals, burning or cooking
certain substances or food-stuffs together, or copying the notes
of some species of birds.
Among the Western Negritos, when a bad storm comes on,
a blood-offering is generally made to the spirits, or deities,
who dwell in the sky, while the Sakai of the Batang Padang
1 They only desert the clearing for from ten to fifteen days.
2 The spirit goes to the home of the dead on the seventh day.
3 Or in them.
4 For many other instances of such beliefs vide Megalithic Monuments
of Indonesia.
142 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
District of Perak either cut off a piece of hair and strike it
with a working-knife or with a billet of wood, or make an
offering of blood in very much the same way as the Negritos.
Among some of the Sakai tribes there are certain pro-
hibitions with regard to mentioning the every-day names of
some kinds of animals when their flesh is being consumed, and
there also seem to be traces of such customs among the
Negritos.
A number of other resemblances between different racial
sections of the Peninsular aborigines might be pointed out,
but I shall content myself with only mentioning a few of them :
for instance, the Negritos think that during an eclipse of the
moon it is being swallowed by a butterfly or by a snake, while
the Sakai consider that it is a snake or dragon which makes
an attack upon the luminary, while the stars, both among the
Sakai of Sungkai and the Negritos of Ijok, are said to be the
children of the moon. Beliefs that certain persons can become
tigers at will are current among the Negritos and Sakai, among
the Malays, and probably among the Jakun as well.
Chenduai-fiowers and a fungus rhizomorph, known to the
Malays as akar (or urat) batu are used as charms, both by
the Negritos and by certain of the Sakai-Jakun of Selangor
and Negri Sembilan, the former for obtaining the affections
of women, the latter as a talisman against "hot rain" {i.e.
rain while the sun is shining), which is feared by Malays as
well as by the aboriginal groups, since it is thought to bring
sickness.
Still another curious belief, found among both Negritos and
Sakai, is that places where the roots of trees cross one another
are the haunts of evil spirits.
It will be seen, I think, from the instances given above,
that it is not very easy to state what beliefs are characteristic
of any of the three racial divisions, especially since not very
much is known about their inner life. With regard to the
Jakun, we know very little about the tribes of Johore, who
should be their purest representatives, and, in view of this,
I do not think that it would be fair to judge by the borderland
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 143
Sakai-Jakun, whom I have included with the Sakai in these
papers. Of the Negritos the following ideas and customs may,
perhaps, prove to be characteristic :
1. That a bird-soul animates the foetus in pregnant women.
2. That children are named from the kinds of trees near which they
were born, or from the nearest stream 1 .
3. That dart-quivers are decorated with magical patterns which
by sympathy render the game tame. (These patterns are convention-
alized representations of parts of the animals which are usually hunted,
or of the kinds of food which they like best.)
(1) SOME BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS OF THE NEGRITOS
My evidence with regard to Negrito beliefs and customs has
been gathered from members of several groups. Of these
one lives in Pahang; all the others in Perak. In the latter
State I have been in contact with, and, in most cases, visited
Negritos at Lenggong, Kuala Kenering, Grik, Temengoh,
Ijok 2 , and also in the Ulu Selama region, where I have
twice camped close to settlements, one of which contained
representatives of three tribes. In Pahang the Negritos whom
I met were those who frequent the neighbourhood of the
Cheka River.
In the present section of this book I have purposely avoided
speaking of Semang and Pangan, as Skeat calls the Western
and Eastern Negritos respectively, since if we refer to both
1 As far as I know both the Western and Eastern Negritos name children
in this manner. They are sometimes named after rivers among Sakai tribes,
but they are also frequently given names from events which happened at
about the time of birth, from fancied resemblances to animals, from the
locality at which the birth took place, etc.
2 Lenggong, Kuala Kenering, Grik and Temengoh are all in Upper Perak:
Ijok is in the Selama Sub-District. Much of my information about the
Negritos was gathered from a Menik Kaien Negrito whom I met in 191 8
near the Damak River, Ulu Selama, but with whom I had previously become
acquainted at Ijok in 1913, from Mempelam, headman of the Kintak Bong
group — Ulu Selama Negritos — in 1921, and again from the same Menik
Kaien (Tokeh), when he paid a three days' visit to me at Taiping in the same
year. Additional information obtained from him after this section of my
work was written is added in the footnotes with his name and the year
(1921) appended.
Menik means aborigines (Negrito or Negri to-Sakai) as opposed to the
Malays and other strangers.
144 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
of them as Negritos it avoids some possibility of confusion.
The wavy-haired, long-headed pagans of the Peninsula must
perforce be spoken of as Sakai, since we have no other term
for them, but it is advisable, in so far as possible, not to
employ the names given to the pagan tribes by the Malays,
since the latter use them so loosely that Negritos are frequently
called Sakai, and I have also come across wild Sakai- Jakun
tribes whom they dubbed Pangan. The fact is that "Orang
Sakai" really means "subject peoples," while "Orang Pan-
gan" signifies little more than "people of the forest glades,"
so it is not wonderful that the Malays do not apply these
terms in the sense in which they have been accepted by
anthropologists. The term Semang , however, I have never
heard the Malays use with reference to any but Negrito
tribesmen.
It may, perhaps, not be out of place here to make a few
remarks anent the tribal names of the different sections of the
Negritos with whom I deal below, and of those with whom they
are in contact. I have already referred (in a footnote, p. 143)
by their proper names to the Menik Kaien whose territory
formerly extended from Batu Kurau to Bruas, and the Kintak
Bong, or Menik Bong, the Negritos of the Ulu Selama region 1 .
The Lenggong, Kuala Kenering and Grik people — the Sakai
Jeram of the Malays — call themselves Semak 2 (Semark) Belum
or Semak Belong; that is, Perak River aborigines, since the
Perak River in its upper reaches is locally known as the Belum,
or better, Belong 3 , Water. They are, however, known to the
1 The Selama Negritos, the Kintak Bong, unfortunately suffered severely
in the influenza epidemic of 1918, and the present headman told me that
altogether twenty-seven died, mostly at Mahang in Kedah. There are now,
according to the headman's statement, rather over fifty Kintak Bong left,
most of these being, at the time of writing (1921) in Kedah, while the
remainder — nineteen in all — are living at Lubok Tapah, a Malay village
about three miles distant from Kuala Bayor.
2 Semak has the same meaning as Menik, but the Lenggong, Kuala
Kenering and Grik tribes speak a Sakai dialect while the other tribes, with
whom I deal, speak so-called Negrito dialects. The Grik people sometimes
call themselves Semak Sabeum.
3 According to Capt. H. Berkeley, I.S.O., District Officer, Upper Perak,
bSlong is the name of a kind of tree from which a poison was formerly manu-
factured.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 145
Menik Kaien and Kintak Bong as Menik Lanoh. The Negritos
who are native to the Ijok Valley — there are also Menik
Kaien 1 and Menik Lanoh there — are called Menik Gul (Marsh
Negritos 2 ) by the Menik Kaien, and Bianok by the Kintak
Bong, while the name given to them by the Malays (Semang
Paya) is merely a translation of Menik Gul. The Negritos of
Temengoh and of Tadoh (Kelantan) — known to the Malays as
Jehehr — are called Menik Jehai by the Kintak Bong and
Menik Kaien, but whether they apply a different name to
themselves, I do not know. The Baling and Siong (Kedah)
tribe is, according to Mempelam, called Menik Kensieu,
while Token referred to the Negrito-Sakai tribes, whom I deal
with under the heading of Sakai, as Menik Chubak (hill
aborigines).
Mempelam told me that the Grik (in Upper Perak) Negritos
were called Menik Semnam, and those of Belukar Semang,
Upper Perak, Menik Hangat. In the neighbourhood of the
Kupang River in Kedah he said there were Kintak — not the
same as the Kintak Bong — as well as some Kensieu. Other
tribes mentioned by him were the Mengos, said to live near
Lanih in Kelantan, and the Menik Tiong also in that State.
He also referred to several hill groups, one of which, at any
rate, is probably apocryphal: these were the Menik Lalik
(Ulu Temengor hills), Menik Chubak 3 (Ulu Piah), the Pleh, and
the Batak 4 . The last are said to dwell around the head- waters
of the Plus. They are cannibals and dwell in burrows in the
ground. Neighbouring tribes, according to Mempelam, make
offerings to them by pushing live babies down their burrows.
1 The Menik Kaien are also said to have a camp on the Ayer Sauk, a
tributary of the Plus River. Tokeh (1921) says that there are eight Menik
Kaien at Ijok, but many among the Lanoh in the Perak Valley, to whom
they are now assimilated in speech and manners.
2 Tokeh (1921) says that there is now only one Menik Gul left, a^ woman,
who is married to a Chinese convert to Mohamedanism, by whom she has
three children. The neighbourhood of Titi Ijok is said to have been the
original home of the Menik Gul.
3 Chubak means a hill.
4 The Batak of Sumatra are charged with being cannibals. Probably
confused stories about them have been transferred to some existent, or
imaginary, tribe.
EMP IO
146 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
The Negritos of Cheka Valley in Pahang alluded to them-
selves as Batek.
Legend of the Origin of the Negritos
Told by a Negrito of Ijok
Once upon a time the king of the Mawas 1 monkeys, Raja
Mawas, fought with the king of the Siamang 2 monkeys, Raja
Siamang, in the country where our ancestors lived. Our
ancestors ran away from the place, being frightened by the
war, and hid themselves in a plain covered with lalang grass.
The Raja Mawas beat the Raja Siamang, and the latter, with
his people, ran away and hid in the same plain as our ancestors.
The Raja Mawas came and set fire to the grass, and the Raja
Siamang and his followers fled and crossed the Perak River.
Our ancestors did not run away, having hidden themselves
in porcupine burrows, in order to escape from the fire. In
spite of this, the fire reached them, and singed their hair,
and this is the reason why we, their descendants, have curly
hair to the present day.
After the war was over the king of the Ber ok monkeys 3 , Raja
Berok, became judge between the Siamang and the Mawas,
and he gave judgment that the Siamang should stop on the
south bank of the Perak River, and the Mawas on the north ;
and thus they do till the present day, though before they had
both lived on the north bank 4 .
The ancestors of the Malays, when the war arose, ran away
down-stream carrying a rice-spoon with them, and that is
why the Malays use a spoon in cooking their rice.
Our ancestors ran away up-stream carrying a pointed stick ;
and that is the reason why we still use a stick for digging
tubers in the jungle.
1 The Mawas is Hylobates sp.
2 The Siamang is Symphalangus syndactylies.
3 Macacus nemstrinus.
4 The Perak River, in its upper reaches, runs directly from north to south.
It would, therefore, be better to substitute west for south and east for north
in the story, but I leave it as it was told.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 147
The Negrito Gods
Skeat tells us that Ta' Ponn is the supreme deity of the
Negritos of Siong in Kedah, whom he states that Vaughan-
Stevens disguises under the name of Tappern. Now, though
I have been unable to obtain any confirmation of much of
Vaughan-Stevens' work, yet I have certainly found that there
is some truth to be found in his writings, and in no case has
more evidence of this come to hand than in the Ulu Selama
region. Judging by what Skeat says — I have not Vaughan-
Stevens' original papers in the Globus to refer to — he seems
seldom to have given the localities from which he obtained
his information. This makes it exceedingly difficult to judge
of his accuracy or inaccuracy, but he did, at any rate, work
near Ulu Selama 1 . It will be found, I think, on comparing
the material in this and some of the following sections — largely
obtained from a Menik Kaien (Token), but also checked in
part by questioning others (Kintak Bong) as well — with what
Vaughan-Stevens, as quoted by Skeat 2 , wrote upon similar
subjects, that it bears out his work to a considerable extent.
Among the Menik Kaien and Kintak Bong I found that
the principal god is called Tapern, and on one occasion I heard
him alluded to as Tak 3 (Ta') Tapern. No doubt the difference
between Ta' Ponn and Tak Tapern is merely due to the fact
that the dialect spoken by the Siong people differs from that
of Ulu Selama.
Tapern appears to be a kind of deified tribal ancestor, for
— according to the story which I obtained from Token —
Tapern, his wife (Jalang 4 ), his younger brother (Bajiaig), and
Bajiaig's wife, Jamoi, escaped from the war between the
Siamang and Mawas, of which I have given an account above.
The four were able to climb up to heaven because they had
not had their hair burnt, but the rest of the Negritos could not
1 Vide Papers on Malay Subjects; The Aboriginal Tribes, p. 4.
2 Pagan Races, 11. 202-225. 3 "Grandfather."
4 Token (1921) says that it was Jalang who taught the Negritos how to
make combs, head-dresses, and other personal ornaments. Mothers still say-
to their girl children, when they are inclined to pride themselves on their
good looks, "Don't think that you are as beautiful as Yak Jalang!"
10 — 2
148 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
follow them. Tapern made a ladder up to heaven by shooting
a series of darts from his blow-pipe into the air. The first of
these stuck into a black cloud, and the others ranged them-
selves in order below, so as to form steps, up which he and
his three companions then climbed. Tapern is white, and his
father's name is Kukak, while his mother is named Yak
Takel. Yak (grandmother) Lepeh is the mother of Jalang,
while Jamoi's mother is called Yak Manoid. These three
"Grandmothers" live under the earth and guard the roots
of the Batu Herem, the stone which supports the heavens,
which I shall have occasion to refer to later on, and they can
make the waters under the earth rise and destroy any of the
Negritos who give great offence to Tapern. Tapern's subjects,
the beings of the heavens, are called Chinoi, and he uses them
as messengers, while a personage named Jatik, who lives in
the eastern sky, acts as his body-servant 1 , and two others,
Chapor and Chalog, as his constables, who inform him if any-
one on earth is committing sins. When he is angry, Tapern
commands the stone which makes the thunder to roll over
the four boards which meet in the centre of the heavens, one
of which extends towards the east, one towards the west, and
the other two towards the north and south respectively 2 .
Tapern's house stands at the angle where the southern and
western boards meet. As the stone rolls along the boards,
making thunder (kaii), a cord, which is attached to it, winds
and unwinds itself, and this flashing cord is the lightning. The
thunder is heard to roll from one end of the heavens to the
other as the stone rolls over the planks. I have alluded above
to the three grandmothers who live under the earth. The
Kintak Bong (in 192 1) confirmed what had been told me
previously by Tokeh, but substituted the name of Yak Kal-
cheng for that of Yak Takel. It is these grandmothers who
make the waters rise from under the earth, causing Henweh 3 ,
and Tanong (the dragon-fly) carries the message from Tapern
1 According to Tokeh (1921), Tapern has also an attendant named Tak
Suwau. 2 I.e. forming a cross of the four quarters.
3 Rising of water from below the earth accompanied by storms and
subsidence of the ground. The Negritos of Lenggong speak of Henwoie.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 149
to Yak Manoid when people have committed some impious
act and incurred this punishment. It was Yak Kalcheng who
made the four boards in the heavens, over which the thunder-
stone rolls at Tapern's command. Yak Kalcheng was carried
up to the sky by Taheum, the dung-beetle, because she was
very old and could not walk.
The evidence that I obtained about some of the deified
Negrito ancestors from Mempelam (in 1921) differs in some
respects from that of Token, especially in the matter of the
relationships between the males and the females. After a
somewhat lively discussion with other Negritos he produced
the following scheme of relationships. As discussion was
necessary, it must be taken that the Negritos are not very
certain about the matter themselves 1 . The Kintak Bong claim
that, though the other tribes reverence these beings, they are
their ancestors. Here is the relationship scheme:
Tang-ong and Yak Manoid are husband and wife. Their
children are Tapern and Jalang. Tak Tin j eg and Yak Lepeh
are husband and wife. Their children are Bajiaig and Jamoi.
Jamoi is the wife of Tapern. Jalang is the wife of Bajiaig.
Tang-ong, the father of Tapern, did not go to heaven with the
other ancestors, but remained below upon the earth. This is
as much as I learnt of Tapern and the other chief celestials
from Token 2 and from the Kintak Bong, but I got another
story from the Negritos of Grik. The tale of the Grik aborigines,
which I extracted from them with a good deal of trouble, is
as follows :
Kari 3 makes the thunder. He has long hair all over his
body, like a Siamang monkey (Symphalangus syndactylus) ,
but this is white, and shines as if it had been oiled. The hair
of his head is long like a Malay woman's, but white. Kari and
1 Tokeh (1921) says that the relationships between the "Grandmothers"
and the younger generation of heavenly beings are uncertain, but he affirms
his relationship scheme for the latter.
2 The Menik Kaien man.
3 Kari means thunder and is, of course, equivalent to kaii of the Ulu
Selama Negritos. Some tribes, cannot, or do not, pronounce the letter r
in either their native dialects or in Malay, e.g. kari and kaii, darah (Malay)
and daiah (Negrito pronunciation).
150 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
his younger brother, Tapern, who also has white hair covering
his body, went up to the sky. They were magicians (halak) ;
and before they ascended there was no thunder. They came
on foot up the Perak River from its mouth on a fishing ex-
pedition. They stopped at the place where Gunong (Mt.) Ken-
derong now is to smoke tobacco, and the elder brother
unfastened his fishing-line and wound it round his head,
sticking his rod upright in the ground. The younger brother
also fixed his rod upright in the ground near his brother's,
but, before doing so, broke off the top part, and wound the
line round its stump. Then they both returned to a shelter
that they had built, some little way down-stream, to eat
tubers. When they had eaten, they looked towards the place
where they had left their rods and saw two mountains (Gunong
Kenderong and Gunong Kerunai) had arisen there, whereupon
the younger brother said, "Our fishing-rods have become
mountains !" but his elder brother told him not to speak about
it. The next night they made a circular "medicine-hut" and
held a magical performance; then they disappeared into the
sky. It was the elder brother's rod which became Gunong
Kenderong (the taller of the two mountains) and the younger's
which became Gunong Kerunai. Kari and Tapern met their
wives Jamoi and Jalang in the sky. Yak Manoid and Yak
Takel 1 live under the earth and are the mothers of Jamoi and
Jalang.
I have referred above to the Chinoi, whom Tapern uses as
messengers. From Mempelam I got a good deal of fresh in-
formation with regard to these beings. They are both male
and female, and have many occupations. The female Chinoi
use different words from those of the ordinary Kintak Bong
dialect, and the males sometimes copy them. They bind their
heads with the fibre of a creeper called by them chingchong.
This is the same as that which the Kintak Bong call awih aiyem
{akar jinerok of the Malays). Among the beings who come to
the shaman during a seance are many Chinoi, among them,
1 According to my Menik Kaien informant, however, Yak Takel is the
mother of Tapern.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 151
as will be seen from the lines chanted by him, which I give
below, the Chinoi Sagar who lives on the bridge over which
the dead pass to Belet, the Barau-bird Chinoi and the Argus
Pheasant Chinoi. In the songs, too 1 , are mentioned a male
Chinoi, Menlus, who plays the Jew's-harp to Yak Kalcheng ;
the Screw-palm Chinoi; Langyau, a male Chinoi who lives
near Ligoi ; the Tepus-plant Chinoi ; the Chinoi who lives near
the Tang-al of the Batu Herem, and others.
Mempelam gave me some interesting details with regard to
the Mat Chinoi. He said that a large snake — the Mat Chinoi
— lives on the road to Tapern's house on a piece of carefully
smoothed ground. The snake is two fathoms long and ten
cubits in circumference. This snake makes long, many-layered
mats for Tapern. Some, ornamented with beautiful patterns, it
hangs over a cross-beam, and it is under the shelter of these that
it lives. Inside the snake are twenty or thirty female Chinoi
of great beauty and also beautiful combs, head-dresses, etc.
Now there is a male Chinoi called Halak Gihmal 2 who lives
on the back of the snake, and looks after the clothes and
ornaments which are stored inside it. If a male Chinoi asks
to go into the snake, Halak Gihmal tells him to make trial of
the mats first. Now there are seven of these mats, hanging
over a beam above the snake, and these are always opening
and closing. When the male Chinoi tries to pass along the
passage under them, they close on him, so that, unless he
passes very quickly, he gets caught. If he manages to get
through the mats safely he is told to enter a tobacco-box 3
of which the lid opens and closes rapidly. If he is lucky enough
to make a safe entrance, and escape — he leaves by another
way — he is allowed to choose one of the female Chinoi, who
live in the snake, for himself.
Thunder and Lightning
Thunder and lightning, being, according to Negrito ideas,
caused by the powers above, are much feared. The Menik
Kaien and Kintak Bong, I was told by Token, draw blood
1 Vide Musical Performances. - "The Weapon Shaman."
3 The kind which Malays call chStepa. This is generally watch-shaped.
152 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
from the outer side of the right leg near the shin-bone when
a bad thunder-storm comes on, and throw it up towards the
sky saying, " Loim mahum pek keping!" (i.e. " Throw the blood
aloft"). Mempelam, in 1921, supplemented my information
with regard to the blood-offering made by Kintak Bong when
a bad storm arises, stating that before the blood is thrown
upward, as described above, a little is poured downwards to
the earth for the benefit of the "grandmothers," the person
who makes the offering saying, " Un Yak Kalcheng, Yak
Manoid, tembun ajer nteng chuchok Chapor, Chalog chigiog
nteng Tapem pi-weg kaii pek kid beteu!" This is, I think,
fairly correctly translated as follows: "Yak Kalcheng, Yak
Manoid, come up and give advice to the ears of your grand-
children Chapor and Chalog to relate to the ears o/Tapern that
he should make go back the thunder to the roots of the waters."
The Jehehr, cutting the leg in the same manner, take a few
drops of blood from the wound on the blade of the knife, and
putting them into the palm of the left hand, throw them up
into the air saying, " H avoid! Saidth!" ("Throw it away!
Sleep !"(?)). A man of the group which lives in the neighbour-
hood of Grik informed me that his people also perform the
blood-throwing ceremony when frightened by thunder, saying
as they do so, " Daiah hog di-baling," which seems to mean,
"Take up the blood (darah in Malay) that is thrown."
Some Negritos, of Lenggong, to whom I once showed a
stone axe-head, which I had purchased from a Malay, re-
marked that it was a thunder-stone; and this belief about
ancient stone implements is common to the Malays as well.
I have already given an account of the ideas of the Kintak
Bong and Menik Kaien with regard to thunder and lightning.
These differ somewhat from the story given to me by an Ijok
man, who said that thunder is caused by the spirits that live
under the earth, who, when they are preparing their food and
cooking it, make noises which are heard on earth as thunder.
An explanation of lightning, obtained from the same people,
scarcely seems to tally with that for thunder; this was that
lightning is caused by the children of the people who live
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 153
under the earth, who, when they play at tops, flourish the
cords which they use for spinning them, and these appear
above the earth as lightning 1 .
Among the Jehehr certain actions are tabu, as being thought
to cause thunder-storms, which may involve the death by
lightning, or drowning, of others as well as those of the trans-
gressors. For instance, it is tabu for anyone to kill a millipede,
to shoot a certain species of owl with the blow-pipe, or to
flash a looking-glass, or other shining object, about in the
open; and, for the same reason, it is forbidden for a man to
have intercourse with his wife during the day-time 2 . An
attempt is sometimes made to drive away a threatening storm
by blowing through the teeth with a hissing sound — "Hish."
Such disastrous storms, which are accompanied by floods
of rain, by the welling up of water from under the earth, and
sometimes by petrifactions 3 , are called Henweh by the Kintak
Bong and Menik Kaien, and they think that such acts as
copying the notes of certain kinds of birds are particularly
displeasing to the powers above, and thus likely to bring down
their wrath in this manner. The following story, which I got
from Token, whom I have mentioned above, illustrates these
ideas very well :
Some Negrito children once copied the note of a Sagwong
bird 4 , and there came thunder and lightning and a great flood,
and all the Negritos there were drowned with the exception
of one halak (magician), who managed to make his escape.
For this reason the notes of the Sagwong and the Chorh must
not be copied till the present day 5 . Yak Lepeh, Yak Manoid
and Yak Takel made the waters rise from under the earth.
1 Skeat obtained a similar story from the Negritos of Siong in Kedah,
vide Pagan Races, 11. 206.
2 For similar beliefs among the Sakai and the Malays, vide infra, pp. 199-
204, 271-272.
3 It is rather the after-events, the rising of water and the petrifactions,
which are termed Henweh, than the storm itself.
4 Said to be the bird known to the Malays as Burong Sa'kawan (Anthaco-
ceros malayanus).
5 T6keh (1921) says that the notes of the KSmastadu (the Pied Long-
tailed Flycatcher), and the Sang-id (the Black-Naped Flycatcher) must not
be imitated for fear of Henweh.
154 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
Token said that legendary sites of several old Negrito en-
campments, which are said to have been overwhelmed in this
manner, are still pointed out in the neighbourhood of Ijok.
For fear of Henweh it is also forbidden for a man and woman
to have sexual intercourse in the camp — an act which par-
ticularly enrages Tapern. They must retire to the jungle for
the purpose. As far as I could find out, no such prohibition
is found among the Negritos of Grik, though for a similar
reason, sexual intercourse is not indulged in during the day-
time 1 .
The Creation of the World
The Menik Kaien and Kintak Bong believe that the earth
was brought up from below by Taheum (the dung-beetle) in
the form of a kind of powder 2 . This Kawap, the Bear, stamped
down with his paws, for, if he had not done so, the earth
would have gone on rising till it almost reached the sky.
The Sun, the Eclipse of the Moon, the Rainbow
The Menik Kaien tell the following story with regard to
the way in which the sun appeared in the sky :
There were once two persons, male and female, named
Ag-ag and Klang. The former has now become the Crow, and
the latter the Hawk. They lived in a house, and they had a
son who was called Tanong, the Dragon-fly.
One day Tanong was flitting backwards and forwards under
the house, playing like a child, and, as he did so, the house
was carried up into the air, and rose towards the sky. Presently
Tanong's mother looked out of the door to see what her son
was doing, and becoming dizzy on finding that the house had
risen far above the earth, she fell from the doorway screaming
like a Hawk, and, while in mid-air, became transformed into
a bird of that kind.
Soon the father, also, came to the door, and he too fell out,
and became the Crow.
1 Just as among the Jehehr.
2 Like dung-beetles bring up powdery earth from below at the present
day, when they draw pieces of dung under the surface of the soil.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 155
Tanongwent up to the sky with the house. The house became
the sun, and Tanong lives with Tapern and looks after it.
The following information is also from a Menik Kaien
(Token) :
The sun, when it sets, falls into a tunnel-like cave, which
extends under the earth, and passes out through the far end
of it each morning to appear again in the east.
The eclipse of the moon is caused by the sun (male), who
is jealous of the moon (female), because she has many children
(the stars 1 ). He, therefore, sends theGahaiyup, a kind of large
butterfly or moth, to attack her. The lunar eclipse is thus
called "butterfly swallow" (Gahaiyup hilud). The Gahaiyup
comes from the place where the sun goes down (met ketok
menlis). The ideas of the Ijok people are exactly similar, as
also those of the Jehehr of Temengoh, who call the eclipse
kenod bulan, and frighten the butterfly away by making music
with bamboo stampers. The Negritos of Grik, however, seem
to think that the eclipse {bulan pud) is caused by a gigantic
snake, while the Negritos of the Cheka River in Pahang have
an identical belief and call the eclipse "snake swallow" (jekob
hilug) .
The rainbow, according to the Ijok Negritos 2 , is a fishing-
line. They say that somewhere far away there lives a king of
the dragons, who, when he requires fish, sends a servant to
the river to fish for him, and, as the king's servant lifts his
rod from the water, his line with its two-coloured thread, is
seen in the sky as the rainbow. The Kintak Bong and Menik
Kaien, on the other hand, say that it is two snakes called
Huyak, which come to drink.
Rain, say the Kintak Bong, is caused by a stone flower,
called Jampun, which grows in the sky. There is water in the
flower, and when it turns downwards the water falls from it
as rain : when it turns upwards the weather is dry. A Chinoi,
Liren, guards the flower.
1 The Ijok Negritos also told me that the stars were the moon's children.
2 From an Ijok man. Tribe unknown.
156 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
The Stone Pillar which supports the Heavens
The stone pillar which, according to the Menik Kaien and
Kintak Bong, supports the sky is called the Batu Herem. I
was told that this is to be seen near Jinerih 1 in Kedah, and
from it to the edge of the world, in whatever direction, the
distances are the same. The Batu Herem pierces the sky, and
supports it, and the portion which projects above the sky is
loose, and balanced on the lower part at an angle. This loose
part is above Tapern's heaven, and is in a dark region named
Ligoi. Four cords run from the top of it to the four quarters
of the world, and the ends of them, which are weighted with
stones called Tang-al, hang below the surface of the earth.
The two Tang-al at the ends of the eastern and western cords
are longer than those which are attached to the northern and
southern. The loose piece of the Batu Herem is called Lambong.
Mempelam told me that Yak Kalcheng, Yak Manoid and Yak
Lepeh guard the roots of the Batu Herem beneath the earth.
The Chinoi are said to play in the dark region called Ligoi
which surrounds the Lambong. Tapern and Bajiaig go every
morning to see the Chinoi fight and play above the Lambong.
The Abode of the Dead and their Journey to it
The souls of the dead, according to Token, my Menik Kaien
informant, leave their bodies through the big toes and go to
the edge of the sea where the sun goes down, but for seven
days they are able to return to their old homes. At the end
of that time 2 those of the good are escorted by Mampes to
the island which is called Belet 3 . They pass to this over a
green switchbacked bridge named the Balan Bacham, which
spans a sea. Bacham is, I was told, a fern which the Malays
call paku ular (Blechnum orientate*). This plant grows at the
further end of the bridge, and with it the ghosts wreathe their
heads before entering Belet.
1 Spelt Jeneri on the Kedah map.
2 I believe on the evening of the seventh day.
3 Belet appears to lie rather in the west-north-west, or in the north-west,
rather than due west. 4 Wilkinson's Dictionary, paku.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 157
A female Chinoi, called Chinoi Sagar, lives at the Belet end
of the bridge, and wreathes her head with the Bacham plant.
When the sun rises the bridge lies true ; but, when it falls, the
end of the bridge on which the Chinoi Sagar lives is raised.
Mampes, the guardian of the Balan Bacham, is like a
gigantic Negrito. He walks with great speed, and eats the
burial offerings {pernio k) which are placed in the graves for
the spirits of the dead to carry with them on their last journey.
When the souls of the good have crossed the Balan Bacham,
on each side of which grow flowers, and entered Belet, they
come to the Mapik-tree, where they meet those of people who
have died previously. They cannot wear the flowers of this
tree until they have had all the bones of their limbs broken
by the companions who have preceded them, and have had
their eyes turned back in their heads, so that the pupils face
inwards. When this has been done, they become real ghosts
(kemoit 1 ) and are entitled to pluck the flowers of the Mapik-
tree and to eat its fruits, for it bears everything desirable, one
branch beautiful flowers, a second rice, a third durians, a
fourth rambutan fruits, and so on; furthermore, at the base
of its trunk are numbers of breasts from which flow milk, and
to these the ghosts of little children set their lips.
The spirits of the wicked, however, are set apart in another
place, which is in sight of the abode of the good. They call
to the spirits in Belet to help them to reach the Mapik-tree ;
but the latter take no notice.
The above account, as I have already mentioned, comes
from the Menik Kaien and Kintak Bong only. From the
members of other Negrito groups whom I have questioned
I have got very little information with regard to their ideas
of an existence after death.
Some Negritos of Grik told me that the souls of the dead
went to the west, but whether their state was happy, or
the reverse, they said that they did not know. A Jehehr man,
too, said that the souls of the dead went to the edge of the sea,
and both divisions seem to be afraid that the souls (or ghosts)
1 Tokeh ( 1 92 1 ) says that women become brave after death ; men cowardly.
158 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
may linger near their old homes. Indirect evidence of a belief
in a future existence is afforded by the custom of placing food,
in, or on, newly made graves, which is found both among the
Cheka River Negritos and the Jehehr.
The Shaman
The name for the shaman among the Kintak Bong and
Menik Kaien is halak, a term which is in general use also
among the Sakai. Token, the Menik Kaien, told me that
there were no halak in the settlement near the Damak River
(Ulu Selama) at which I stayed in 1918, but a local Malay
told me subsequently that Token was one himself. Whether
what the Malay said was true or not, I do not know, but
Token got up a magical performance for me, in which he took
no active part himself, to show me how such things were
conducted. A very small "medicine-hut" (panoh 1 ) was built
by sticking palm-leaves into a circle of holes which had been
previously made with a pointed stick. The panoh was sup-
ported by a slight wooden prop, the lower end of which was
driven into the earth so as to lean at the same angle as the
walls of the hut. The leaves were bound together not far below
their tops, and the support included with them. A slight
opening was left at the base of the hut in one place, through
which a man could just crawl into the interior. The perform-
ance took place at night, and when the "halak " had ensconced
himself in the hut — which was only just big enough to hold
him — a number of other Negritos came and squatted round
it, and the occupant started a chant, each line of which was
taken up and repeated by the chorus outside. I noted that
the names of Tapern, Jalong and Jamoi were constantly men-
tioned, as was also the Batu Her em. The chants of which there
were a good many, were short, and between them there was
a silence of a minute or two, broken sometimes by the hut
being shaken from the inside, followed by a noise as if the
"halak" was striking the palm-leaf walls with the flat of his
1 The second syllable is pronounced with a very nasal accent so that the
word sounds very much like panorh.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 159
hand. These signs, I understand, indicated the presence of the
halak's familiar spirit, though in this case, as Tokeh explained,
it was only acting for my benefit. On the next day I got him
to give me the names of some of the chants, these being as
follows :
1. " Wai chentol! " This means " Open buds !" and refers to
the flowers affixed to Jalang's hair comb. Negrito women
decorate their bamboo combs with sweet smelling herbs and
flowers. The allusion is, I understand, to these, and not
to the patterns engraved on the combs. (Both a pattern
and a flower are commonly termed bunga in Malay, in
which language, of course, I communicated with the Ne-
gritos.)
2. " Umeh, umeh batu! " This is said to mean, " Clean, clean
the stone!" It is addressed, I was told, to the stone-spirit,
the stone referred to, being the Batu Herem.
3. "Wai, halak, mawai!" "Open, halak, open!"
4. "Tenang lohr punyon Herem!" I was told that this
means, "Come down to the tongue of the Batu Herem !" The
"tongue" of the Batu Herem appears to be the end on which
the detached portion rests.
5. "Tenwug kejuh selangin!" "The (bead) string across
(the chest of) the beautiful young bachelor." A tenwug manik
is a string of beads worn across the breast, while kejuh seems
to mean "a young male" and selangin, "beautiful."
6. " Chem-le-chem, sudak Herem!" This was said to mean,
"Stabbing and thrusting, sharp Herem !" The Malay words
used to translate chem-le-chem were tikam menikam.
As far as I could gather, however, the words which are
chanted are varied according to the taste of the halak. There
were references in those which I heard to rolling-up the mats
(leb gampil) of Tapern, to the winding and unwinding of the
cord round the thunder-stone (menang sini jon, "Cord wind
pull (?)"), to the place where the sun sets, to the Chinoi, and
to Jamoi.
Tokeh told me that the office of halak descends from father
to son, the familiar spirit being, of course, also inherited. Fire-
160 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
flies, kedlud, were, he said, the familiars of halak {pengkah
halak).
At Lubok Tapah, Ulu Selama, in 1921, through the good
offices of the headman of the Kintak Bong, I again induced
a halak, this time a man named Piseng 1 , to give a magical
performance. The panoh was built by women one afternoon,
and the seance took place the same night. Mempelam, the
headman, sat beside me the whole time and gave me the words
of the songs as they were sung, and I immediately took them
down to the best of my ability. With Mempelam, Piseng and
other Negritos, I afterwards corrected what I had written and
obtained Malay translations from them of the different frag-
ments. Probably some mistakes still remain, especially in the
English versions, as it is extremely hard to get the Negritos
to give word for word translations, and even when they
attempt to give the general sense of a phrase or sentence they
are not unusually incorrect. Still, I have taken a considerable
amount of trouble to insure accuracy, and I think that any
mistakes that remain are, probably, not serious.
During a seance the halak is controlled by many spirits,
nearly all Chinoi, these speak through him in the snatches of
songs which he sings. I have indicated in each case the sex
of the Chinoi who is supposed to be speaking, and, in some,
have given their names and their occupations.
Mempelam told me that the appearance of the halak becomes
changed 2 when he is in the panoh.
I cannot add much to what I have already written with
regard to the actual performance. The singing of the women
and children, who squatted outside the panoh, and took up
the chants given out by the halak, was both musical and sweet.
The antics of the halak, while hidden from sight within the
panoh, are worth alluding to. Sounds of grunting, whistling,
growling, shouting, singing, chest-beating and slapping with
the hands on the walling proceeded from the inside before he
began his chants under the inspiration of the Chinoi.
1 " Banana "; pisang in Malay.
2 According to Token (1921), his face shines.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 161
The following are the songs together with attempted word-
for-word and free translations :
Junkeh
'Rem,
tabek 1
laweh! yek gantong
chebelhat.
Head of a
Herem,
salutations
head ! I hang
a moment
cross-beam
Sakan
gantong
dadak 'Rem.
Big
hang
breast Herem.
"Salutations to your head ! I will hang yet a moment on the
cross-timber of the Batu Herem. Swollen I hang on the breast
of the Herem." The word sakan is said to be peculiar to the
Chinoi language. It is a female Chinoi who is speaking.
Yam bedlat keping Tapern.
I go above Tapern.
Jagat* pengweurng 3 Yak Tanggoi.
Giddy house (hut) grand-mother Rambutan.
Dakar menulang* keh, menulang bekau?
Where head-dress my, head-dress flowers?
"I go above Tapern's (house); giddy at the house of Yak
Tanggoi. Where is my head-dress of flowers?" It is a female
Chinoi who is speaking.
Tabek kuie 5 , eh! yek, yek gantong sa'bentai*.
Salutations head, father ! I I hang a moment.
"Salutations to your head, father! I, I shall hang yet a
moment." It is a male Chinoi who is speaking.
Eh, tongkah dai 1 keling-tek.
Father come up from under earth.
"Father, I ask your leave to come up from under the earth."
It is a male Chinoi who is speaking.
1 Tabek is a Malay term of salutation. In the sense of " I ask your pardon,"
it is frequently used when someone is about to do an action which may be
considered rude. The Chinoi asks for pardon for hanging above the head of
its father, the halak. The head is, of course, the most sacred part of the body.
2 Tokeh (1921) says that jagat means "loving" — the Malay " sayang."
3 Tokeh (192 1 ) says that pengweurng is a Chinoi word. In ordinary speech
a hut is hiak.
* Cf. the Malay bulang ulu "the head-cloth of a raja," mSnulang "to
enwrap."
5 Kuie is the ordinary word for head, laweh is probably Chinoi language.
* The Negrito form of the Malay sa' bSntar.
7 The Negrito form of the Malay word dari. The letter r is a shibboleth
to the Kintak Bong.
emp 11
162 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
Tagok liwon langkah litol chenib yek.
Old man wander step bachelor road (?) affairs (?) news (?) I.
The sense is, I believe, " I, an old man, wish to go in search of
my affairs." It is the halak's tiger-spirit who is speaking.
Lohmon piyudau 1 maloh menulang?
What (?) hold magical performance where (?) head-dress?
"How shall we hold a magical performance, if I have no head-
dress?" It is a female Chinoi who is speaking.
Lei, keh gantong lamun H'rem.
Spinning, I hang end Her em.
"Spinning, I hang from the end of the Her em." It is a female
Chinoi who is speaking.
Tulis galun 2 , lei, keh gantong lamun H'rem.
Plaiting girdle, spinning, I hang end Her em.
Halak, leloi, tabek laweh!
Halak, throw up, salutations head !
"Plaiting a girdle, spinning, I hang at the end of the Her em.
Salutations to your head ! halak, I am throwing up my head-
dress !" It is a female Chinoi who is speaking.
Pau wer-chet 3 , tabek laweh, eh, yek gantong!
Open(?) comedown (?), salutations head, father, I hang!
"When it opens, I come down. Salutations to your head,
father, I hang!" It is a male Chinoi who is speaking. The
reference to "opening" is, I believe, to a hole in the end of
the Batu Herem, which opens and shuts.
Lei, lei bayang-baju pantai Sengak.
Spinning, spinning sunset glow shore Sengak River.
"Spinning, spinning in the sunset glow on the shore of the
Sengak River." It is the tiger-spirit of the halak which is
speaking.
Eh, eh, lungkan balan chibeh.
Father, father, climb bridge rising sun.
1 Equivalent to the Malay word Mrsewang, "to hold a spiritualistic
seance accompanied by singing."
2 Vide remarks with reference to galun, infra, p. 166, and also the form
kalun on the same page.
3 Token (1921) would translate pau "noise like clapping," wer "turn-
ing," chet "arrive."
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 163
" Father, father, I have climbed the bridge of the rising sun."
It is a Chemam, a spirit of the " middle air," who is speaking.
The sun appears to pass along a bridge after coming out of
the passage under the earth.
Bedlad besangit on-on, on-on.
Go(?) Open(?) door (?) come-out, come-out.
I am very uncertain about the whole of the above line. I find
that, in another place, Mempelam gave me "go" for the
meaning of bedlad; here, however, he translated it as "open."
The meanings given for the other words are also suspect. A
possible free translation is, "I go from the door, and come
out 1 , come out." It is a Chemam who is speaking.
Bitul, yek kelel, lei, lei!
Go straight, I spin, spin, spin !
Yek bitul, yek kelel, lei, lei!
I go straight, I spin, spin, spin !
" I go straight, I spin, spin, spin ! I go straight, I spin, spin,
spin !" It is the tiger-spirit of the halak who is speaking.
Lohmon pideh, guruk 2 , baleh Chinoi?
Why call, interpreter, maiden Chinoi?
"Why do you call me, a maiden Chinoi, O interpreter?" It
is a female Chinoi who is speaking. The females use words
not found in the every-day language of the Kintak Bong
Negritos, and the males sometimes copy them.
Miwoh mutau 3 yek, baleh.
Laugh loudly hill-top I, virgin.
" I, a virgin, laugh loudly on the hill-tops." It is the Chinoi
Kawang (Argus pheasant Chinoi) who is speaking. She is
female. Baleh, lareh tupar lindong.
Virgin, moon fly fluttering.
" I, a virgin, fly fluttering by moonlight 4 ." The same Chinoi
is speaking. Lareh is the Chinoi word for "moon."
1 Tokeh (1921) says that it should read bedlad (go) besangit (buzzing)
un-un (that that) un-un (that that). "I go buzzing, there, there."
2 A variant of the Malay word guru (?) "teacher."
3 Tokeh (192 1 ), however, would translate muiau as "moving the head up
and down."
4 Tokeh (1921) gives lareh "owl," tepar (sic) "branch," lindong "hide."
There is a Malay word lindong which has the same meaning.
11 — 2
164 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
Deh, Deh, Deh
This has no meaning according to Mempelam. Said by one
of the Jaman, wer-tigers, who live with the Yak (grand-
mothers) at the base of the Batu Herem. There are many
Jaman. This one, I was informed, is sitting at the "Rice
Stone" near the Batu Herem towards where the sun falls.
Amboi, Aniboi ayah kami!
Oh, Oh, father ours !
This line is in Malay. It is a Jaman who is speaking.
Malok x menulang yek ?
(What) Where head-dress mine?
This either means "With what shall I bind my head?" or
"Where is my head-dress?" — I think the latter is probably
correct. It is a female Chinoi who is speaking.
Dordoi wai haiyah 2 , eh loie. Tabek laweh, arah
Sit open bertam, father mine. Salutations head, pass
menulang.
head-dress.
"I sit opening bertam-\>d\m§, O father mine, salutations to
your head, on my head-dress passing you." It is a male, a
Bertam-pa\m Chinoi who is speaking. He asks his father (the
halak) to pardon him for throwing his head-dress in front of
him.
Malok
menulang,
guruk 3 ?
Babeh
Tapern
magiseh.
Where
head-dress,
interpreter ?
Newly
Tapern
go round
What
married
"Where is my head-dress, interpreter? I, newly-married, go
round Tapern." It is a male Chinoi who is speaking.
Jinung reng chenevkem un, eh loie!
Carve sht comb that, father mine !
"Carve and slit a comb for me, O father mine !" It is a male
Chinoi who is speaking.
1 Cf. Pagan Races, II. 755, "What" (Mai. apa): malo, Sak. Kerb.
2 Tokeh (1921) does not agree with Mempelam's translations of dordoi
and haiyah. He says that the latter is the kind of musical instrument which
the Malays call g&ndang batak. I could get no translation of the former.
3 Vide footnote, supra, p. 163.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 165
Pau wer-chet kejuh barau 1 .
From inside(?) come down(?) young male barau.
The sense of the line is, "From inside comes down a young
male barau." It is a Barau-bird Chinoi which is speaking.
Bum Chinoi Tapern magiseh. Yek chub peh keping.
We Chinoi Tapern go round. I go above.
' ' We Chinoi go round Tapern, I go above. " It is a male Chinoi
who is speaking.
Lohmon pideh, guruk, baleh, kijing,
What call, interpreter, virgin hear,
Chelchem bulin Chelchem terjun papan tasegP
Chelchem back to Chelchem plunge down plank lake ?
" Why do you call me a virgin, going from Chelchem and back
to Chelchem, to plunge down to earth? " It is a male ( ! ) Chinoi
who is speaking. Chelchem, Mempelam told me, is a place
below Tapern's house which opens and shuts.
Sa'bidang yek tulis gampil Yak
One sheet I plait mat Grand -mother
Jalang, yek deng.
Jalang, I see.
" I will plait a mat for Yak Jalang, I see {i.e. in a little while)."
It is a male Chinoi who is speaking.
Un, un deh bidang 2 , kadeng deh!
There, there it sheet, see it!
"There, there it is, the mat, see it!" A male Chinoi is
speaking.
Bedlat menulang, tabek laweh, kadeng deh!
Going head-dress, salutations head, see it!
Chinoi, mak sinlin!
Chinoi, will replace !
"My head-dress is going past you, salutations to your head,
see it ! This Chinoi, your slave, will replace it !" A female
Chinoi is speaking.
Ha menulang keh yah baleh?
Where head-dress mine your (?) maiden?
"Where is my head-dress, the head-dress of your maiden?"
It is a female Chinoi who is speaking.
1 The Barau is the Yellow Crowned Bulbul (Trachycomus ochreocephalus).
* A Malay numeral coefficient, sa bidang tikar; one mat.
166 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
Eh, rampus ingat 1 smiting 1 Chinoi, palah nilam!
Father take remembrance hair Chinoi, shoots indigo!
ornaments
" O father, do not forget hair ornaments for the Chinoi, shoots
of the indigo-plant !" A male Chinoi is speaking.
Kalun yek, babeh, penangkan gihmal*.
Waist-cord I, married woman, shoulder-cloth skirt.
" I, a married woman, wear a waist-cord, shoulder-cloth and
skirt." A female Chinoi is speaking.
Ibeh jinoring galun.
Turn enter rattan loop.
"Turn and enter the rattan loop." Galun, I was told, means
rattan, but the ordinary Negrito word for this is awi. Pro-
bably the truth is that Galun is equivalent to the Malay word
gelong, a rattan loop. Reading galun as equivalent to gelong
makes good sense, as it is a rattan skipping-rope 3 to which
reference is here made.
Oi minyun, yam bulang menulang bacham.
I (?) shaking up and down, I wreathe head-dress ferns.
" I, shaking the bridge up and down, I wreathe my head with
a head-dress of ferns." It is the Chinoi Sagar, a female, who
is speaking. She lives, as I have related above, at the far
end of the Balan Bacham. She says that, while making the
bridge of the dead, the Balan Bacham, spring up and down,
she wreathes her head with the ifocAam-plants which grow
near it.
1 Malay words.
2 According to Tokeh ( 192 i)gihmal means weapons, tnde"HalakGihmal,"
supra, p. 151.
8 The Negritos seem to be fond of skipping with two persons turning the
rope, and one jumping, and I saw them thus amusing themselves on several
occasions. Skipping is now known among Malay school-children, but those
Malays that I have consulted, so far, consider that it is a recently introduced
game. I do not know whether it is native to the Negritos, but they are, of
course, in close contact with the Malays and would copy anything which
pleased them. Reference to skipping in chants connected with religion looks,
however, rather as if the pastime was native. Tokeh (1921) says that there
is a nibeh tnanau, a skipping-rope of rotan manau under the Balan Bacham.
He says also that to skip with the rope held crosswise against the sun is
tabu.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 167
Yek, yek ensol, yek tenbon sigalak 1 galong 2 .
I, I ashamed, I leap every cross-beam.
"I, I am ashamed as I leap on every cross-beam." It is a
Chinoi Ai who is speaking. The Ai is a species of leaf monkey
which is called Presbytes neglecta keatii.
Un, un, eh keh, sa'bidang, un eh loie sa'bidang!
That, that, father mine, one sheet, that father mine one sheet !
"That, that one sheet is for you, my father; that one sheet,
my father!" It is the Chinoi Tikar, the Mat Chinoi, who is
speaking. Some details about the mat-weaving snake will be
found in a previous section, p. 151.
At the end of the performance, when the Halak was sup-
posed to be again becoming conscious of his surroundings, he
said, " Betud amed 3 penet* dikeh," "Very long is my tiredness."
Dreams
Dreams, among the Kintak Bong and Menik Kaien, are
believed to convey warnings of good or evil fortune to come.
For instance, a man who dreams of rubbing himself with oil
will not go out into the jungle on the next day, as, if he does
so, he thinks that he will be struck by a falling tree. A dream
that a berok monkey is attacking the sleeper indicates that a
Malay will come to the camp and make trouble. The dream
of holding a winnowing tray means that a soft tortoise
(Trionyx) will be caught next day, while to dream of finding
a half coconut-shell foretokens that a tortoise, of the kind
which the Malays call kura kura, will be captured. Should
a man dream of a tree falling towards the east, he will be
taken by a tiger, if he goes to the jungle on the next day 5 ,
while should he have a dream that he is distributing tobacco
he will shoot a monkey with his blow-pipe. If a married man
dreams that he is wearing a ring or bracelet of suasa (an alloy
of copper and gold), his wife will give birth to a female child ;
1 The Malay sigala, "all," "every."
2 The Malay galang, "a cross-beam," "a roller."
3 Equivalent to the Malay word amat.
4 Equivalent to the Malay word penat.
8 Tokeh stayed at home for a day, while I was stopping near his camp,
because of a dream of this kind.
1 68 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
if a ring or bracelet of silver, a male ; but should he dream that
the bracelet or ring gets broken while he is wearing it, the
child will die 1 . To have an unlucky dream is called pahad
empak, this being equivalent to the Malay salah mimpi.
Oaths
The form of oath in use among the Negritos of the Ulu
Selama region seems to be very similar to that of some of the
Sakai tribes and of certain Indonesians. A man who is
swearing to the truth of some statement will say: "HI lie —
dok teiok makab yek ;
may tiger seize me;
dok ki-ung machong yek!
may rotten tree strike me!"
A Menik Kaien Spell
This, according to Token (1918) is to be said over oil, which
contains chenduai flowers 2 . The oil is to be smeared on the
body or clothes of the woman whose affection it is desired
to gain.
Lod lod bekot
Jed lod ed ek
Kilhek langod
S'leman kentan
Balok wag hilag
Hertik kedong sayong
Sog mohr takob
Beb-tob teheu bim
S'naian bleuk kom
Chom pales suk.
I was unable to get any translation of this formula; and,
as far as I could make out, its language is archaic 3 . Of the
following words, however, I got the meanings :
1 The Malays of the Ulu Selama region seem to have somewhat similar
ideas with regard to dreams about rings and bracelets. So the Negrito beliefs
may, very likely, have been adopted from Malays.
2 Tokeh (192 1) denied that it should be said over chSnduai flowers, but
says that it is an old spell, and repeated it accurately as a test.
3 Skeat also found that it was difficult to get the Negritos to translate
their magic formulae into Malay, owing to the use of archaic phrases or words.
Vide Pagan Races, II. 232, 233.
PT. II
THE MALAY PENINSULA
169
Bekot flower
Takob
tuber
Ed skin
Beb-tob
knock (?)
Ek stomach
Teheu
water
Kilhek flower of a certain kind
Bim
come (?)
Hertik tail
S'naian
time
Kedong rat
Kom
frog
Sog hair
Balak
ivory
Suk hair
S'leman
Solomon
Mohr nose
Bleuk
thigh
The Negrito Bird-Soul
This is one of the subjects on which I have obtained some
confirmation of Vaughan-Stevens' work. My evidence comes
in part from the Menik Kaien and Kintak Bong; in part from
the Negritos who live near the Cheka River. My Menik Kaien
informant, Tokeh, told me that his people and the Kintak
Bong believe that a certain kind of bird, which is called Til-
tol-tapah 1 , announces the impending arrival of a child. Thus,
if a Til-tol-tapah is heard, the Negritos immediately say that
one of their women, or the wife of some Malay, is about to
become pregnant. A bird of this species had been heard just
before my arrival at the Damak River, and the tribesmen
were, therefore, awaiting the fulfilment of its prophecy. Tokeh
spoke of the Til-tol-tapah, which he said that he had never
then seen, as being the shadow (Malay bayang) of all the
Negrito women 2 , and also referred to it as the semangat bidan
(Malay), or midwife's soul. Another bird, the Chimioi 3 , is
1 So named from its note. I have not been able to identify this bird, but
I believe that it is small. Tokeh told me that the Malays call it kangkang
katup.
Mempelam told me that the bird was large with a breast speckled with
white; Tokeh (1921) says that he has seen it and that it is small. He agrees
that its breast is speckled. I believe that Tokeh is right. I heard the bird
several times while in the Ulu Selama in 1921, and, judging by the note,
should think that it is small.
2 It is worth noting that the ideas of shadow and soul are often closely
connected in the Malayan region.
3 Tokeh, however (1921), states, in opposition to what he told me
previously, recorded above, that the Chimioi is the bird-soul of young males
up to the time of marriage. It appears that these bird representatives are
not heard by their owners, but that — as in the case of the Cheka Negritos —
they visit the camps of friends to give warning of approaching visits of their
owners. As the Chimioi is the soul of young bachelors, according to Tokeh,
so a bird called Sulor is that of young unmarried girls, and the Wah that of
170 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
also thought to convey similar intimations by means of its
cry.
The Chimioi has now been identified by Mempelam from
the bird collection in the Perak Museum as the Yellow-crested
Sultan Tit (Melanochlora flavicristata) .
The Cheka Negritos told me that their souls were green
birds of the kind called Biau, which has a long beak and feeds
on fruit and insects 1 . The Biau has two cries, " Kah-kah-kah "
and " Tutoh buah," the latter (Malay) meaning "gorge fruit."
When a woman is pregnant and hears one of these birds in the
jungle she knows that the soul of her child has arrived ; while
on a person dying, the soul leaves the body in the form of a bird.
If anyone catches a Biau a great thunder-storm will arise.
Apparently a man's soul can leave his body during life in
the shape of a Biau, for the Negritos said that when they hear
one of these birds they say that a friend is coming to see them,
and they start calling out the names of people that they know
until the bird is silent. The last name mentioned before the
bird ceases crying is that of the visitor who will arrive.
Tabued Days
Among the Menik Kaien, according to Token, the sixteenth
day of the month is tabu 2 , and anyone who does work on it
will meet with some misfortune, such as being struck by a
falling tree, bitten by a snake, stung by a scorpion, or eaten
by a tiger. Tabued days are called Hai 3 biak mambeh-ud,
"day not lucky." An old man, Token said, keeps count
of the days of the month up to the sixteenth. I believe that
this tabu is not in force among the Kintak Bong.
The Grik Negritos told me that at the season when the
jungle fruits are ripe rejoicings and feasting go on for one or
small children. A bird called Tu-tuag is the bird-soul of men who are clever
at finding fresh-water turtle, and the Hong-yau of males who are expert at
making scoops for catching fish.
1 Probably a species of Bee-eater (Nyctiornis amicta).
2 The custom is no longer observed according to Tokeh ( 1 92 1 ) . For the reason
for its origin vide the Menik Kaien folk-story told by Mempelam, pp. 194-195.
3 Hai is obviously equivalent to the Malay word hari (day). Vide a
previous footnote (p. 161) on the mispronunciation of the letter r by certain
of the Negritos.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 171
two nights, the Spirit of the Sun (Hantu Mad-yis) and the
wood spirits {Hantu Nihuk) being prayed to in songs, while
the fruit trees are asked not to send sickness, nor to make the
people fall while climbing. After the rejoicings there is a three
days' tabu period, when work is not allowable.
Musical Performances
Musical performances, in which the singing is accompanied
with bamboo stampers, are frequently held by the Kintak
Bong. These are, I believe, at least partly, performed with a
religious intention, since Tokeh said that the people sang to
the spirits of the banana and gourd plants. A performance
of this kind was organized for my benefit and took place, as
is usual, at night. The following are the names of some of the
songs which were sung :
Bah 1 Tanggoi The Rambutan fruit song.
Bah Tepas The Tepas fruit song.
Bah Changeh The song of the Arang-para fruit.
Bah Sempak The song of the wild Durian (Durian burong) .
Bah Limns The song of the Horse-Mango.
Bah Kabang The song of the Rambutan Kabang.
Bah Penig The song of the Durian Kampong fruit (the
cultivated Durian).
While I was at Lubok Tapah, Ulu Selama, in 1921, the
Kintak Bong, at my request, gave a musical performance.
The singing was accompanied by a pair of bamboo stampers,
struck on a log of wood by one of the women, and by two pairs
of " castanets," pieces of wood or bamboo — such as the Malays
call cherachap — which were beaten, one piece against another,
by two of the youths. Singing is called peningloin.
As in the case of the performance given by the halak, I
took down the somewhat fragmentary songs on the spot, being
aided in this by Mempelam, and attempted translations of
them afterwards:
Eh, minyun charah nampak berenching.
Father, shake up and down sun-rise see fiery.
"Father, I shake up and down where the sunrise is seen all
fiery." It is a Sunrise Chinoi who is supposed to be speaking.
1 Bah = " fruit."
172 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
Minyun, yak yah, keh, keh minyun.
Shaking up grandmother mine, I, I shake up and down,
and down
Senujak ha-nial.
Throw up to above.
" I shake it up and down, grandmother mine, I, your servant,
shake it up and down. Throw it upwards." I am not sure
that this translation is correct. Mempelam told me that it
was a male Chinoi named Menlus who was speaking. He plays
the Jew's-harp to Yak Kalcheng. In the present instance, I
understand, he is supposed to be hanging from the end of
Yak Kalcheng's fan, fanning her by springing up and down.
Yak keh, minyun lei gantong.
Grandmother mine, shake up and down spin hang.
"Grandmother mine, I shake up and down and spin as I
hang." The same Chinoi is supposed to be speaking.
Yek, Puyau, menang cherengbung belang
I, Basket, thread plunge down to
batu dadak char ah kedah Tanggoi.
stone breast sunrise girl Tanggoi.
" I, Basket, go, plunge down and stick to the stone at the
breast (?) of sunrise, at the house of Tanggoi's girl." It is
the Chinoi Puyau, the Basket Chinoi, who is supposed to be
speaking. Ehyim is the name of the child of Tanggoi to whom
reference is made. She lives near where the sun rises, and
plaits herself a nest.
Jerjun jeurn (?) klawong. Lei, lei, jerjun
Carry on your hands kenuwak. Spinning, spinning, carry on
your hands
klawong. A sal kebeurk 1 klawong.
kenuwak. Origin fruits kenuwak.
"Carry on your hands the kenuwak fruit. Spinning, spinning,
carry on your hands the kenuwak. Origin of fruits is the
kenuwak." I did not ascertain the name of the Chinoi who
is supposed to be speaking.
Minyun, menawu tapag, ngabag.
Shake up and down, bending down leaf pinnae, chant magical chants.
1 Kebeurk is equivalent to the Malay numeral coefficient biji, which is
applied to round objects, such as fruit.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 173
" Shaking up and down, bending down the leaf pinnae of the
palm, I chant magical chants." It is the Chinoi Buy ok, the
Pandanus 1 Chinoi, who is supposed to be speaking. Ngabag
is said to be a Chinoi word.
Eh, gantong jon perungsi, eh, gantong!
Father suspend spin turn, father, suspend!
"Father, suspend, spin and turn (the comb), father, suspend
it !" It is the Chinoi Buyok who is supposed to be speaking.
Sibeh 2 menang bedlad keping galong lei
Attach thread go above cross-bar (bridge) spin
jutkat keping chanang 3 yoh belang* Langyau.
bring down above plate mine near Langyau.
No satisfactory translation of the above was obtained, but
it may mean something like this :
" I, Langyau attaching the thread, go above the bridge and,
spinning, bring it down (?) above my plate." It is the Chinoi
Langyau, a male Chinoi, who lives near Ligoi, who is speaking.
Chanang is said to be Chinoi talk.
Yamun deng un, yek deng kasau Tapern. Lantern
I (?) see there, I see rafter Tapern. Jam
un yek chek menang belang batu.
there I come thread near stone.
A satisfactory translation of this was not obtained. The general
sense, according to Mempelam, is, " I want to fix the thread
to the stone." An attempted literal translation is, "I see
there, I see, the rafters of Tapern's house. I come to fasten
(jam) there the thread to (near) the stone." Probably the
same Chinoi is supposed to be speaking.
Yek chetol beraleh chintol lubag pengeseh kelingrong 5 Tapern.
I thrust place bud orna- lebak around mortar Tapern.
in round ments
" I will thrust in and place round bud ornaments of the Lebak-
plant around the mortar of Tapern." It is the Chinoi Behwak,
1 The species of Pandanus which the Malays call mUngkuang.
2 The Malay word sangkut, to attach, was given as the equivalent of sibeh.
3 Cf . perhaps, the Malay word chenang, a kind of gong.
4 Malays, in speaking, often use the word d&kat (near) instead of kapada
(to).
6 According to Tokeh (1921) kehngrong is the ground under a house, as
in a Malay dwelling, which is raised on piles.
174 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
the Tepus-plant Chinoi, a female, who is supposed to be
speaking. She makes wreaths.
Ledsaid bayang char ah ketel balan nukau mak bulang.
Scarlet spirit 1 sunrise go bridge house want head-dress.
"Red appears the spirit of sunrise and goes to the bridge
where there is a house in search of a head-dress." It is the
Chinoi Galong, the Bridge Chinoi, a female, who is supposed
to be speaking.
Eh, tantig klawong penlohr 2 bering!
Father, bring klawong pierce fruit!
kenuwak (Mai.)
"Father bring klawong fruits and pierce them (as charms) !"
It is a male Chinoi, called the Chinoi Taneh, who is supposed
to be speaking.
Weung 3 ramen, dedeh 1 , weung!
Winnow body, sieve, winnow !
" I move my body like a winnowing-tray, I sift, I winnow!"
It is a female Chinoi, a Flower Chinoi, who is supposed to be
speaking.
Eh, minyun balan chibeh pinkoh lawad
Father I shake up and down bridge sunrise mimic song 5
juih 6 kaleh.
bird lifting wings.
" I shake up and down on the bridge of sunrise; mimicking
the song of a bird, lifting up its wings." It is a female Chinoi,
a Chinoi Tang-al, who is speaking. She lives near the Tang-al
of the Batu Herein.
Birth Customs
Among the Jehehr their women are prohibited from eating
the cabbages of palms, flesh and fish, and tubers for four days
after giving birth to a child. Among the Kintak Bong and
Menik Kaien, according to Token, for ten days after her
1 Equivalent to the Malay mambang. Cf. Malay bayang, "shadow."
2 Used, I was told, of piercing the nasal septum. This is not a Kintak
Bong custom, but is found among the Kensieu and other tribes.
3 According to Mempelam, the Malay equivalent of the word is tampi.
4 The Malay equivalent of the word is ayak.
6 The Malay equivalent is suwara.
6 Said to be a Chinoi word for "bird."
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 175
delivery, a woman must not step into water, nor may she
eat salt, fish or flesh. The flesh of the bamboo rat is especially
tabued, as, if she were to eat it, her child's face would grow
into a resemblance of that of the rodent.
Among the two last named groups, too, a pregnant woman
may not go out during "hot rain" (i.e. rain with sunshine),
fetch water late in the afternoon or evening, or go to the hills
alone. If she breaks the last prohibition, she will meet a tiger
and be devoured.
Marriage Customs
I have very little information about marriage customs
among the Negritos, but what details I have are, perhaps,
worth putting on record here. The Batek of the Cheka River
neighbourhood said that marriages among them took place
at the durian-fruit season 1 , which is a time for rejoicing among
many of the aboriginal tribes. They told me that, with the
exception of a feast, there is no marriage ceremony.
Marriage, it seems, between members of the same band or
group) — fiuwak was the Malay term used — is forbidden. Pro-
bably the puwak, of which there were two in the neighbourhood
of the Cheka River at the time of my visit — is little more
than a family group, and its members thus nearly related.
According to the Jehehr it is allowable, but not usual, for
a man to have two wives. A bachelor who wishes to marry,
takes his wife from another band of the tribe, and brings her
back to his own camp. After a while, however, he and his
wife return to live with his wife's relations for a time, and
visits are subsequently paid to them at varying intervals.
There appears to be little or no marriage ceremony among the
Jehehr.
As far as I could find out, there are no marriage rites among
the Kintak Bong and Menik Kaien. I was told by Token
that a man's relations generally search for a wife for him,
while engagements seem to be occasionally entered into before
the girl is of a ripe age ; thus it was said that one of the men
1 Vide photograph by Cerruti in Pagan Races (Vol. II, plate opposite p. 61 )
of a young Sakai girl.
176 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
was betrothed to a girl in the settlement near the Damak
River, but that she would not be ready for marriage for about
another two rice seasons.
According to Mempelam, the headman of the Kintak Bong,
a man who is suitor for a girl's hand usually speaks to the
girl's father or elder brother. In the event of there being
nobody in the camp whom a bachelor can marry, he goes in
search of a wife either to another camp of his own people, if
there is one, or to that of another tribe.
Divorce seems to be not unusual among the Kintak Bong,
but according to the Grik Negritos it is not common among
their people 1 . Exogamy among the Menik Kaien 2 , Kintak
Bong and the Menik Gul 2 seems to be very usual, but much
rarer, if my informants are to be believed, among the Grik
aborigines. With regard to the prohibited degrees of relation-
ship, Token told me that a man might not marry the wife
of his deceased brother, and also that marriage between first
cousins was forbidden. This may, perhaps, be so among the
Menik Kaien, but according to Mempelam the statement
needs qualifying as far as the Kintak Bong are concerned.
The rule is that first cousins may marry, provided that the
man is the son of an elder brother or sister; if he is not, they
may not marry.
Burial Customs
The following account of burial customs was obtained from
Token in 1918, and was said to hold good for the Kintak Bong
and Menik Kaien, but I did not see either a burial or a grave.
A corpse is buried in a side-chamber dug in the right-hand
wall of the excavation 3 . It lies on its right side with the legs
drawn up. The orientation of the grave is such that the head
of the corpse points towards the north-west (roughly in the
direction of Belet 2 ). A woman's grave is dug to a depth of
her height from her feet to her breasts; that of a man to a
1 Few, if any, of the Grik people, I believe, have more than one wife.
2 These two groups are almost extinct.
3 When the spectator is facing the foot of the grave. Cf. the description
of a Negrito grave in Pagan Races, 11. 92.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 177
depth of his measurement from feet to eyebrows. Burial
offerings {fienitok) of food and tobacco are placed in the grave
in front of the corpse's throat, and, if the body is that of a
male, two little wooden objects (tangkel 1 ), decorated with
patterns rudely drawn with charcoal, are planted against the
body ; one of these, the smaller of the two, the tangkel dawit,
or left-hand talisman is, I understood, always placed at the
left of the body near the shoulder ; the other, the larger, which
is called tangkel dateng, or right-hand tangkel, on the right of
the body and near that part of it in which the disease from
which the man died made itself manifest. I was also told that
three little pieces of wood, striped with yellow and red, are
sometimes set on the top of the grave, one at the head, one
at the foot, and one in the middle. These objects, of which
I obtained models, are shaped very much like the tipcats
with which English schoolboys play a game. They are tiger
talismans {tangkel teiok), which keep these animals away from
graves.
A shelter is, it appears, built over a grave, and into the
thatch of this, on its under side, are pushed four pieces of
white wood, each about a foot long, by seven-eighths of an
inch broad, and an eighth of an inch in depth. They are rudely
decorated with patterns in charcoal, one side of each being
marked with transverse bars, and the other with rude cross-
hatching: two of them are placed at one end of the shelter;
and two at the other. These objects are called tangkel kemoit —
ghost talismans. Their purpose is to prevent the return of the
souls of the dead to their homes, though Token told me they
were powerless to restrain those of the wicked. Presumably,
therefore, they act as notices to the ghosts of the good, telling
them that they must not visit their surviving relatives.
The bull-roarer, of which I obtained a specimen at Lubok
Tapah, is used as a toy by Kintak Bong children, but Mem-
pelam told me that it is the ghosts' Jew's-harp 2 .
1 I obtained models of these from Token and of the ghost talismans
mentioned below.
2 The Semang — also the Malay — Jew's-harp is made of bamboo or palm
wood. The Malay name for the instrument is genggong.
emp 12
178 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
When burying a corpse, the Kintak Bong and Menik Kaien
say:
Chub-deh 1 basing :
Go first;
Yek tekoh.
I afterwards.
Yinket eg ujan 2 ;
Do not give rain;
Yinket eg ibud (Malay ribut) ;
Do not give storms;
Yinket eg kilad 3 kaii,
Do not give lightning thunder.
Some Grik Negritos, whom I met in 1918, told me that
under similar circumstances they said :
Chub kikuie
Go first
Ik nungyeup.
I afterwards.
With regard to two phrases, said to be used at burials,
which I got on a former occasion from the Negritos of Grik
and Temengoh, there seems to be some doubt. Sapi, a Grik
Negrito, who gave me one of them, had left the district, so
I could not question him again. His formula was, " Du! Du!
Yak!" which he said meant, "Go! Go! Hear!" One of the
Grik men whom I met in 1918, however, said that it should
be, " Dut, dut.yak! " (" Fill in, fill in (i.e. bury), grandmother !"),
while the Jehehr phrase, " Bail Dun! Dun! Di-prak! " he said,
should be, "Bat! Dut! Dut! Di-prak! " ("Dig ! Fill in ! Leave ! ").
Among the Kintak Bong, the Menik Kaien, and the Ijok
people when a death occurs in a camp, its inhabitants at once
remove to another site, since they are afraid that the soul of
the dead person may return, though sometimes, I understand,
they erect their new shelters not far from the old spot. The
two first-named, the Negritos of Grik, and, probably, the Ijok
people as well, live in fear of the ghost for seven days, during
which period it is at liberty. At the end of that time, according
to the Kintak Bong and Menik Kaien, Mampes, the guardian
1 The Malay equivalent of chub-deh was given as pergi-lah.
2 Ujan is a Malay word. 3 Kilad = Malay kilat.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 179
of the Balam Bacham, comes and takes it away. He, as I have
stated above, eats the burial offerings {penitok) which the
ghosts carry with them.
Token, the Menik Kaien, told me that when a woman dies,
the other females in the camp are prohibited from wearing
flowers, and other ornaments, for seven days — until her soul
has gone to Belet.
On the expiration of seven days after a death — on the
seventh night, I believe — a singing performance (peningloin)
takes place. In this Mampes is called upon to come and take
away the ghost of the dead person.
According to my Kintak Bong informant, Mempelam, the
ghosts of the newly dead, before they undertake the journey
to Belet, are sometimes heard near the new camp to which
the survivors have moved. They say, "Yah, Yah, Yah," and
" Yebok, Yebok, Yebok." When they say, "Yah, Yah, Yah,"
they mean that they are going away, and when they say,
"Yebok, Yebok, Yebok," they want water.
The description of the position of the corpse in the grave
which I obtained in 1918 seems quite correct. Mempelam told
me that the head points to Belet, that is about north-west,
with the face looking towards the setting sun. The body lies
on its right side with the knees drawn up.
No articles of iron must be placed on, or in, graves, or a tiger
will come and eat the body. Iron is credited with smelling
musty and thus attracting tigers. Brass pots, too, must not
be put with the corpse for the same reason. Food is placed
in the grave near the head of the dead person.
The Giving of Names
Except where the Negritos have been much in contact with
Malays and have given their children Malay names 1 , it is usual
to name a child from the kind of tree under which it was
born, from the nearest stream or river, or from the place at
which the party was encamped when the birth occurred. Thus
1 It is possible that some of the Negritos, who are called by Malay names,
may also be known by native names among their own people.
12 — 2
180 THE MALAY PENINSULA . pt. ii
the Negritos of the Cheka River district said that they named
their children from streams, giving me the names; Pachet,
Wul, Songsong, Yes, Geh and Saboie (or Choie) as examples :
while out of the names of eleven Jehehr Negritos, five are
river names, two the names of rapids, one that of a piece of
land and two those of trees or plants. The Lenggong Negritos,
too, though they make use of some Malay names, such as
Pandak, Ngah and Lima 1 , also follow ancient custom to a
large extent; thus we have such names as Kemangi (a kind
of scented shrub), Kenering (born near the Kenering River),
S'lak ("leaf"), Hipai ("coconut"), Awin ("bamboo"), Nehuk
("wood"), Panggil (born near the Panggil River). These
people sometimes translate their names into Malay for pur-
poses of intercourse with outsiders. Thus, Mr Leaf, called
S'lak by his own people, is known to outsiders as Daun,
Mr Coconut (Hipai) is called Nyior, and Mr Wood (Nehuk),
Kayu 2 .
The Menik Kaien and the Kintak Bong also give their
children names from the species of trees and plants, or from
the rivers, near which they were born. My friend Token, for
instance, was named after a kind of bamboo, while another
man, known as Doin (a fan-palm; Livistona cochinchinensis) ,
was, for some reason, called Tebu (sugar-cane), by the Malays.
Among the Kintak Bong, whom I visited in 1921, besides
Mempelam (mango) and Piseng (banana), there were the
following individuals :
Pai, a female, born at the Tapah River. Pai means "ditch."
Sidim 3 , born near the Sidim River in Kedah.
Semen, a female, born near a kemangi-shrub (semeh).
Rising, a male, born near a kising-ipla.n.t' 1 .
Some Social Tabus
The mother-in-law, among the Negritos, is avoided as much
as possible by her son-in-law, and the father-in-law by his
1 It is possible that some of the Negritos, who are called by Malay names,
may also be known by native names among their own people.
2 Vide Journal of the F.M.S. Museums, ix. ro.
3 Sex not obtained.
4 Probably some species of wild ginger. I was told that it is much like
a tepus-plsmt, but has a strong smell.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 181
daughter-in-law. Thus the Cheka Negritos told me that a man
may not mention the name of his mother-in-law, nor a woman
that of her father-in-law. Both mother-in-law and father-in-
law may, however, be spoken to, but with respect. The Ijok
people 1 seem to be much more strict, for, according to their
custom, a man must not speak to his mother-in-law, nor a
woman to her father-in-law, and they must avoid these rela-
tions as far as possible. If communication is necessary, an
intermediary must be employed. A man, may, however,
speak to his father-in-law and a woman to her mother-in-law.
A man may not mention the name of his mother-in-law, nor
a woman that of her father-in-law. Among the Jehehr, too,
the mother-in-law may neither be named, nor spoken to, by
her son-in-law. Kintak Bong and Menik Kaien men, also,
may not speak to their mothers-in-law. A woman may not
address, or pass in front of, her father-in-law, she may not
speak to him, and her shadow must not fall on him. One day,
at Lubok Tapah, when I was giving some tobacco to the
Negritos, I called one of the women, Semeh, to come into my
tent and take her share. She replied that she could not, as
her father-in-law was sitting inside, and, in order to reach me,
she would have to pass in front of him. The father-in-law
then got up and changed his position in the tent, so that the
woman could approach me without breaking the tabu.
Food-Tabus
I have mentioned above that certain articles of diet are
forbidden to women who have recently given birth: others
appear to be more or less interdicted to women under ordinary
circumstances. Thus, the Jehehr told me that their women-
kind did not, or were not allowed to, eat the flesh of the
p'landok (or chevrotain), as it was thought that to do so would
entail their suffering from convulsions, while, for the same
reason, the meat of the Rusa-deer (C. unicolor) and the munt-
jac was also tabued, though less rigidly than the first,
1 Menik Kaien, Lanoh, etc. A mixed group.
!8 2 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
some women not being afraid to consume these forbidden
dainties 1 .
The Menik Kaien and Kintak Bong have a prejudice—it
can scarcely be said to amount to a tabu— against certain
kinds of food, among them the flesh of buffaloes and fowls,
and the eggs of hens, but there appear to be also certain tabus
connected with the eating of flesh or fish. Thus, Token in-
formed me that it is not allowable to re-duplicate the names
of animals when they are being eaten— I could not get a very
clear explanation of the matter— and it is thus wrong to refer
to a fish called betok as betok balok. If anyone does so, he or
she will suffer from severe intestinal disturbance.
Amulets and Talismans
The question of the magical use of the patterns with which
many of the Negritos decorate their combs and dart-quivers
has been much debated, chiefly owing to Vaughan-Stevens'
elaborate theories. Skeat, who quotes him at length, has,
unfortunately, little or no evidence of his own to offer either
for or against the truth of Vaughan-Stevens' statements.
I made it my business, when visiting the Negritos who live
near Lenggong, Ijok and in the Ulu Selama region, to inquire,
as exhaustively as I could, into this subject.
It may be noted that the patterns with which the Western
Negritos decorate their dart-quivers represent, generally,
either parts of the animals which they hunt, or articles of
diet of which the animals are fond. Thus, in the first class,
we have such patterns as "lotong monkeys' teeth," "arms of
the lotong," "eyes of the lotong," "tortoise breast pattern"
and "eyes" of the Kuwangkweit bird 2 ; while in the second
there are "padi grains," "flower sheaths of the jack fruit,"
" cucumber flowers" and "cucumber seeds." Such designs as
these are, according to my Menik Kaien informant, Token,
of use to hunters, for, were the quivers not ornamented in this
1 Similar ideas are found among many of the Sakai tribes.
2 These are Malay names.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 183
manner, the game would be frightened and run away, but,
as they have upon them patterns of rice, cucumber seeds,
teeth of the lotong, etc., the souls of the animals are not afraid 1 .
This statement is supported by that of a Lenggong Negrito,
who said that the lotong patterns on the quivers were thought
to aid hunters in their quest for monkeys, while an Ijok man
also affirmed that the patterns on the dart-quivers assisted
his people in obtaining food — game, I presume — in the jungle ;
though this was denied by another member of the same tribe.
I think, however, that there is sufficient evidence to warrant
our believing that the patterns on the quivers have a magical
significance and use.
With regard to the combs, with which Vaughan-Stevens'
theories are chiefly concerned, I have, up to the present, been
able to obtain no proof that the designs which are engraved
upon them are supposed to have any magical properties.
Token, when asked directly about the matter, replied that
they had not, nor was I more successful in obtaining confirma-
tion of Vaughan-Stevens' stories from the Negritos of Lenggong
and Ijok. One Ijok man, whom I asked straight out whether
the women's combs were regarded as amulets, only answered
that they might, perhaps, have a magical use, as the women
always wore them 2 .
Necklaces of a black fungus rhizomorph, which the Malays
call akar (or urat) batu, are frequently worn by Ijok, Lenggong
and Ulu Selama Negritos — chiefly by the men — as a charm
against "hot rain" — that is, rain while the sun is shining —
which is much feared as bringing fever and other ills 3 . Among
the Negritos of the Cheka River district in Pahang, too, I have
seen girdles and bracelets of this material in use, but I omitted
to inquire whether they were worn for the same purpose. The
Negrito women of the Western States very generally wear a
1 Tokeh (1921) tells me that men decorate their dart-quivers with any
patterns which they may dream will aid them in hunting.
2 Vaughan-Stevens, however, states that only the Eastern Negritos use
comb-patterns for magical purposes. The Cheka people, the only Eastern
Negrito tribe that I have visited, do not make the typical Negrito comb.
3 Some of the Sakai-Jakun of Selangor and Pahang also wear necklaces
and bracelets of akar batu as amulets against "hot rain."
184 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. n
short kilt of akar batu, this being often put on underneath
a Malay sarong.
From the Lenggong and Ijok people I obtained some dried
racemose inflorescences of a small plant, or plants — for they
may have been of different species, though much alike — which
were stated to be those of the chenduai : they are thought to
form infallible love-charms by the Malays 1 . The specimens
which I got at Lenggong were forwarded to Kew to be named
and were identified as being Salomonia aphylla (Griff.). The
chenduai is, according to Malay stories, said to grow in the
most inaccessible fastnesses of the mountains.
The Herald of Small-pox
In 1918, while I was camping in the Ulu Selama region of
Perak, the Kintak Bong living close by were very much
troubled about an outbreak of small-pox in a Malay village
a few miles away, this disease being, with good reason, much
dreaded by the Negritos. They said that the advent of small-
pox is announced by an insect called Imong — a kind of cicada,
as far as I could find out — and that they had heard its note
before the outbreak in question had occurred.
Various Beliefs and Customs
The following information was collected from Mempelam,
headman of the Kintak Bong, in 1921.
If a hut is to be built in the jungle, a fire is first lighted on
the spot chosen. If the smoke from this drifts about without
rising, another site must be selected, as if this is not done a
tiger will raid the occupants of the hut, or they will fall ill
with fever.
If the Hornbill, which the Negritos call Kawan Malik 2 ,
is heard at night, it is said that a tiger is coming. The same
1 Some similar inflorescences were obtained by my Malay "boy" from
the "Biduanda" of the Ulu Langat in Selangor, when I visited them in
1912. He only showed these to me, however, after I had got my specimens
from the Lenggong Negritos.
s This is the Burong mati sa' kawan of the Malays (Annorhinus galeritus).
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 185
belief also attaches to the Kuwangkweit 1 when its note is
heard after dark.
If a squirrel in a tree falls from it near the sleeping-bench
of a shelter, it is a sign that someone will die.
Malays (Hemik), blood, jungle leeches and the private parts
of a man or woman may not be mentioned when fish are being
caught by means of tuba-poison 2 . These words are enlak, tabu.
Women who are expectant may not accompany the fishing
party. If these tabus are broken, the poison will have no
effect upon the fish.
Folk-Stories
Yak Kampeh and Piagok
Told by Mempelam, Headman of the Kintak Bong
Yak 3 Kampeh lived with her son, Piagok, in the Selama
District.
Yak Kampeh dreamt one night that she had got a son named
Kebeurk Yihuk 4 . The next morning she went out to look for
food, and came across a fruit hanging from a tree. She told
her son, Piagok, to climb and take the fruit. So Piagok climbed
the tree and threw the fruit down into his mother's cloth,
which she held to receive it. A sound of crying was heard
from the cloth, and the fruit opened, and a child was in it.
Another night Piagok dreamt that he met a woman. So,
on the next morning, he set out and really met her. She told
Piagok that she wanted armlets (of rattan), Jew's-harps and
combs. Piagok went home and made the combs. On the
day after he told his mother to go to the woman's camp, and
at night he went there himself and slept with Yak Tanggoi 5 —
for that was the woman's name.
The next morning, he went with Homoit, Tanggoi's younger
brother, to hunt with his blow-pipe, and, when it was night,
they went home. Homoit was carried tied on Piagok's back,
above his back-basket, because his waist was only as big as
1 A goatsucker (Token, 192 1).
2 Derris elliptica, a plant of which the sap is poured into pools in the
river to stupify the fish. 3 Grandmother.
4 This means "tree fruit." 5 Grandmother Rambutan.
1 86 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
my index finger, and he could not walk : on returning to the
hut, his sister released him.
On the day after, Piagok went by himself through the
jungle to Perak (i.e. the Perak River Valley) for five days, and
then came back. On his return, he went away again on the
next morning and shot a pig with his bow. He returned, and
that night he had an unlucky dream. The next morning he
and Yak Tanggoi exchanged leaves of the Changlun, agreeing
that if their leaves withered they also would be dead.
Then Piagok went on a journey, and he found when he
looked at his (Yak Tanggoi's) leaf, that it had shrivelled.
Now after Piagok's departure, Yak Tanggoi had gone to
bathe with five other women. The five women pushed her
down into the bathing-well and drowned her, because they
wanted Piagok for themselves.
Piagok returned and found his wife dead, and wrapped her
body in a mat. Then he got an iron pan and heated water.
Next he called the five women and said to them, " If you like
my body, come and sit here !" They came and sat down near
him; whereupon he took the hot water and poured it over
them, killing them all. Then there came Henweh 1 and the
house turned to stone, but Piagok carried Yak Tanggoi's body
up to the sky.
Now there was a cousin of Piagok who lived in Perak. His
name was To'Taseg and his wife was called Yak Hnileh.
To'Taseg being a halak (magician) knew about Piagok, and
came with his wife to Selama, but his younger cousin (Piagok)
had gone to the sky.
To'Taseg seeing that Piagok's house had become a stone,
transformed himself into a Chinoi, and entered it, his wife
going in first, because he stopped to burn incense.
Yak Tanggoi came to life in the sky, and, when a halak
performs in afianoh ("medicine-hut"), Piagok, Yak Tanggoi,
Taseg and Yak Hnileh come to him. They have become Chinoi.
1 Water welling up from under the ground. A disaster caused by an
impious act. Henweh, as here, is sometimes accompanied by petrifaction
of the offender's house.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 187
Tak Chemempes
Told by Mempelam, Headman of the Kintak Bong
- Tak Chemempes one day turned himself into a rhinoceros.
A companion of his, who had gone to cut attaps 1 in the jungle,
saw him eating the leaves of a tree and went home, got his
bow, returned, and shot at him, but Tak Chemempes caught
the arrow under his "armpit" (front leg). Then he pretended
to be dead, as if he had been killed by the arrow.
The man who had shot at him went back to call his friends
to come and cut up the rhinoceros that he had shot. They all
went to the place and made themselves shelters near the
"dead" rhinoceros. Five children started playing near the
rhinoceros while their mothers were building the shelters, and
the rhinoceros said to them, "Have you all come here?" and
the children answered, "All of us." The children went to
their fathers and said, "The rhinoceros asked us if we had
all moved here." The fathers said, "Don't speak minchah 2 ."
Then all the people came together to cut up the rhinoceros,
and the rhinoceros got up, became a man, and killed them all,
except one man who was only lamed. Then Tak Chemempes
said, " Is there anyone left?" and the wounded man replied,
"There is"; so Tak Chemempes killed him too.
Another time Tak Chemempes became a blacksmith, but
he made his working-knives of tin. Then he called the people
together and sold them knives, and when they had gone, he
went away and became the cabbage of a Taak-palm 3 .
Now the people to whom he had sold the working-knives
were shifting their camp. They came to the place where Tak
Chemempes had become a palm-cabbage, and first one, and
then another, climbed the tree to cut out the cabbage, but
all were unsuccessful, until a man cut it through with a small
knife 4 , and pushed it down, when it rolled into the river and
became a soft-shelled turtle.
1 Leaves for making thatch.
8 I.e. words which will cause stomach trouble when the flesh is eaten:
Minchah is more or less equivalent to the Malay word mi sing, "bad
diarrhoea." 3 The Negrito name for the Langkap-^a.\m.
* Not one that he had bought from Tak Chemempes.
188 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
All the people tried to catch the turtle, but it cut their
hands. At last the man who had cut down the palm-cabbage
went down into the river, caught the turtle, and brought it
ashore, when it immediately dug itself into the ground, and
became an elephant's-head tuber. So they dug it up, and
preparing a tire, roasted it; and fifteen of the people died of
stomach trouble through eating it, and fifteen remained alive.
Then Tak Chemempes became a toalang-tvee with two or
three hundred bees'-nests in it. The fifteen people who were
left alive came across the toalang and made shelters there,
so as to take the bees'-nests. They made a ladder 1 up the
tree to reach the nests and, at night, a man went up carrying
a torch 2 and a bailer 3 made of the flowering spathe of the
Bayas-pa\m. When he got to the nests, the bees became a
man, who cut the climber's throat, and, catching the blood
in the bailer, let it down to the people below, saying, "There's
lots of honey; the bailer won't hold it all !"
Then he called another man up to help him, and cut his
throat too. So he called another and another, and so on, until
eight had been killed. At last the cocks crew and it was day-
light, and Tak Chemempes vanished. But the seven persons
who were left saw their dead companions lying under the
tree.
Next, Tak Chemempes became a crocodile and laid eggs on
the shore of a river. A man who had been digging tubers came
to the river to wash his hands, and, seeing the eggs, took them
home, cooked and ate them. When night came the crocodile
followed him to the camp to which the eggs had been
taken. All the people there were asleep, except one man and
his wife. These two heard the crocodile coming and called
the people who had eaten the eggs, but could not wake them ;
1 The kind of ladder which the Malays call sigai, long bamboos placed
end to end with notches cut in them for foot-rests or with wooden pegs,
forming steps, fitted into the notches. Wooden pegs, called patin, are also
commonly driven into toalang trunks to form a ladder when Malays climb
for honey.
2 For lighting his way and for smoking out the bees.
3 Like the article used for bailing boats. It has a cross-bar. The honey
is let down in the bailer.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 189
so they ran away. Then the crocodile came and ate up all
the sleepers.
After this Tak Chemempes became a lizard 1 in a tree near
a camp. Whenever he saw anything nice cooking in the camp,
he came down from the tree, became a man, and got a share
by telling the people that he had come from a far-away place.
At last a girl followed him, and Tak Chemempes returned to
his own shape and carried her off from there.
Then he journeyed until he found some people fishing, and
tried to persuade them to go to their huts to eat their fish.
But the people told him how a certain man, named Tak Taihi,
oppressed them by taking their fish, and said that, if he could
overcome their oppressor, they would collect fish for him. So
Tak Chemempes prepared rattan bindings 2 large enough to
go round his knees and elbows. Soon came the man who had
taken the fish and asked what the bindings were for, and Tak
Chemempes replied that they were medicine for pains in his
elbows and knees. Tak Taihi asked for them, saying that he
also had pains. Tak Chemempes gave them to him, showing
him how to put them on with connecting pieces of wood
between the elbows and knees. Then, when he was firmly
trussed, Tak Chemempes beat him to death, and when the
people came back from fishing they heaped together their
fish for him.
Next, Tak Chemempes bored a hole in a tree-buttress,
making it sufficiently large for his foot to pass through easily.
This hole he stopped with mud, so that it would not be
noticed. When he had finished, he called his companions to
try if they could kick a hole in a tree-buttress, and they said
that they would give him all their fish if he was able to do
so. His companions tried to kick a hole in a buttress, but
could not. Then Tak Chemempes kicked the buttress in the
place which he had prepared, and his foot passed through it
easily. So his companions brought him their fish.
1 The species known to the Malays as GSgSrok (Gecko stentor). It lives in
holes in trees and has a loud and peculiar cry, which is generally heard in
the early morning and towards evening.
2 Of the kind which the Malays call simpai.
iqo THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
After about another two or three days his companions stole
the girl whom he had brought with him. Tak Chemempes went
in search of her, but could not find her: so he returned. He
slept for a night, and the next day he discovered the thieves,
but not the girl. He said to them, " If you want to become
like I am, go and get some bamboos." So they went and got
what he told them to fetch, and Tak Chemempes dried the
bamboos for two nights over the fire. Then he made knives
from the bamboos, and said, " If you want to become Moham-
edans (i.e. be circumcised), go and sit above the waterfall."
So they went and sat above the waterfall. Tak Chemempes
went to their wives and said, "If I am attacked by an evil
spirit 1 when I circumcise your husbands, here is medicine to
blow over me 2 ," and he gave them some tios 3 . So he went to
circumcise their husbands. First he called one man, cut off
all his genitals, and kicked him down into the river below,
then another, and so on, till all thirty of them were dead.
Then he went back, and the wives asked him when their
husbands were coming home, and he replied, " Perhaps to-day
or to-morrow." That night he pretended to have an epileptic
fit 4 , and all the women came together to blow the medicine
over him. Then he beat them all to death.
On the next day he started on a journey, and, when a strong
wind arose, he heard a sound of loud whistling. He found that
the noise was made by two trees, the stems of which crossed
one another and were pushed together by the wind. Tak
Chemempes climbed up into the trees and put his hand
between them, in order to take whatever it was that made
the whistling, but his hand was caught between the trunks,
and there he was held until he died.
1 In Malay " kSna badi."
2 The Malay sSmbor. Blowing medicine from the mouth, often sirih-
water, on the affected part, is a method of treatment frequently resorted
to by native practitioners.
3 Kunyet tSrus in Malay, a kind of turmeric, Curcuma aromatica (?).
4 In Malay, "become pig mad," epileptic fits are ascribed to possession
by a spirit.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 191
Mampes
Mampes and his wife went from Selama to Perak, and lived
there a month. On his return, Mampes found that all his
companions had been eaten by tigers: now there were two of
these animals.
He told his wife to climb a jerai-tree. Then he went to the
huts where the people had died, and there he found two tigers.
The tigers wanted to fight with him, but he stopped them,
saying, "Wait a little, and then we will fight. I want to take
a thorn out of my foot." He took out the thorn, and then,
standing up, called the male tiger to fight. They fought, and
Mampes killed the tiger with an arrow. Then he called the
female and she, also, was killed in the same way. So Mampes
said, "Ah, when I was away you came and killed my mother
and my relations, but now you have had to fight with me !"
He returned to his wife and called to her to come down. Then
he told her how their friends had been killed, and she wept
when she heard of it.
After this Mampes went to his father's camp, which was
in another place, and told him how his mother and his com-
panions had been eaten by tigers. He lived there for about
three months. One day he told two of his companions to
make a swing, and, when it was made, he sat in it and swung.
Now there were two women whose husband — they were
both married to the same man — was very clever, but pretended
to be dumb. Now this "dumb" man, Tak Nin 1 , was really
also Mampes, for he had made a double of himself, but of
different appearance.
These three, Tak Nin and his two wives, Yak Lunggyait
and Penantun, both of whom were halak, went to the jungle,
Tak Nin taking with him a bow.
They came across a bear up a tree in the jungle and Yak
Lunggyait took the bow, placed one end on the ground,
strung it, and gave it to Tak Nin, motioning him to shoot.
1 Tak Nin's footprints, I am told, can still be seen at Ayer Tuna, Sidim,
Kedah.
ig2 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
The bear was struck and crouched on the ground, and Yak
Lunggyait said, "Nin deurk kawap 1 !" "Run!" said Nin to
his two wives. Then the bear died.
They went back and stopped for two nights at their hut.
After this they started out again, and met an elephant, and
Tak Nin went by himself and shot at the elephant with his
bow, wounding him. The elephant ran away and, when he
had run for about two miles 2 , fell down dead. So Tak Nin
went home with his two wives and told his companions about
the dead elephant. Next day about twenty of them started
off for the place where the elephant was lying. When they
arrived, Tak Nin cut open the elephant's head and took the
tusks. Then they went home.
Now there was a younger brother-in-law 3 of Tak Nin's.
This man was a halak, his name was Pas 4 , and he was the
ancestor of the Muntjac, for all animals were once men. Tak
Nin told him to speak to his (Tak Nin's) mother-in-law 5 , and
ask her what he should do with the ivory. So Pas ran off
to Tak Nin's mother-in-law's and arrived at night, when, on
coming to the entrance of the camp, he stepped on two people
who were sleeping there. These two moved to a sleeping-bench,
which broke under their weight, and they were wounded in
their backs by the supports of the bench.
Then Pas went straight to his mother's hut, and said, "My
elder brother has killed an elephant," telling her to go the
next day. The mother-in-law told the father-in-law, and, on
the following day, he and Pas went to Tak Nin's hut.
The father-in-law took the tusks home with him and kept
them for ten days, until a thief, named Keh, came at night
and stole them. On the next morning the father-in-law, Tak
Kemis, went after the thief and met him on the path. Then
Keh put down the tusks and ran away up some rocks, com-
1 "Nin run from the bear!"
2 In Malay " dua batu," two stones, i.e. two miles. The Negritos have
learnt to speak of miles from the Malays.
3 A dik ipar in Malay. I.e. a brother-in-law who was younger than Tak Nin.
4 The name means " kijang" (Mwitiacus muntjac).
6 Tak Nin would be prohibited by Negrito custom from speaking to her
himself.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 193
plaining. Tak Kemis shot him with his bow, and he died.
This Keh 1 was the ancestor of the goat-antelopes.
Tak Kemis went home with the ivory, but one night another
thief climbed up upon the shelf 2 , while five others watched
near Tak Kemis' head. The five took the ivory and ran away,
while the sixth jumped down from the shelf, spilling the salt
into the fire in doing so. Now the five got away safely, but
the sixth, Chigchag, broke his thigh between two logs. Tak
Kemis found him on the next day and killed him.
Wild Pigs
Told by Mempelam
The wild pigs were once Malays who used to change them-
selves into pigs and go off into the jungle.
There were once two Kintak Bong men, brothers. The elder
was stupid, but the younger was a halak. They went to the
jungle and came across some pigs, and the elder brother shot
at one of them with an arrow 3 and hit it. Then the "pigs"
ran away to their houses and became men again ; and the man
who had been hit complained of the pain to his wife.
Now the younger brother went to the village and saw the
sick man. The elder brother followed him and called out in
the village, "This is where my arrow is," but his younger
brother told him not to say anything. Then the "pigs" came
1 His followers became goat-antelopes (serows). The name Keh, I believe,
means serow. Note that Keh tried to escape to the rocks. The serow is
commonly found on precipitous limestone cliffs, such as are to be seen in
many parts of the Peninsula.
2 Malay para. Probably the ivory was kept on a shelf above the hearth.
The Negritos do not, however, build sufficiently complicated dwellings to have
a para. Licence must be granted to the story-teller.
3 It is often said, with truth, that the bow is the original Negrito weapon
and the blow-pipe has been borrowed from the Sakai. The bow, though
known to the Negritos of Perak, is now little, if at all, used by them, but is
still a favourite weapon of the Negrito-Sakai of the hills of Upper Perak.
The Negritos of the Perak River Valley (Lanoh) use the blow-pipe to a
considerable extent, weapons generally being obtained from the Negrito-
Sakai, who can easily obtain the long-noded bamboo (B. Wrayi) which is
the best for making the inner tubes. The Negritos have, however, evolved
their own type of dart-quiver : this has no cover.
In these folk-stories it is, I think, well demonstrated that the bow is the
original Negrito weapon, there are constant references to it as against only
two to the blow-pipe.
BMP 13
194 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
and fought with them. The elder brother went home, but the
younger remained behind and treated the sick man till he was
well.
Then the younger brother went home and said to this elder
brother, "Do not go to the village to-morrow, if you do, the
'pigs' will fight, and you will die." The elder brother paid no
attention to what the younger said, and went to the village
and asked for rice 1 . They gave him rice, and attacked him
while he was eating it, and killed him.
His younger brother did not know about this. The next
morning he went to the village and found his elder brother's
body lying there. He went and moved the body and found
that his brother was dead. Then he took the tail of a grass-
lizard and thrust it into his elder brother's nostrils. Where-
upon his brother sneezed, and came to life again. Then they
went home.
When they got home, they stopped there for two days, and
then the elder brother went fishing and caught some fish. He
went back to his hut, and, when he arrived, his wife cooked
rice for him. After he had eaten, and it had become dark,
he set out again and did not return. His younger brother
went in search of him, but could not find him, so he went back,
and remained at his hut for fifteen days. On the sixteenth
day he again went in search of his elder brother, and found
him at a water spirits' 2 camp. Then the younger brother slept
there for the night, and saw that the people of the hut were
of a different race from human beings.
On the next day he tried to persuade his elder brother to
come home, but he refused. So the elder brother stopped there,
while the younger returned.
A Menik Kaien Legend
Told by Mempelam, Headman of the Kintak Bong
There was once a man, a halak, who had a son who was
also a halak. The son had a wife. One day the son went out
1 The Kintak Bong are, at the present day, hangers-on at Malay villages.
They continually beg for rice, and often avoid doing work in payment for
it when received. 2 Kemoit teheu.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 195
to shoot with his blow-pipe. His wife took a bangkong^ivuit and
roasted it in the fire, intending to give it to her child, who was
crying for food. The bangkong-iruit exploded — now to burn a
bangkong-iru.it in the fire is tabu, and, if anyone does so, a tiger
will come and eat the offender when the fruit explodes. On
the fruit exploding, the father-in-law became startled, began
to shake, and turned into a tiger 2 and ate up his daughter-
in-law.
When the son came home, he saw what his father had done,
and the two fought together. The son was beaten, because the
father became very tall during the fight, and though he, too,
became very tall, he could not attain such a height as his
father. Then the father said to the son that he (the son) could
not fight with him (the father) any more, and that the hut
should become a cave in a hill. So the hut became a cave,
and is still to be seen near Batu Kurau 3 .
Now Tang-ong, the father of Tapern came to the cave and
the two men 4 , now called Heneng Ai 5 , emerged from the cave
up to their shoulders. Then Tang-ong asked what had hap-
pened and the father told him how he and his son had fought,
and asked him to tell the Menik Kaien that they were to keep
the sixteenth day of the month — the day on which they had
fought — as tabu, whenever they went near the hill.
(The Menik Kaien, according to Mempelam, claim Batu
Kurau as being in their territory. Only the Menik Kaien
dialect may be talked by Negritos when going near the hill.)
Note on the Identification of Negrito Words
As a large number of Negrito words occur in this section
of my work, I have made an attempt to identify them in the
1 A kind of wild jack-fruit.
2 Magicians among the Negritos and the Sakai are frequently credited
with the power of turning themselves into tigers.
3 I am inclined to think that this cave is the rock-shelter in Gunong Kurau
which the Malays call KSramat Rimau, i.e. the tiger's holy place. I carried
out excavations at this site in 1917; vide ix. 34 of the F.M.S. Museum's
Journal. Tokeh, however (192 1), says that Mempelam is wrong and that the
place is in the Ulu Selama. * The father and son.
6 Heneng Ai is also the Negrito name of the cave. It means "the hole of
the leaf-monkeys." The particular speciesof leaf-monkey is Presbytesobscurus.
13—2
196
THE MALAY PENINSULA
PT. II
comparative vocabulary at the end of Vol. 11 of Pagan Races.
A considerable proportion of these — given in the list below,
together with reference letters and numbers — has been thus
traced to identical, nearly allied, or probably related forms,
but a considerable number have not been thus identified; of
these most are to be found in the songs of the halak, or in
those of the "singing performance." There is thus a possi-
bility that some of them are words which are not in e very-day
use, since the Chinoi — who are said to use special words —
speak through the halak, while in the " singing performance,"
Chinoi were also supposed to be speaking, though in this in-
stance, I take it, there was no suggestion of possession by them.
Ag-ag, crow, c 277.
Ai, monkey (Presbytes neglecta
keatii), m 140.
Awih, climbing plant, r 39.
Bai, dig, d 107.
Balak, ivory, h 126.
Baleh, virgin, g 28, y 40, w 131.
Bekau, flower, f 187.
Bering, fruit, F281.
Beteu, water, w 3.
Betud, long, l 130.
Bleuk, thigh, T 60.
Bum, we (= Malay kawan, com-
panion), R 36 (Lataik bum, ro-
tan kawan).
Chelchem, Chelchem, cf. perhaps,
kelyeng, inside, 1 27.
Chem, stab, c 296 {cheg) .
Chibeh, sunrise, d 33 (chewe).
Chintol, bud, b 446. Meaning
given as "comb flower" in one
place.
Dadak, breast, b 380.
Dakar, where, w8i.
Deh, this, it, T 86.
Deng, see, s 75.
Deurk, run, G44.
Eh, father, f 45.
Ek, stomach, b 161.
Empak, dream, d 158.
Ensol, ashamed, a 158 a.
Gampil, mat, m 63.
Gul, swamp, h 113.
Ha, where, what, w 77.
Halak, shaman, m 78.
Heneng, hole, h 107.
Hertik, tail, t 3.
Hilud, swallow, to, s 526.
Huyak, rainbow snake, r 16.
Ibeh, turn, cf. bit, habit, T 250.
Jagat, giddy (?), cf. ja-kui, h 46.
Kawap, bear, b 103.
Kawong, Argus pheasant, a 129.
Kebeurk, fruit (= Malay biji, a
numeral coefficient applied to
round objects such as fruit),
F283.
Kedlud, firefly, w 121.
Kedong, rat, r 33.
Keling-tek, earth, from under,
e 12 (tek).
Kemoit, ghost, g 18.
Keping, above, a 5.
Kid, root, bottom, p 515, a 118.
Kijing, hear, h 60.
Kilad, lightning, L97.
Klang, hawk, e 4.
Kom, frog, f 265.
Kuie, head, h 46.
Kuwangkweit, bird, species of,
b 222.
Lei, spin (turn), t 267, t 251.
PT. II
THE MALAY PENINSULA
197
Magiseh, go round, t 257.
Makab, seize, c 48.
Maloh, what, w 77.
Menang, thread, t 96.
Menik, Negrito, m 25.
Mentis {blis), go down, d 33,
F12.
Met ketok, sun, d 33.
Minchah, stomach trouble, s 468.
Mohr, nose, N 98.
Ngabag, magical singing perform-
ance, to hold a, s 212.
Nteng, ear, e 6.
Oi, I (?), cf. 13.
Pas, muntjac, d 76.
Penet, tired, t 149.
Penig, durian, cultivated, d 188.
Pideh, call, C9.
Piseng, banana, P49-
Pi-weg, go back, r 83 [weg).
Puyau, basket, cf. puyu, pan-
danus, p 27.
Sagwong, bird, species of, B 225.
Sempak, durian, wild, d 189.
Sog, hair, h i.
Suk, hair, h i.
Takob, tuber, y 2.
Tanggoi, rambutan, r 22.
Tapag, palm leaflets, r 178.
Teiok, tiger, t 130.
Tekoh, afterwards, a 46.
Tembun, come up, climb, c 166.
Til-tol-tapah, a bird, d 181. It is
not the Argus pheasant, as
stated by Vaughan-Stevens.
Un, that, there, T 51.
Wai, open, o 44.
Yak, grandmother, g 86.
Yam, I, 1 1.
Yek, I, n.
(ii) SOME BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS OF THE SAKAI
This paper covers not only the Sakai proper but also the
mixed tribes both Negrito-Sakai — such as the people living
in the hill regions of Upper Perak and the Sakai-Jakun tribes
of Selangor, Central Pahang and Negri Sembilan. The latter
are important as occupying a large extent of country, and
forming a considerable proportion of the aboriginal popula-
tion of the Peninsula.
The culture of the Negrito-Sakai is more Sakai than Negrito,
for they are fairly diligent agriculturists and build good
houses of the communal type. Physically the mixture of
blood between the two races is obvious.
The mixed tribes of Selangor, Central Pahang, and Negri
Sembilan generally incline more to the Jakun than the Sakai
type. Some of them — as do the pure Jakun — speak Malay
as their mother-tongue ; others Sakai dialects. Thus, of those
mentioned in this paper, the tribes in the neighbourhood of
Pertang in Negri Sembilan, the "Biduanda" of the Ulu
Langat and of the Ulu Kenaboi, and the "Mantra" whom I
met in the neighbourhood of Johol are Malay-speakers; while
198 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
the Besisi, the Serting River people, the Bera tribe, the Kerau
tribe, the Kemaman Sakai-Jakun, the Tekam tribe and others,
speak various Sakai dialects. Many of the mixed tribes, too,
have the Jakun system of tribal officers.
Jakun influence penetrates Perak to some extent — chiefly
owing to the migration of Selangor pagans — and I have found
Selangor or half-Selangor people living as far north as the
low country around Sungkai. Probably, however, there is
much less, if any, admixture among the mountain-dwelling
Sakai of South Perak.
Possibly I shall be found fault with for placing these mixed
tribes under the heading of Sakai instead of under that of
Jakun, but these papers are intended more as storehouses for
facts to be made use of by students of custom and religion
than as essays on the differences which prevail between the
pagan races. Several years' experience of the Malay Peninsula
has served rather to impress upon my mind the similarities
in belief and custom which prevail among the pagan tribes,
than to accentuate differences; still in the general introduction
I have attempted to draw some distinctions between the
beliefs and customs of the different races.
Deities
The Sakai who inhabit the valley of the Sungkai River from
the neighbourhood of Sungkai village to an up-stream settle-
ment of the Malays which is named Jeram Kawan — a section
of the Senoi (Central Sakai) — have a hazy belief in a Supreme
Being, whom they call Yenang 1 . The Sakai who live around
the Kampar River above Gopeng, too, acknowledge Yenong
(Jenong 1 ) as their god and it seems, both from the small
amount of information that I was able to get with regard to
him myself, and also from that obtained by others 2 , that there
is some reason for identifying him with the sun.
1 The Yenang, Yenong or Jenong may possibly mean chief and be of the
same derivation as Jenang, a tribal officer among some of the Sakai-Jakun
and Jakun tribes. There is a certain amount of Selangor (Sakai-Jakun) blood
among some of the Sakai of the lowlands in the neighbourhood of Sungkai.
2 Vide Papers on Malay Subjects, "The Aboriginal Tribes" (Wilkinson),
p. 42.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 199
Though I did not get any direct proof of this in the neigh-
bourhood of Sungkai, yet it is worthy of note that swearing
by the sun is a form of oath which is used among the Sakai
of Jeram Kawan, for one man, who had been accused by a
Malay of informing against him, told me that he replied,
"I swear by the sun that I did not tell the 'Tuan,' and, if
I lie, may the sun shrivel up my tongue."
Among the Sakai of the Behrang River in the south of the
Batang Padang District of Perak, I could get but little infor-
mation with regard to deities, but they speak of Ungku 1 , Turul
or Nanchet as being the spirit who makes thunder. They say
that Bonsu 2 , his younger brother, wished Turul to go with him
to a place above the sky. Turul, however, would not consent,
as he wanted to remain below to cause trouble on earth. Bonsu
thus left him below, where he remains to the present day. I
was told that Turul has four children, three of them females,
Wah 3 Hilong, Wah Hideh and Wah Dampeh, the fourth,
Puntok Keboie, a male.
Thunder and Lightning
Among the Sakai, as among the Negritos, thunder and
lightning are much dreaded, and especially storms which are
thought to have been brought on by some impious act.
The Behrang Senoi, like many other Sakai, think that
should certain prohibited acts be done, without steps being
taken to avoid the consequences, the village of the offenders
would be struck by lightning and overwhelmed and destroyed
by the storm. Some of the tabued acts in connexion with
storms are to dress up a monkey and laugh at it, to set a
cat and dog to fight, to burn jungle-leeches, malau* (a kind
of gum), lice, bugs, jelotong wood, ipah wood (?), rattan canes
of the kind known as kerai, and two kinds of creepers (dagut
and chinchong) in the fire of the cooking-place. It is also
1 Ungku is a fairly common word for thunder in the Sakai dialects.
2 The Sakai version of the Malay word bongsu, "youngest-born."
3 Probably Wak (Grandmother) would be more correct, but I give the
word as I took it down at the time.
4 One sort of malan is stick-lac.
200 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
forbidden to roast or boil the flesh of the Berok or of the Kera
monkey on a fire on which dried fish has been cooked. In
addition the notes of many kinds of birds and insects must
not be imitated when heard, for instance that of the cicada.
Even such actions as playing with the sand by the river-side
and laughing loudly, as children like to do, or looking into
another person's face and laughing, are, according to their
ideas, capable of bringing on one of these disastrous storms.
Katil, the headman of a Sakai settlement near the Behrang
River, told me that a few months before my visit a man had
cooked a piece of dried fish in the jungle, making his fire,
without thinking about the matter, at the foot of a clump of
rattan palm of the species known as rotan kerai {Daemonorops
geniculatus) . As a result of this a violent thunderstorm came
up before he had finished eating. On realizing what he had
done, he took his working-knife and cut his foot with it (pre-
sumably with the intention of propitiating the Spirit of the
Storm by a blood-offering); then, on the blood gushing out,
the storm stopped. He had only intended to make a superficial
cut, but he found that he had wounded himself so badly that
he had to be carried home by his companions.
Thunderstorms caused by the infractions of one of these
prohibitions are called terlaik dok v , which seems to mean
Berok lightning, or Berok storms, possibly owing to the fact
that it is thought that they can be brought on by teasing
Berok monkeys.
While I was with the Behrang Senoi I had an opportunity
of seeing how they behave during a storm, for on two suc-
cessive evenings there arose a high wind, with distant thunder
and lightning. On the first, while the wind was blowing in
violent gusts, I heard the people in the next house — I was
living in the settlement — calling out loudly, and I asked Katil,
who was with me, what they were saying. I did not, however,
go into the matter deeply then, as I thought that he might
be reluctant to talk about the storm while it was still raging.
On the second occasion most of the people of the village were
in the hut in which I was staying when the wind came sweep-
pt. II THE MALAY PENINSULA 201
ing down from the hills. They were obviously rather frightened
and one old woman kept angrily shouting out orders to the
storm to stop, not leaving off until it had almost done so. On
that evening and on the next morning I got Katil to tell me
a good deal about his people's ideas with regard to storms.
It appears that these Senoi believe that during bad storms
of this kind the spirits of the old dead (kemoit rah) and the
spirits of those who have died more recently (kemoit pat, new
ghosts) are roaming over the earth.
The spells, if they may be called so, which the Sakai
shouted out to compel the storm to cease were as follows :
1. " Sidang!" a Malay word meaning "to abate."
2. " Kip as sa'blah!" 1 meaning "fan to one side."
I was also told that the Behrang Senoi frequently call out to
the buntal fish (a fish which is capable of distending its body)
to suck up the storm (" I sap buntal!" 2 ) and that sometimes
they cry, " Wok mat! Wok lemoin! " In this last I understand
the meaning of the individual words, but I cannot attempt a
translation. Wok means either "shadow" or "spirit," mat
means "eyes," while lemoin is " teeth." As far as I could find
out from Katil, the expression is something to do with the
belief that loud laughter will bring on a bad storm. I imagine,
therefore, that the charm is used for neutralizing the effects
of previous laughter.
During very bad storms indeed, I was told that the Beh-
rang Senoi assemble under the house and burn jadam (ex-
tract of aloes (?)) and evil-smelling rubbish to scare away the
storm.
Among the Sakai of the Ulu Kampar, too, owing to fear
of disastrous storms, it is tabu for anyone to roast an egg in
the fire, to laugh at a snake if one is met with in the jungle,
or to pull a jungle leech off the body and burn it in the fire.
In this district, when a bad thunderstorm comes on, the
Sakai climb down from their houses to the ground, strike their
working-knives into the earth, and leave them there, while
1 A Malay phrase. 2 Malay.
202 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
they also take the stones which support the cooking-pots and
throw them out of their doors. Both these actions are thought
to be helpful in dispersing the storm, and the hot stones from
the hearth, symbolically at any rate, dry up the rain.
Should anyone in the house, for instance a child when
playing, break off the tail of a lizard, each person cuts off
a piece of hair from his, or her, head, burns it in the fire, and
then collecting the ashes, blows them through the hands,
placed trumpet fashion before the mouth, saying, " Usah,
usah gelebih!" ("Don't any more!"). If this were not done
the house would be struck by lightning.
The Sungkai Senoi have very similar ideas and beliefs about
storms caused by tabued acts to the Ulu Kampar and Beh-
rang people. Among them it is forbidden to take a jungle
leech off the body and put it into the fire, to tease a cat or
dog, to tease a monkey, or dress it up like a human being
and laugh at its antics, or to put malau into the fire.
Yok Pataling, a Senoi man of a settlement near Jeram
Kawan, in the Ulu Sungkai, told me that if a child breaks the
tabu with regard to teasing domestic animals, and a storm
comes up soon afterwards, its mother cuts some hair from its
head, wraps it up in a piece of thatch, goes out of the house,
and places the parcel on the ground, where she strikes it with
a working-knife or a billet of wood. Up-country Sakai, also,
he told me, whenever a thunderstorm overtakes them in the
jungle, cut pieces of hair from their friends' heads, place them
on the ground, and strike them with a knife. Some hot springs
near Jeram Kawan are said to have arisen owing to the in-
fraction of a storm tabu by some Sakai many generations
ago, and a Senoi man 1 told me the following legend about
them:
Long ago, a man who had three wives, all sisters, lived on
the present site of the hot springs. He was a halak (magician).
One day he shot a Berok monkey 2 with his blow-pipe, and
was just going to roast it when his father-in-law came to his
house and, seeing the monkey, said, " If you are really a halak
1 Yok Pataling, if I remember rightly. 2 The Pig-tailed Macaque.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 203
don't roast that monkey, but bring it to life again !" For a
long time the halak refused, but, as his father-in-law insisted
on it, he at last went and pulled the poisoned dart out of the
monkey, and drew the venom out of the wound with his
fingers. The monkey came to life again, and they dressed him
in a coat and trousers, and gave him a sword ; then he danced
on the ground outside the house. After a time the halak
wanted to stop the monkey dancing, and said to his father-
in-law, "That is enough"; but his father-in-law, who was
very much amused, told him to let the game continue. When
the performance had gone on for a little while longer, the
father-in-law, two of the halak' s wives, and the people who
had come together to see the sport all laughing at the monkey,
the halak got ready his carrying-basket, and going into his
house to the wife of whom he was fondest, who had neither
gone outside to see the monkey dance, nor laughed at it,
rubbed her between his hands so that she became a pebble;
and this he put into his carrying-basket. Then he lay down
on his mat as if he were going to sleep.
When his father-in-law, his two wives, and the rest of the
people stopped laughing at the monkey, there immediately
arose a great storm, and, as soon as this began, the halak,
taking his basket, came down from the house and went off
into the jungle, leaving his two other wives, his father-in-law,
and the rest of the people behind him. Thereupon his house
was struck by lightning and his father-in-law and the people
who had come to watch the monkey were killed. As for the
halak he fought the lightning, stabbing it with his spear,
while his familiar spirit helped him by biting at it. At last the
halak, finding that he could not win the tight, ran farther off
into the jungle and escaped. The two wives, whom the halak
had left behind at the house, were not struck by lightning
and ran away to Bukit Ubai Baleh (Two Maidens' Hill). Here
they saw something which looked like a big tree-root, but
which was really a dragon ; so, plucking some bertam fruits,
they put them on the "root" and cut them open with a
working-knife. When they had done this, they were immedi-
204 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
ately drawn in under the "root" (the dragon's body) and
died. The dragon has now become a stone on the side of the
hill and the two wives' dresses of leaves have also become
smaller stones and lie near the dragon's body. (The hot
springs, of course, welled up on the site of the halak's house
when it was struck by lightning 1 .)
The Sungkai of the Ulu Sungkai, like the Behrang Senoi,
attempt to stop a bad storm by reciting certain formulae or
verses. I collected the following examples at Jeram Kawan :
i. To try to stop a bad storm which has already begun, a
man will call out :
"Gar ingar, eng sengoh!"
"Don't thunder (?), I am frightened!"
ii. For the same purpose :
"Poi sur! Chongkajok!
Chongburbur!
Sur kinjok nor laut!"
"Gowind(?)!
Creepers and rattans !
Go clouds to the sea !"
iii. For the same purpose :
' ' Brou gek-gek-gek !
S'lak berjut!
S'lak n'rik!
Srek asut!"
" Stop a little !
Leaves of the berjut (a kind of creeper) !
Leaves of the chapa (Blumea balsamifera) !
Stop (?) altogether {asut means dry) !"
iv. "Lors patehgi ! ' '
"Go back there!"
(The Malay balek ka-sana.)
1 The Orang Dusun of the Tempassuk District of British North Borneo
have a legend somewhat similar to this, and show a hill that they say was
formerly a house, which, together with its inhabitants, was transformed into
its present state because the people who lived in it dressed up a monkey
and made fun of it.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 205
After repeating this (iv) the face is turned towards the
direction from which the storm comes, the right hand is put
in front of the mouth, trumpet fashion, and blown through,
"Puah," the hand almost at the same moment being sharply
moved away from the mouth in a horizontal direction, and
the fingers opened.
v. To be used when thunder is heard coming up in the
distance :
"Gar oh, Gar oh, Gar oh! (Supposed to represent the
sound of thunder.)
Makoh menrit pek jadi."
I could not obtain a proper translation of this charm, but
was told that "makoh" is "pregnant," pek jadi meaning
"Don't let it happen" (the Malay jangan jadi).
vi. For the same purpose :
"Gar oh, Gar oh, Gar oh!
Sa'hari ini kamarau
Sa'hari esok pek jadi!"
"Let the weather be hot to-day,
And don't let it rain to-morrow !"
(Literally — " To-day hot weather. To-morrow don't let it
become (rainy) !").
This charm is, of course, almost entirely in the Malay
language, the only Sakai word being pek.
vii. Used when the sound of coming rain is heard by people
on a journey in the jungle:
"Orang sini gulai kaladi;
Orang sana gulai tapah!
Orang sini jangan jadi!
Orang sana biah basah!"
This charm again is entirely in Malay, and means :
"The people here eat curried kaladi)
The people there eat curried tapah (a kind of fish) !
Don't let it rain on the people here !
It does not matter if the people over there get wet !"
2 o6 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
The Bera Sakai-Jakun 1 of Pahang, too, think, like the
Behrang and Sungkai Sakai of Perak, that storms involving
the destruction of villages and their inhabitants can be brought
about by breaking certain tabus. These disastrous and man-
caused storms, known as terlain (terlaik among the Sakai of
South Perak), are thought to be brought on by imitating the
notes (when heard) of three species of birds, which I could
not identify, the Ngat-ngok, the Terkul and the Patuit; by
burning lice in the fire ; or teasing cats, dogs, or tame monkeys.
A female being, named Ger-ang-ah, is said to watch for in-
fractions of these tabus, and, on seeing someone commit an
offence against them, to inform her father, Itai Malim, who
punishes the tabu-breakers by sending one of these storms
of rain, thunder and lightning accompanied by a subsidence
of the ground, which swallows up their houses.
Some Kemaman Sakai-Jakun whom I met near the Tekam
River (Pahang) in 1917, told me that they were very much
afraid of storms, especially when accompanied by high winds,
for on such occasions the souls of the dead embark in boats
and set sail in the sky, travelling from the west towards the
east. The light gleaming on the varnish of their boats is seen
on earth as lightning.
The belief in disastrous and village-destroying storms,
caused by the infraction of a storm-tabu, is found among the
Kemaman Sakai-Jakun as well as among the Bera aborigines.
For fear of such storms it is forbidden to burn lice in the
fire, or to dress up a monkey and laugh at it.
It is said that a village "above Jeram," on the Pahang
River, was once swallowed up because a storm-tabu had been
broken, only a single post being left to mark its former
site.
According to some Sakai-Jakun whom I met on the Tekai
River (Pahang 2 ) in 1914, thunder is caused by a spirit called
1 The men from whom I got my information with regard to the customs
of the Bera Sakai-Jakun were the children of a Dyak man and a pure-
blooded Bera woman. They told me that they knew nothing of Dyak beliefs.
2 They said that they came from Pulau Tawar.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 207
Nenek 1 , who makes a noise in his armpits by banging his
arms against his body.
Lightning is caused by his flashing a thin board about,
which is attached to the end of a string 2 .
The Sun, the Eclipse of the Moon, the Rainbow
The occurrence of a lunar eclipse naturally causes a good
deal of perturbation among the aborigines. In connexion
with this phenomenon I was told a couple of legends by
Sungkai Senoi which I give below, the second legend being,
perhaps, complementary to the first :
The sun is angry with the moon because of an old quarrel.
Formerly both the sun and the moon had many children,
but the moon said to the sun, "Men cannot stand the heat
of your children. If you will eat yours, I will eat mine !" So
the sun ate his children, but the moon hid hers (the stars),
and afterwards, producing them, refused to carry out her part
of the bargain. So that is why the sun is angry with the moon
and fights her when they meet (thus causing an eclipse) .
When the moon is quenched, it falls to the earth. Presently,
a halak (magician), always the same man, comes to the place
where the moon has fallen to the earth, and asks, "What are
you doing there?" The moon replies, "I have fallen down.
I came down to get food for my children, the stars. If you
do not help me to get back again to the sky all you men
upon the earth will die!" "Wait," says the halak, and, as
it is night, he goes to sleep. While he is sleeping, his familiar
spirit comes to him and says, "Help the moon to get back
or all men will die." "How can I help the moon to get back?"
says the halak, "I cannot do it." "Get ready a round
medicine-hut," says his familiar spirit. So the halak calls
together his people, and they prepare the medicine-hut and
make music with bamboo stampers (berchetog) and go through
magical rites (berjualak) there for seven days and seven nights,
calling on the familiar spirit to help them to get the moon
1 A Malay word which means "ancestor." 2 A bull-roarer (?).
208 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
back to the sky. At the end of this time the familiar puts
the moon back.
There would also seem, though, to be another accepted
explanation of the phenomenon, since I was also told by the
man who gave me the above legends that when an eclipse
occurs the Sakai call out :
" O Rahu, perjuk gechek jik!
Jik mong kulit dunia!"
" O sky, give me back my moon !
I am still upon the crust of the world !"
Rahu is really, however, the moon-swallowing demon or
dragon of Indian, Malay and Siamese mythology.
The Negrito-Sakai of the Ulu Temengoh region in Upper
Perak say that when the moon is eclipsed, it is being swallowed
by an animal or spirit called Pud, and the Pulau Tawar
(Pahang) Sakai-Jakun, whom I have referred to above, think
that a lunar eclipse portends sickness. The rainbow, according
to them, is a dragon in the sky, while they state that the sun
is held by a scaly ant-eater, and that when he rolls his body
round it, and the light is no longer seen, it is night ; but when
he unrolls himself, the sun shines clearly and it is day.
The Behrang Sakai believe that the rainbow is the shadow
which arises from the body of a great snake, which lives in
the earth. The red of the rainbow is its body, the green its
liver, and the yellow its stomach.
According to the Sakai of Jeram Kawan (Sungkai), how-
ever, when there comes a shower followed by sunshine, the
rainbow springs up from a place where a tiger has been sick.
The A bode of the Dead and their Journey to it
I have not been able to get a very great deal of information
from the Sakai with regard to this subject, though the follow-
ing account, which seems to contain some non-Sakai (Malay?)
elements, does, at any rate, profess to give some description
of the soul's journey to the land of the dead. I got it from
the Senoi of Jeram Kawan :
The spirits, which leave their bodies at death by the whorl of hair
at the back of the head, pass to the west and try to get into heaven
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 209
by the gate at which the souls of Malays enter. This they cannot do,
so they go round by another way, until they come to a large iron
cauldron full of hot water. The cauldron is spanned by a bridge called
Menteg 1 , which looks like a tree-trunk from which the bark has been
removed. Below the cauldron is a great fire. The souls of little children
pass safely over the bridge, for they are without fault, but those of
full-grown people fall into the hot water. Yenang takes these souls
from the cauldron and plunges them into the fire until they are
reduced to powder. Then he weighs them in a pair of scales. If they
weigh lightly he passes them over into heaven, but if they are heavy,
he puts them into the fire again until they are sufficiently purified.
Both the Besisi of the Kuala Langat District of Selangor
and the Behrang speak of the Island of Fruits to which the
souls of the dead go, and where they live in perfect bliss amid
groves of ever-fruiting durians and other trees. This Island
of Fruits is, of course, comparable to the Mapik tree of the
Negritos, and as the fruit season is the period of the year at
which the pagan tribesmen most enjoy themselves, it is
scarcely to be wondered at that they should believe that the
fruit season persists continually in their heaven. I do not
know though that such beliefs are held by the pure Sakai : so
far my evidence comes only from Sakai- Jakun groups.
Thus, the Bera people, too, said that the souls of the dead
go to the under-world which is governed by two beings called
Gayak, a male and a female, and that it is like the world
above, but the trees there bear fruit all the year round.
Some Tekam Sakai-Jakun whom I once met near the Tekai 2
River told me that there are dragons in the under-world and
a single old woman. She makes her house and her belongings
from the bones of people who have died upon the earth. Their
ribs become the floor of her house, their leg-bones the posts,
and their skulls water-vessels. This woman, when she has
reached the limits of old age, becomes young again. Her name
1 Cf. the Paradise Bridge of the Negritos, supra, p. 156. The Malays also
have a story of a bridge over a cauldron full of hot water, though as other
peoples, who are not Mohamedans, have such beliefs I do not, necessarily,
mean to say that the pagans have adopted the beliefs from the dominant
race. Probably, however, in the case of the Sungkai Senoi, some details
of the story have been taken from the Malays.
2 Both the Tekai and Tekam Rivers are in Pahang, the former being a
tributary of the Tembeling.
emp 14
2 io THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
is Arud. The dragons, who have horns, are her playthings.
One of them is her special pet and sits close to her.
To revert again to the Behrang Senoi and their belief in
the Island of Fruits (Pulau Bah). In this island they say
that men, when they are old, become children and again grow
up. Pulau Bah, like the paradise of the Negritos, is situated
in the west 1 , but the Behrang Sakai also gave me some other
information, which, unless it is merely the gate of paradise
that is in the west, does not seem to agree very well with
what I have recorded above. They frequently speak of human
beings as being maipapat tujoh — " people of the seven boards."
It appears that the earth is thought to consist of seven layers
or boards, while the region above the earth consists of six
{papat anam), as does also that under the earth. Both the
regions above and below the earth are occupied by spirits
who look like human beings. The kemoit (ghosts of the dead)
live in the region above, while, like men, some are blind, and
some are lame. Possibly they, too, may be the inhabitants
of the under-world, but I omitted to make inquiry with regard
to this point. The mat papat tujoh are said to be beket (hot)
and, therefore, die ; the people of the papat anam are senam
(cold) and do not die.
The Pulau Tawar people whom I met near the Tekam River
told me that the souls of the dead became white butterflies,
and that it was, therefore, tabu to kill these insects.
The Shaman
The shaman is found among most, if not all, of the pagan
tribes, whether Negrito, Sakai or Jakun, and among the
Malays as well, who term him pawang.
The Sungkai Sakai credit the shaman (halak) with the
power of becoming a were-tiger. Hasan, an old Malay, who
was living at Jeram Kawan at the time of my visit, declared
that he had seen a halak named Bekoh, who had died about
five years before, grow a large pair of canine teeth. These, at
Bekoh's request he had taken hold of and shaken in order
1 Vide the folk-tale on p. 251, infra.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 211
to prove that they were genuine ! Some halak are also said
to be capable of splitting joints of bamboo without touching
them, their familiars entering the bamboos and breaking
them into halves.
Katil, a Behrang Senoi, told me that a halak' s spirit rose,
usually on the fourteenth day after burial, and became a tiger.
Among many, probably most, Sakai or Sakai-Jakun tribes
the shaman performs his conjurations within a round hut,
or the semblance of one, or a magic circle of some kind. The
following account is of a performance which I was lucky
enough to get a halak to give while I was living in the Ulu
Sungkai in 1914.
While stopping at Jeram Kawan, I arranged with Jahaia,
the headman of the down-stream settlement, Ungkun, to hold
a magical performance on the night of May 26th. I left Jeram
Kawan by boat at about 3 p.m. and arrived at Jahaia's village
— where I was to sleep the night — some time before dark.
Here I found the women busy cutting up and plaiting leaves,
which were to form the ceremonial decorations, and getting
ready bamboo stampers with which an accompaniment is
played to the halak' s chants. Jahaia was becomingly modest
and said that he would do his best, though he could not claim
to be a proper halak, and only knew how to perform a little.
Some time after dark, the sound of the bamboo stampers from
a neighbouring house announced that the performance was
about to begin. Making my way to this, and up the tall ladder,
I found the hut crowded by the inhabitants of the whole
settlement, who were engaged in chatting, sireh-chewing and
slapping themselves in order to obtain some relief from the
swarms of sand-flies which infested the village.
The halak's apparatus consisted of a circular frame of
rattan cane, with a diameter of about four feet, hung all
round with a fringe of bertam leaves, cut into strips some
three feet long. This frame was suspended at a distance of
about four feet above the floor of the house, the ends of the
hangings thus being roughly a foot from it. The frame was
held in position by three straps of tree-bark, which were
14 — 2
212 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
attached to it at regular intervals, and were all tied together
to a roof-beam of the house. Close to the frame, and about
rive feet above it, was hung one of those trays of offerings 1
which are used both by Malays and aborigines. This was
decorated with ceremonial hangings of cut and plaited leaves
and the scented inner bark of some tree. At the side of the
hut was tied a sheaf of the large leaves of the salak palm
(Zalacca edulis 2 ).
Jahaia reserved his exhibition till late in the evening, and
the first performer was a youth who, I was given to under-
stand, did not possess a familiar spirit, but hoped to cultivate
one in time. He wore a loin-cloth, and, on his head, a wreath
of shredded leaves studded with flowers, which had a sort of
ornamental brush of stiff leaves standing up from it at the
back. Two garlands of cut leaves on a foundation of tree-bark
were worn crossed over his chest and, in his right hand, he
carried a switch of lebak leaves.
He took up a squatting position on the floor within the
circle of the hangings attached to the rattan frame, and
another young man, wearing a wreath of flowers on his head,
and dressed in a loin-cloth, also entered the circle as his
assistant.
When the hut had been partially darkened by tying up
salak leaves in front of a lamp of mine — hung near the door
— the women, each with a bamboo stamper in either hand,
took their places behind a log of wood, which had been placed
near one side of the hut. The young halak then commenced
a chant in a Sakai dialect, each line being taken up and
repeated by his assistant, and an accompaniment played by
the women with their stampers on the log of wood. Every
1 The Malays call trays of this kind anchak.
2 Probably this sheaf, together with the rattan circle, represent the round
medicine-hut which some tribes build in the jungle. I would suggest that
not only has the circle a magical significance, but also that the round bee-
hive hut may have been the first evolved type of Sakai and Sakai-Jakun
house. Beehive huts are still sometimes built by the Negritos for use for
a considerable length of time. I have also seen Sakai-Jakun construct them
as a protection when caught in a rain storm. In the latter case they were
made by planting a number of palm ( ?) leaves in a circle.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 213
time the halak raised his voice he brought the switch of lebak
leaves smartly down on the palm of his left hand, and he also
frequently flourished it over his right shoulder. The chant was,
I understood, an invocation to a familiar spirit to come and
obey his commands.
Presently two or three other youths came and crouched
under the circle of hanging leaves, those who could not get
entirely inside it, managing, at any rate, to squeeze in their
heads and shoulders.
After the performance had gone on for some time it was
brought to a close, and Jahaia, with a single assistant, took
his place within the circle. Jahaia having inherited — as I was
told — his familiar from his father, who had been a Malay-
speaking Selangor aboriginal 1 , proceeded to call upon it in
that language. His chant was taken up by his assistant, and
after a while, a Sakai, who was squatting next to me, told
me that his familiar had come. Jahaia then stood up, and
grasping the circular rattan frame with his hands told it to
dip towards me, which it immediately did — not a very won-
derful thing, as Jahaia had hold of it on either side of his
body. After this I left the hut, as it was 2 a.m., and I was told
that the rest of the performance would be similar to that part
of it which had already taken place. I was, unfortunately,
unable to catch sufficient of the invocation to be able to write
it down, but I heard the phrase "mari ka-ujongjalan " (" come
to the end of the path") frequently repeated, and, from what
I could make out of the rest, it seemed to be a prayer to the
familiar to come to Jahaia. I left Ungkun early the next
morning, so I had no opportunity of getting Jahaia to recite
his spells again, so that I might take them down.
Shortly before my visit (in 1917) to the Behrang Senoi,
Katil, the headman, had been performing some magical rites
1 There is a considerable amount of Sakai- Jakun (mixed) blood among the
Senoi of Jahaia's tribe. The founders of it were, I believe, chiefly Selangor
pagans, who were sold from that state into slavery among the Sungkai
Malays, and, on gaining their liberty married local Senoi women. Jahaia's
father evidently belonged to one of the Selangor tribes who, like the Kerling
people, speak Malay as their mother-tongue.
214 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
for his own benefit — he was suffering from a bad cough. He
told me, however, that he could not claim to be a true halak,
since he did not possess a gunik (familiar spirit), but that
he merely followed ancient custom in "playing" a little to
try and cure his complaint. The rites had been carried out in
a small one-roomed house, especially built for the purpose.
The walls of this only reached half-way up to the thatch, and
a doorway at the back opened on to a small boat-shaped
platform (balai lendut), about eight feet long, and on a level
with the floor of the house. This was supported on three
trestles, made of six small trees, felled at the roots, and crossed
in pairs beneath it. Their lower limbs had been trimmed away,
but their upper parts, still bearing small branches, projected
above the platform to a height of about seven or eight feet
on either side. Two rails had been lashed to the trunks of
the saplings about three-and-a-half feet above the flooring,
while a rattan cord girdled the trees near their tops, either
extremity of it being attached to the end wall of the house.
The upper branches of the trees, when the structure was first
erected, had been covered with green leaves, but, at the time
of my visit, the foliage had withered and fallen. A number
of long water-bamboos of large diameter, ornamented with
wavy double lines running longitudinally, were placed at the
far end of the platform, leaning against the rattan cord. Katil
pointed out that one of these was longer than the others,
having seven internodes as compared with six. This long
bamboo was used by the halak for ceremonial bathing; the
others by the rest of the people. The lower ends of the bamboos
were slightly ornamented with carving.
Hanging on the rails of the platform and suspended from
the roof within the house were various ceremonial ornaments.
Some of these were made from palm-leaves plaited into fanciful
shapes, among them being decorations for which the Sakai
gave me the following Malay, or partly Malay, names, gelang
giring, gelang rantai, burong denak, tali dendan, tali Hong and
tali sawit. Other decorations of the same class for which I
obtained Sakai terms were layang-layang hut (ascending
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 215
swallows) ; tuk keh-ep (centipedes' feet) ; semrong tumpi (?) and
pieh jeh-or (fruit of the coconut-palm) . Two small pyramidal
structures, of slightly different types, made of bertam pith,
each with a doorway and model steps leading up to it, were
suspended inside the house; these were called balai sagi and
balai krauk (krauk is equivalent to kerawang in Malay). The
balai sagi was the more ornamental of the two and was
crowned by a figure of a bird (chiap cheralah), model tampoi
and rambai fruits (pleh tampoi and pleh rami) and decorations
called sarak luie (i.e. bees'-nests). Other ceremonial objects
were shaved sticks (chendrok), the shavings standing out from
the stems in circles at short but regular intervals; hanging
ornaments called patong salang, made of two small pieces of
thin board intersecting at right-angles, and others, patong
gimbar made of four small pieces of board intersecting at
right-angles so as to enclose a square, and having their ends
projecting; two types of head-dress (chungkuie bulang and
chengkul lepang) made of leaves ; two halaks switches — used
in calling the familiar spirit — one made of lebak leaves (s'lak
selebok), the other of leaves of the bertam (s'lak bertok); and
bands of tree-bark (tempok luat) with rough patterns drawn
on them in yellow or black.
The halak's balai (a circular frame of rattans with a thick
fringe of finely shredded leaves depending from it 1 ), within
which he chants his spells, was also hung from one of the
beams of the "medicine-house."
Katil told me that among his people the halak performed
by torch-light, while the Slim Valley Sakai held their seances
in total darkness 2 .
He also said that the rites, which had been celebrated before
my arrival, had gone on for six consecutive nights, and that
ceremonial bathing from the decorated water-bamboos (kenas)
took place shortly before daylight on every occasion. The
1 Very similar to that, already described, which I saw at Ungkun, on the
Sungkai River.
2 I have noted above that the Sungkai people covered up a lamp which I
had brought with me into the hut in which the halak was about to per-
form.
216 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
hut, with its projecting platform, had been specially built for
the purpose.
Among the mixed tribes (Sakai-Jakun) of certain parts of
Selangor and Negri Sembilan the shaman's hut is sometimes
a beehive-shaped structure of palm-leaves — probably the
oldest and most typical form of the "medicine-hut" — which
is built on a bamboo platform. A specimen which I came
across far away in the jungle, while on a journey from Dusun
Tua in Selangor (via the Pahang boundary) to Kongkoi in
Negri Sembilan, was of this kind. It was a beehive hut of
bertam leaves with a crawl-in entrance, erected on a bamboo
staging, so as to leave a sort of small platform in front. On
this were lying several bamboo stampers, such as are used
to beat time to chants. Inside the hut, which had evidently
been abandoned, was suspended a tray of plaited bamboo
decorated with hangings of fibre and bands of pandanus leaf
decorations called tagak ovjari lipan 1 , bunches of lebak leaves,
and plaited ornaments known as subang (ear-rings). On the
floor was a grass (?) whisk, which the poyang 2 holds in his
right hand and swishes backwards and forwards when calling
his familiar. My coolies (aborigines) remarked that only a big
poyang would have his hut so far away from the village.
I subsequently saw other shamans' huts, both in the Ulu
Langat and also near Kongkoi, but in these cases an incom-
plete beehive of bertam leaves had been erected within an
ordinary hut of the village.
The headman of a Sakai settlement near the Kampar River
and above Gopeng, told me that the halak's medicine-hut is,
among his people, built within a dwelling-house and consists
of seven leaves of the bertam palm, plaited together and
fastened to form a circle within a rectangular frame of wood,
which is attached to the supports of the shelves over the fire-
1 "Centipedes' feet."
2 The shaman is called poyang by many of the Sakai-Jakun tribesmen,
especially by those whose mother-tongue is Malay. Poyang is probably a
variant of pawang, the ordinary Malay term for the shaman. The word
poyang is used by some of the Sumatran Malays, but not by those of the
Peninsula.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 217
place and to some of the posts of the house. The bodies of
dead halak, according to my informant, were formerly left
unburied in the houses where they had died.
The Semang-Sakai of the Ulu Temengoh district of Upper
Perak also appear, from what they told me, to use some sort
of a round hut for magical performances.
There are, however, it seems, some groups among whom the
round medicine-hut, or its semblance, is not in use. Some
Kemaman Sakai-Jakun whom I met near the Tekam River
in 1917, for instance, do not seem to know anything of it.
The poyang of the settlement had been holding some seances
for the benefit of a sick person shortly before my arrival and
had placed a seven days' tabu upon the hut in which he was
lying, prohibiting anyone who had not taken part in the
magical performances from visiting him.
These rites had been carried out in a wall-less hut close to
the sick man's dwelling, the poyang sitting on a mat while
chanting his spells. A musical accompaniment was played
on a most primitive kind of stringed instrument which I saw
and photographed. This was a rectangular frame made from
four small branches of trees, with the ends of a couple pro-
jecting downwards to form feet. A mat was enclosed in the
frame and was held in position by being slipped between
rattan strings in pairs, which ran vertically, and were attached
to the framework at top and bottom. A stick, for tightening
the strings, was pushed between them at the top, and passed
behind the uprights of the frame. To play this instrument,
which is leant against a wall of the house, the performer squats
facing the frame and pulls and releases the strings on the
exposed face so as to make a " ticker-tack" noise on the mat.
Among the Bera Sakai-Jakun, as I was told, magical per-
formances are kept up until the fowls leave their perches in
the early morning.
Oaths
The only example of a Sakai form of oath that I have
collected, other than that of the Sungkai Senoi which I have
218 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
already given above 1 , 1 got from the Behrang Sakai. It shows
some similarity with regard to the punishments which are
invoked upon a liar to that in use among some of the Orang
Dusun of North Borneo 2 . It runs as follows:
" Dideh mat-jish eng sumpah 3 ! Kalau z eng pemohok,
"This eye-day I swear If I liar,
Eng chiloh en teheu chak bahayak ;
I go down into water eat crocodiles ;
Eng chib davat 3 chak keuk n , timpak karukf"
I go land eat tiger, hit by rotten tree!"
"This is the sun that I swear by! If I lie, may a crocodile
eat me when I go down to the river; and when I travel on
land may a tiger eat me, or may I be struck by a falling tree."
Ideas and Observances with regard to Sickness
Presumably the pagan jungle-dwellers of the Malay
Peninsula believe that all, or almost all, sickness is caused
by evilly disposed spirits.
Among the Behrang Senoi the ghosts of the dead are termed
kemoit and a person's soul wok, or sometimes bayak (cf. the
Malay bayang, a shadow), for the soul and shadow seem to be
regarded as either being one, or as being very closely con-
nected. The wok is said to leave a man's body during sleep,
but does not usually go very far afield, in case it should not
be able to return. Kemoit, as I have already stated, are
supposed to be roaming over the earth when violent winds
are blowing. They are evilly disposed and hunt the souls (wok)
of human beings, which take the forms of animals — especially
of the barking-deer. This is known because people in their
dreams have seen kemoit thus engaged. Those whose souls
have been hunted fall sick.
Diseases are, the Behrang people told me, thought to be
caused by spirits which come from the direction of the sea,
and, in the case of epidemic disease at any rate, the idea is
1 P. 199.
2 Some of the Malays of the Peninsula too, when swearing an oath, will
say, " If I lie, may I be struck by a rotten tree !"
3 Malay words. Pemohok, bahayak and timpak are Sakai forms of the
Malay words, pembohong, buaya and timpah.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 219
partly supported by reason, since small-pox especially — one
of the most dreaded ailments — reaches the Sakai through the
Malays.
As spirits are responsible for illness and other misfortunes
encountered by mankind, it is, therefore, necessary to avoid
places which they are known to frequent. Thus travellers in
the jungle, the Behrang Sakai told me, should not sleep for
the night in passes between hills, these being spirit-paths.
A man belonging to a Sakai-Jakun tribe from the Serting
River district of Pahang, part of which I found living near
Bahau (Negri Sembilan) in 1914, said that an illness was
caused by a spirit lying in wait for a human being and striking
his shadow with a club, and the Sakai of the Ulu Kampar
(Perak) believe that if a man sits down on a spot where the
roots of two trees interlace, he will fall sick ; for places of this
kind are the abodes of spirits 1 . For a similar reason, they say,
too, that if a man leans against a tree which has a creeper
twining about it, he will become ill, but will recover if he
returns and cuts through the creeper.
Though medicinal remedies are used to a certain extent,
the belief that illness is caused by spirits makes it necessary
to call in the shaman whenever anybody is sick.
In this connexion the Serting Sakai-Jakun, whom I have
mentioned above, described to me how the shaman (poyang)
managed to set free a person's soul, when it had been carried
off by a spirit of disease. After describing the magician's
ceremonial beehive hut in the jungle, and the decorations of
plaited leaves (jari lipan) which hang within it, he said, "The
mambang 2 live on the hills, and the shadows of the jari lipan
stretch out to the hill-tops and form a path for the mambang
(in this case the poyang s familiar) to descend to the hut at
the poyang 's behest. When the mambang has come down into
the hut the poyang tells him to go and look for the soul of
the sick person. The mambang, obeying the poyang s com-
1 For a similar belief among the Negritos vide Pagan Races, II, p. 230.
2 The mambang are a class of spirits of whom the Malays speak. One,
the Mambang Kuning, is the spirit of the sunset glow.
220 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
mand, goes back to the hills by the road that he came, and,
when he reaches them, journeys to the houses of the evil
spirits who live on the hill-tops. Outside these are the souls
of many people hanging up in cages, and, if he finds the soul
for which he is looking, the sick man recovers ; but if the evil
spirit has carried the soul into his house, he is unable to release
it and the sick man dies."
Illness may, it appears, sometimes be caused by sympathy,
for the Sakai of the Ulu Kampar (Perak) said that if a man,
while out in the jungle, suffers from a sensation of swelling
at the stomach, and remembers that he has thrown a cigarette- \
end or some remnants of food into a pool, a bamboo stump,
or any other place containing water, he will return to search
for, and remove, what he has thrown away, thus ensuring his |
recovery.
Again, in the same district, if a young child should suffer
from any itching complaint, the navel-cord, which appears
to be usually buried under the house, is dug up and inspected.
Should this have been attacked by ants, they are killed with
hot water, and it is re-buried in another spot.
Similarly, if a man is on a journey in the jungle and is
troubled with a rash, or with itching sensations in his body,
he will return to his last camping place, and dig up the
ground on which he lay, to see if there is an ants'-nest in
the soil.
Sometimes, too, if a man becomes ill when on a journey, I
and recollects that he has left a pole of the shelter, in which
he spent the previous night, standing in the ground, he will
return and pull it up, thus insuring his recovery.
While I was living at Jeram Kawan on the Sungkai River !
a Sakai man fell from a tree and hurt himself rather badly.
On hearing of the accident, I asked one of the patient's com-
panions what they had done for him, and was told that they
had made a bed of leaves for him to lie on until he had re-
covered a little, and had then taken repeated strides back-
wards and forwards over his body. When asked why this was
done, my informant replied that he did not know, but that !
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 221
it was customary to do so when a man fell from a tree, and
that the action was supposed to help the patient to recover 1 .
Another rather curious little observance came to light owing
to the same accident. It appears that the Jeram Kawan Sakai
had sent to another settlement (Ungkun) farther down the
river, asking that any women who were skilled in medicine
should come up to treat the sick man. On the day after the
mishap, I was sitting outside the hut in which I was staying,
when three Sakai women and two youths, evidently on their
way to the patient's house, went by, walking quickly in single
file. As I was acquainted with two of the party, I called out
and asked them if they were going to treat him, but was rather
surprised to get no answer. On thinking for a minute, how-
ever, I concluded that there was probably a tabu against
speaking, binding on persons going to treat a sick man, and,
on subsequent inquiry, I found my surmise to be correct.
Birth-Customs
I have but little information with regard to birth-customs
among the Sakai and Sakai-Jakun tribes, but what little I
have been able to learn about the subject, is, perhaps, worth
putting on record here.
By an Ulu Kampar Sakai I was told that spells are said
over a woman after she has given birth, and when this has
been done, that she is allowed to eat all kinds of food, with
the exception of chillies, which are forbidden to her for six
days.
I have already alluded to the custom of burying the after-
birth under the house which seems to be common among the
Ulu Kampar Sakai. The Behrang Senoi, on the other hand,
1 Probably this is the reverse process to putting bad luck on an object
by stepping over it {e.g. the beliefs of the Malays of Ijok in Perak with
regard to stepping over a fishing-rod, p. 269, infra), for, if ill-luck can be put
on anything by performing this action, surely ill-luck which has already
befallen a thing (or person) can be taken off, or alleviated, by doing that
which, in ordinary circumstances, would be culpable.
(The man who met with the accident is also referred to again on p. 237,
infra.)
222 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
frequently hang it on a branch of a tree, and have a curious
belief that within three days it becomes a scaly ant-eater,
the navel-cord forming the animal's tail.
Two Sungkai Senoi of the Jeram Kawan settlement told
me that among their people the expectant mother is isolated
in a small hut of leaves, built on the ground not far from her
own house, it being tabu for a birth to take place in an
ordinary dwelling. Here she is attended by the midwife, and
after the child has been born she goes through a three days'
purification ceremony in the hut, bathing under a decorated
bamboo spout, into which water is poured from a long water-
bamboo. When the purification is over, the mother returns
to her own house, and the midwife ceases attendance. No
fish or chillies may be eaten by a woman for two months after
she has given birth to a child, and salt and the "cabbages"
of all palm trees which have thorny stems are forbidden for
several days. The midwife must be present and eat with a
woman when she takes fish or flesh with her rice for the first
time after her delivery. A similar heating treatment to that
employed by the Malays seems also to be undergone by the
women after their confinement.
The Semang-Sakai of the Ulu Temengoh (Upper Perak)
said that when a woman is about to give birth to a child a
small hut is built on the ground 1 , and in this the event takes
place. For three days after her delivery the mother may not
eat rice and fish; millet and tubers (tapioca) are, however,
allowable.
Similarly among the Besisi (Sakai-Jakun) of the Selangor
coast, a woman who has given birth may not eat salt, chillies,
fish, or the flesh of wild animals for three days after delivery.
Twins seem to be disliked by most of the aborigines, though
I have never been able to obtain any other reasons for this
than that there was more likelihood of the mother dying in
child-birth than if she had a single baby, or that one of the
twins nearly always died.
The young women, among the Behrang Sakai, will not eat
1 Not raised from the earth like an ordinary dwelling-house.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 223
double bananas as they believe that if they did so, they would
give birth to twins.
The custom of nominally changing the sex of a child in
order to deceive evilly disposed spirits is not unknown. While
camping near the Tekam River 1 in 1917, I made the ac-
quaintance of a youth named Siti, who was living with some
Kemaman Sakai-Jakun, though he claimed to belong to a
Sakai- Jakun tribe which is native to the Tekam River Dis-
trict 2 . I noticed that he had had his ears bored for ear-studs,
but that none of the other male aborigines whom I met had
undergone the operation. On my asking the reason for this,
he replied that his mother had had several male children
before his birth, but that all of them had died. She, therefore,
said that should she have another son, she would pretend that
he was a girl, in order that he might survive. So when he
was born his mother had his ears pierced as if he were a girl.
Marriage
There seems to be little, if anything, of a ceremony at
aboriginal marriages, though there is often a feast. The Besisi
of the Selangor coast told me that among them the man gives
the girl whom he is to marry, money to buy clothes and food
for the wedding feast. Formerly 3 the woman waited at her
mother's house on the wedding day. The man was carried
from his own house to that of the woman, and might not leave
it for one or two days. Sometimes the couple stop at the
house of the woman's parents, sometimes the husband builds
a new house after three or four months.
The Serting Sakai-Jakun said that marriages, which are
celebrated with feasting, usually take place between members
of the same tribe, but that occasionally they are contracted
with strangers.
I think that I may state that, speaking generally, among
the Sakai proper and the mixed tribes monogyny is the rule,
1 Pahang.
2 He showed very strong traces of Negrito blood, though the men of a
section of the tribe whom I met had no such characteristics.
Probably the custom still obtains.
224 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
and though bigamy is tolerated among the Besisi, the Ulu
Kinta Sakai, and probably among other tribes as well, it
seems to be an unheard of thing for a man to supply himself
with more than two consorts.
There seems to be, in some cases, rather a tendency for
marriages to take place at the fruit season, which, as I think
I have remarked previously, is a time for general rejoicings,
but Malay marriages also, in some districts, are largely cele-
brated after the rice harvest, partly, I presume, because that
is the season of the year at which the people are in the easiest
circumstances, partly because there is then little work to do.
The poverty of the aboriginal tribes, and their semi-
nomadic habits, to which their poverty is largely due, have
militated against the development of the bride-price to any
great extent, and the only case in which I have come across
anything like a fixed payment being made to the bride's
relations is that of the Krau Sakai-Jakun of Pahang, a man
of which tribe told me that the price paid to a girl's father
for her hand in marriage was twenty old and worn-out spears,
" dua-puloh batang limbing yang burok," as my informant said
in Malay.
Death and Burial
Most of the Sakai and Sakai-Jakun tribes place food, water,
tobacco or other articles on the graves of the newly-buried.
An Ulu Kinta (Perak) Sakai, for instance, told me that food
is placed on a new grave, and a fire lit there, for seven con-
secutive mornings 1 . The belongings of the deceased are placed
either in or on the grave, and are purposely damaged; a blow-
pipe, for example, being broken in the middle, and a dart-
quiver split down the side 2 . I asked my informant for an
explanation of this custom and was told that if an adze in
good condition was placed on a grave, it would look bent or
crooked to the ghost of the dead man, but if one that was
1 There is probably some idea of the ghost haunting the neighbourhood
oi its o'd home for seven days, as among the Negritos. Vide p. 156, supra.
2 Probably, taking the Sakai's explanation into consideration, in order
to set free the souls of the damaged articles for the ghost's use, a method of
making offerings not unknown in other countries.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 225
bent or broken was put there, it appeared straight to the
spirit.
When a death occurs the Sakai of the Kerbau Valley and
those of Ulu Kinta desert their settlements, but the people
revisit the clearing at intervals to take away any crops which
may be ripe.
Two sets of ideas, perhaps both present at the same time,
seem to have entered the Sakais' heads with regard to the
death of friends or relatives, firstly, that the souls of the dead
may do them some evil — probably not wilfully, but through
the contagion of death 1 — secondly, that the place where any-
one dies must, of necessity, have been spirit-haunted before
the event occurred, for, if it had not been, nobody would have
been attacked by disease and died. In addition, some of the
tribesmen seem to believe in spirits, of what origin I do not
know, who are of a ghoulish tendency, and collect together
at newly-made graves to feed on the offerings which are placed
there. Thus, Katil, headman of the Behrang Senoi, a fairly
civilized community, told me that it used to be customary to
desert a settlement when a death occurred, but that this is
now not usual. The reason for the desertion was that, as one
person had died there, it was thought that the locality must
be haunted by spirits, and, therefore, unlucky. The Senoi
were not frightened of the ghosts of their friends, but of the
evil spirits which had attacked them and caused the fatal
illness.
Besides the ordinary spirits of the dead (kemoii) the Beh-
rang Senoi believe in grave-ghosts, dana kubor (equivalent
to the Malay hantu kubor), which haunt the neighbourhood
of places of burial.
Similar ideas are also known to the Sungkai Sakai, and I
was told that a spirit in the form of the dead person, but not
his, or her, actual spirit or soul, haunted the grave. My in-
formant said that for the first five days after a burial, food
is placed on the grave every day, and for six days numbers
1 I am inclined to think that fear of the dead man's soul was the original
idea.
emp 15
226 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
of evil spirits collect there and feast. For this reason children
are not allowed to go out after dark during the whole of that
time.
The following, also from the Sungkai people, is an account
of how the halak deals with a troublesome grave-ghost :
An evil spirit in the guise of the dead person haunts the
grave. It has its face turned backwards on its body, while
its eyes are rolled upwards, till only the whites are visible.
When an evil spirit of this kind catches hold of a human
being, the part touched withers. If the familiar spirit of a
halak warns him in a dream that there is an evil spirit at
a certain grave, they go to the place together, and hiding
behind a tree watch the evil spirit feasting with the com-
panions that he has called together. Now the evil spirit's
companions are chiefly those whom the halak has conquered,
and who are afraid of him. After watching for some time, the
halak and his familiar rush out, and the latter seizes the
spirit, while the former stabs it with a bamboo spear. When
the halak stabs the spirit, the other ghosts all vanish, being
frightened of the halak, whereupon the mouth of the grave
opens and the spirit, pursued by the familiar, jumps into it.
The halak and his familiar go to the corpse, and the halak
strokes its face to see that all is well. Then the bottom of the
grave opens below them and they find their way to heaven
(surga 1 ), passing over the bridge called Menteg. After this
the halak returns to earth by some unknown road. When he
has got back to earth, he makes a "medicine-hut" and
decorates it with sweet-smelling flowers, lebak leaves and long
bamboo water-vessels ornamented with patterns and full of
water. When night comes he performs magical rites, and,
in the early morning, the spirit whom he wounded comes
outside and hurls the spear with which he was stabbed through
the wall of the hut. The halak seizes the spear and goes to
sleep: then, whatever offerings the spirit asks of him in his
dreams, such as rice coloured with turmeric, or toasted rice
in the husk, he throws out of the hut into the jungle. The
1 The Malay (Arabic) shurga.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 227
spirit takes the rice and throws back a few grains as a sign
that he wishes to be friendly with the halak. So, after this,
the spirit becomes the halak' s friend, and helps him to cure
sick people, and aids him in other ways.
Among some of the Sakai- Jakun tribes of Pahang it appears
that not only is a settlement deserted when a death occurs,
but the corpse is left unburied. Thus, part of a group which I
met near the Tekai River — the Pulau Tawar people that I
have alluded to above — said that they did not bury their dead
but left them in the abandoned houses, for if they put a corpse
into the ground, the spirit would not be able to make its
escape upwards. Food, tobacco and personal belongings are,
I was told, placed near a corpse, and the hut in which it lies
is often fenced round.
From the Bera people I learnt that a settlement is generally
deserted when a death occurs. The ghosts of the dead, accord-
ing to their account, return to their old homes and may be
heard complaining if there is no rice and water for them.
Should they not be exorcized, they will cause sickness among
their surviving relatives.
I obtained a curious little story with regard to the occur-
rence of deaths from Katil, the headman of the Behrang Senoi.
According to it, when anybody dies, two spirits, which are
known as Baleh Busud (Virgins of the "Ant "-hill) and look
like little girls, are seen sitting on a "male 1 " nest of the
termite. One of them is heard to laugh as she rolls the dead
person's skull down the mound, and the other says to her,
"leuk jik jangan chikak!" ("Don't 'colic' my food!").
The Behrang Sakai, Katil said, build a hut of the lean-to
type over a new grave and under the shelter of this are placed
various articles, such as adzes and blow-pipes, which — as
among the Ulu Kinta Sakai — must be either bent or broken
before thus disposing of them. Food is placed on the foot
of the grave morning and evening (sometimes only in the
morning), for the first fourteen days, the spirit of the deceased
being thought to feed on what is put there for him. On the
1 "Male" nests are those which are long and pointed.
15—2
228 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
fourteenth day the relatives hold a feast, and, according to
old custom — now, I understand, somewhat neglected — no
ornaments should be worn, or singing indulged in for two
months after the death. Katil's people do not bathe a corpse
before burial because his father's newly-dug grave was de-
stroyed by a heavy rain storm before the body was placed in
it, this being ascribed to the fact that the corpse had been
washed.
The body is wrapped in white cloth or mats and placed in
the grave lying face upwards. The orientation of the grave is
such that the head points towards the east.
An Ulu Kinta Sakai told me that the bodies of the dead
are buried with their heads pointing in the directions in which
they lay when death took place, and that the graves are dug
to a depth of about a foot more than that of a sitting figure 1 ,
in order that the corpses might be able to sit up. It appears
that a mound is heaped up over each body and that this is
protected by a slight hut of some kind.
Among the Sungkai Senoi I had no opportunity of visiting
any graves, but I made a good many inquiries about burial
customs at Jeram Kawan and also from a youth of Jahaia's
settlement — Ungkun — whom I subsequently took home with
me for a couple of weeks. According to my Jeram Kawan
informant, the body of a dead person is buried lying on the
left side with the head pointing towards the west and the
face looking north. To make a grave a rectangular pit is dug
to a depth of a man's breast and a cave-like excavation,
sufficient to contain the body, is then made in one side of it.
The corpse, which is wrapped in mats, is put into this, and
the mouth of it closed up by driving stakes into the bottom
of the pit and stretching a sheet of tree-bark between the
stakes and the mouth of the burial niche. The hole is then I
rilled in and the deceased's personal property together with
food and tobacco placed on the grave. On the other hand, the
Ungkun youth told me that the corpse was placed on its I
1 Probably really squatting, the Malay word that they must have used
is dudok.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 229
back in the grave with its head pointing towards the east.
It is quite possible, however, that both my informants are
correct for the Ungkun people are of mixed blood — partly
Selangor Sakai- Jakun — so that their customs may very likely
differ in some respects from the Senoi of Jeram Kawan 1 .
While living with the Behrang Sakai, I had an opportunity
of inspecting several graves, which were situated in the jungle
at a little distance from the settlement and at the base of
a hill. None of these graves, which were close together, was
very recent — the newest was, I believe, at least a couple of
years old, probably more. Their sites were marked by narrow
mounds, about as long as the bodies of those buried below.
In two cases the mounds had undressed upright stones set
up at the head and foot of them, one being covered, in
addition, with water-worn pebbles from the river. Another
grave had small Sungkai trees planted round it, while in a
fourth the mound had partly fallen into the burial chamber
below. Katil, the headman, told me that, as noted above,
slight huts of lean-to type are erected over new graves but
no remains of these were, however, to be seen at the graves
that he showed me, and he explained that they had rotted
away. He demonstrated, by means of a plan scratched on
the ground, that a grave is dug to nearly the required depth
and the bottom then divided into two sections by a line
running parallel to its sides. The left-hand section (when
looking towards the head of the grave) is next carried down
to a sufficient depth below the right-hand, to receive the
corpse. When the body has been placed in this deeper section,
stakes are placed slantwise across the bottom of the grave,
their points being driven into the shallower (right-hand) part,
and their ends abutting against the side wall adjacent to the
excavation in which the corpse lies. A covering of tree-bark
or of sheets of bamboo is then placed over the stakes, the
body thus being protected by a sloping roof. After this earth
1 Vide also the evidence given above (p. 228) that the corpse among the
Behrang Senoi is buried with the head pointing towards the east. The
Behrang Senoi have a strong Sakai-Jakun strain owing to inter-marriage
with the Kerling, Selangor, group who speak Malay as their mother-tongue.
230 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
is piled up on the covering until the grave is full and a mound
formed.
The Giving of Names
Children, among the Behrang Senoi, are given names as
soon as, or soon after, they are born, but these are frequently
changed. A child may be named from some event which
happened at about the time of its birth, from the river near
which it was born, from the settlement in which its parents
were living, or from some peculiarity of person or habit.
Thus, one youth was named Jernang from the river near
which he was born, but was more usually known as Si Kork
from a fancied resemblance to a certain kind of bird, the
tentork (racquet-tailed drongo).
A baby girl was given the name of Tenyuk, because her
parents were keeping a bear-cat {tenyuk) as a pet at the
time of her birth.
The father of this child, whose name was Sagap (meaning
"ready" (?)) was so-called because his birth was expected to
occur some time before it actually took place, and thus every-
thing was ready much before it was necessary.
A little girl was called Krek (cockle) because her chin was
thought to resemble a cockleshell in shape; another Puntok
("burnt log"), or Puntong (the Malay form of the word),
because she always liked playing about among the ashes of
the cook-house fire.
The Jeram Kawan Senoi have some curious customs with
regard to names, which greatly resemble those found in
certain parts of Borneo 1 . When a married couple have had
a child they are frequently not called by their own names,
but are simply known as father (Bek) or mother (Ken) of
So-and-so. The word Yok ("male" (?)) is frequently prefixed
to the ordinary names of men and Han to that of women.
The following list of Sakai names, obtained at Jeram Kawan,
illustrates these peculiarities fairly well :
1 They are not unknown among the Dusuns. A man is often known as
"Grandfather of So-and-so" among the Tuaran Dusuns.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 231
Males
1. Yok Simbok. 7. Yok Integ.
2. Yok Dalam. 8. Yok Angong.
3. Yok Pataling (or Bek Landas). 9. Yok Batiwau (or Bek Sunyap).
4. Yok Tangkop. 10. Yok Gok (or Bek Kidai).
5. Yok Jahaia. 11. Yok Intan.
6. Yok Sagap.
Females
Han Gamak (or Ken Landas). Han Un.
Han Landas.
The Pulau Tawar Sakai- Jakun, whom I met near the Tekai
River in 1913, told me that names were frequently changed,
mentioning as a case in point a man who was then known as
Itam, but who had formerly been called Ketiel.
Social Tabus
The prohibition with regard to mentioning the names of
some near relations, either by blood or marriage, so common
in the Malayan region in general, is also found among some
of the Negrito-Sakai and Sakai-Jakun tribes, if, which I am
not sure about, it is not also known among the Sakai proper.
A man of a Sakai-Jakun tribe which was living close to Kuala
Tembeling in Pahang told me that it was forbidden among his
people to mention the names of fathers-in-law, mothers-in-
law, brothers-in-law or sisters-in-law, while a man from near
Pertang in Jelebu, Negri Sembilan (also a Sakai-Jakun), said
that the people of his tribe did not dare to mention the names
of their fathers because they were afraid of being struck by
the indwelling power (daulat 1 ) of that relation. The Serting
River Sakai-Jakun, too, will not mention the names of father,
mother, father-in-law or mother-in-law. Among the Negrito-
Sakai (or Northern Sakai) of the hills in the Ulu Temengoh
region of Perak I was informed that avoidance of the mother-
in-law was strictly observed and that it was not allowable
to speak to her, directly, to pass in front of her, or even to
hand her anything. Among these people, too, there seems to
be a prejudice against a person mentioning his own name.
1 A Malay word. The regalia of Malay sultans are credited with having
daulat, and in some cases may not be handled by commoners. If anyone
does so it is said that he will die. Vide Malay Magic, pp. 23-24, 38-42.
232
THE MALAY PENINSULA
PT. II
The Behrang Senoi told me that they are much afraid of
committing incest (sumok). In this connexion the chief rule
which seems to govern marriages, apart from the prohibition
of marriage between near relations, is that persons belonging
to different generations may not marry. The penalties for
committing sumok are that one of the offenders will be struck
by lightning, and the other taken by a tiger. I have, un-
fortunately, mislaid my notes connected with this subject,
but I remember that I was told that the person who married
into a younger grade than himself (or herself) would incur
one of these penalties while the offender who married into
an older grade would incur the other, but I cannot now be
certain how the punishments were apportioned.
Customs and Tabus connected with Food
Among the Behrang Senoi it is forbidden to mention the
usual names of certain animals when their flesh is being eaten.
Of the secondary and almost invariably descriptive names, I
give a list below, together with their meanings :
English name
Deer (Cervus concolor)
Pig-tailed Macaque
Crab-eating Macaque
Siamang {Hylobatessyndactylus)
White-handed Gibbon (Hylo-
bates lar)
Bear
Porcupine
8. Wild pig
9. Bear-cat (Arctictis bintuvong)
10. Lotong-monkey
11. Bamboo-rat
Soft tortoise (Trionyx)
Tortoise (the species which the
Malays call Baning)
Tortoise (the species which the
Malays call Kura)
12
13
Ordinary
Senoi
name
Rusa
Dok n
Rau
Hul
Tauh
Beruok
Kus
Gau
Tenyuk
Besik
Lekat
Pa-as
Sil
Kurak
Name applied to
animal when
being eaten
Leuk pos
1. Leuk sabat
2. Leuk karuk
Leuk kempuk
Leuk gantok
Leuk gantok
Leuk tebul
1. Leuk chenor
2. Leuk pachor
Leuk teh
1. Leuk senyup
2. Leuk bakok
Leuk danum
Leuk tengkak
Leuk teheu
Leuk gersuh
Leuk hok
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 233
The following are the meanings of the various secondary
names, so far as I could obtain them :
1. Leuk pos. Leuk in all these names, which I have trans-
lated meat, signifies substances, other than condiments, eaten
with rice (meat, fish or vegetables). It is exactly equivalent
to, and obviously of the same derivation as, the Malay word
lauk. The stag is called Leuk pos {i.e. "wind meat") because
of its swiftness in running.
2. Leuk sabat means " sabat meat," the sabat being a kind
of spirit which is thought to inhabit the bodies of some kinds of
animals. It is, perhaps, comparable to the badi of the Malays.
The second name of the Pig-tailed Macaque, Leuk karuk
{i.e. "rotten branch meat"), is due to its habit of breaking off
and throwing down rotten branches. The Sakai told me that
this was chiefly done in the early morning in the trees among
which the monkeys had slept.
3. Leuk kempuk ("lowland meat" (?)). I could not get
an exact translation of the word kempuk, but it seems to
refer to the fact that this species of monkey haunts the jungle
of the lowlands.
4. 5. Leuk gantok 1 ("hanging meat") from the habit of
these two species of hanging from branches by their hands.
6. Leuk tebul {" kelulut meat"). This name denotes the
fondness of the bear for robbing the nests of bees, especially
of a small kind which the Malays call kelulut.
7. Leuk chenor or Leuk pachor ("thorny meat"). Refers,
of course, to the porcupines' spines.
8. Leuk teh ("earth meat"). Refers to the wild pig's habit
of routing up the soil in quest of edible roots, etc.
9. Leuk senyup ("dark meat"). Refers to the Binturong's
nocturnal habits.
10. Leuk danum. I could get no proper translation of
danum, but it seems to refer to the habit of individuals of this
species sleeping together in companies during moonlight
nights — like fowls in a fowl house, as the Sakai said.
11. Leuk tengkak ("root meat"), the name being given
1 Cf. the Malay gantong, "to hang."
234 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
owing to bamboo-rats making their holes in the bases of
clumps of bamboos.
12. Leuk teheu ("water meat"). The soft tortoise live in
ponds and rivers.
13. Leuk gersuk ("stone food"), because this species of
tortoise may easily be mistaken for a stone, if seen from a
little distance.
14. Leuk hok ("coconut-shell meat"), because its carapace
looks like a coconut-shell.
The calling of any of these animals by their ordinary names
while their flesh is being eaten will cause the offender to suffer
from colic. I fancy, however, that these observances are
becoming somewhat neglected by the Senoi of the Behrang
Valley.
Another belief with regard to food is that a man whose food
is played with will suffer from colic (vide the belief with regard
to the Baleh Busud, supra, p. 227).
Katil, the headman of the Behrang Senoi, told me that
among the Sakai of the Slim Valley women and children did not
eat the heads of Beroksmd Kera monkeys (Macacus nemestrinus
and M. cynomolgus) because of the sabat, the spirit mentioned
above, which resides above the eyes in these animals. Infrac-
tions of this rule, it was thought, would cause them to suffer
from violent pains in the head, which might even be a cause
of death. This custom is not observed by the Behrang people.
Some other beliefs and customs of the Behrang Senoi with
regard to food are as follows :
It is not allowable to cook turmeric with pig's flesh; the
breaking of this rule will entail the transgressor's falling ill
with jaundice and fever.
Animals shot with the blow-pipe must not be eaten with
turmeric or acid fruits; otherwise the poison used on the darts
in the blow-pipe will prove ineffective when the people next
go hunting.
The Sakai of the Ulu Kinta region 1 , too, like the Behrang
1 The people living above Tanjong Rambutan. They are "Northern
Sakai" with, probably, a slight Negrito strain.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 235
people, will not mention the names of certain animals while
their flesh is being eaten. Thus, the bamboo-rat, ordinarily
called takator, when being eaten, is referred to as nyam 1 awin
or "bamboo meat"; the porcupine (chekos) as berjalak ("the
thorny one ") ; while the bear (ta'pus 2 ) becomes known as mes
mat, "little eyes"; the Berok (dok) as hoi wet or hoi ket,
which is said to mean "no tail"; and the fowl {manuk) as
chep, which simply means "bird." A monkey of some kind,
probably a leaf-monkey, is ordinarily called senalu, but is
given the tabu name of bersentak, "the tailed one"; the
muntjac (jet) becomes known zspenyel (said to mean "red") ;
while the mouse-deer (bichok) is dubbed relok, which, I was
told, meant "big eyes." The tabu name of the Rusa-deer is
simply nyam, meaning "meat," while its ordinary style, tata-
jeruk, is derived from its long legs or from its speed, for jeruk
in the local dialect means "far." As well as these, the wild
pig (heyhak) and the rhinoceros (tata-guru) have tabu names,
the former being called amboit and the latter tata-menu, but
I was not able to find out the meanings of their secondary
appellations.
It is not customary for the Ulu Kinta Sakai to eat fowls
which have been reared in the village, though they will con-
sume birds brought from outsiders provided that they have
not kept them for a day or two. They told me that the reason
for this was that they had pity on animals which they had
brought up themselves.
If a man, in cutting up the flesh of an animal which has
a tabu name, wounds his hand, he must not leave the house
for four days, or he will be seized by a tiger.
Peppers may not be eaten with the flesh of birds or mammals,
as, if this is done, traps set in the jungle will catch no game.
IThe prohibition does not, however, apply to fish.
In the foregoing paragraphs I have given some details with
1 Nyam seems to be equivalent to the Malay word lauk, which means
anything, other than condiments, eaten with rice, i.e. fish, flesh or vegetables.
2 Ta'pus is a contraction iovtata tepus. Tata seems to signify " big animal,"
or something of the kind; and the bear is called lata tepus, ta'apus, or ta'pus,
owing to its fondness for tepus fruits.
236 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
regard to the customs which obtain among the Ulu Kinta
people in the case of flesh food : there appear to be also some
connected with fish. For instance, I was told that while
fishing for tengas (a common species in up-country rivers)
it must not be called kak (a common Sakai word for "fish")
but ikan, its Malay equivalent. Similarly, it is forbidden to
refer to tengas as kak while being eaten.
When tabu food of any kind is being consumed, lice may
not be cracked, nor hair burnt in the fire. The breaking of
this prohibition would entail the penalty of the offender being
taken by a tiger.
We now come to some curious food prohibitions which refer
only to women or children 1 . Tabus of this kind as well are
in force among the Ulu Kinta Sakai, and the following animals
are usually not eaten : the Muntjac, the Rusa-deer, the Mouse-
deer, the Fowl, and a species of tortoise which the Malays call
Bailing. The reason given for the avoidance of these articles
of diet by women is that if they ate them their children would
suffer from convulsions, but considerable laxity in the ob-
servance of the custom seems now to be common — I have
seen a woman devouring venison — and I was told that now-
adays a woman pleases herself as to whether she observes
all, or any, of the prohibitions. It seems to me that such
customs may have possibly arisen owing to a desire on the
part of the men-folk to reserve the greatest delicacies for
themselves.
The women of the Sungkai Senoi, suffer from very similar
diet-restrictions, and the flesh of the following animals is
eschewed: the Seladang (Bos Gaums), the Berok monkey
(M. nemestrinus) , the Benturong (Arctictis binturong) and the
Rusa-deer. In the case of the last-named, I was told that
women and children may not eat, cook or touch deer flesh,
nor may they go near the body of a dead deer. The flesh of
elephants is tabu, to both men and women.
Among the Negrito-Sakai of the Ulu Temengoh region of
Upper Perak, the women do not eat the meat of the Rusa-
1 For similar prohibitions among the Negritos, vide supra, p. 175.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 237
deer, the Muntjac, or the wild pig, since, if they did so, it
would cause sickness either in themselves or in their children.
I will now deal with some very curious beliefs and ideas
which are closely connected with food, drink or narcotics.
They are known among the Semang-Sakai, the Sakai proper,
the Sakai-Jakun, the Jakun and also among some of the
Malays.
It is thought that some misfortune will overtake anyone
who goes out into the jungle with some craving unsatisfied.
Thus, it is said that a man who thus tempts ill-luck will be
bitten by a snake or centipede, stung by a scorpion, or will
suffer from fever or from swellings in the groin.
At Jeram Kawan, on the Sungkai River, I came across a
case in which a man was thought to have met with an accident
because of his neglect to chew sir eh — which he had wished to
do — before going out. Being in a hurry, however, he had
omitted to satisfy his want. The man in question, Yok Dalam,
fell from a tree owing to a branch breaking and was con-
siderably bruised and shaken, but, I believe, eventually re-
covered. The Senoi who told me about the accident said in
Malay that Yok Dalam had " kena 1 punan" (better, kena
kempunan) owing to his omission. Now this phrase is dis-
tinctly difficult to translate, but if a jungle Malay, in a district
where such beliefs are known, is asked what it means he will
reply, "to be bitten by a snake, or a centipede owing to going
out with a desire for food, tobacco or sir eh unsatisfied 2 ."
Where these ideas are unknown he will probably say, "to be
seized by a desire such as pregnant women have"; so, in its
least interesting aspect kena kempunan may simply mean "to
be seized by an inordinate longing." Now as all, or almost
all, misfortunes are thought to be caused by spirits of one
sort or another the presumption is that ill-luck, owing to an
unsatisfied craving, is also due to spirits, though possibly
there may be an underlying idea that the person who meets
1 Kena may be roughly translated "to be hit by."
2 A Spanish proverb is quoted in one of Dumas' novels which runs, as
nearly as I can remember, "To go out fasting is to let the devil in." The
idea seems much the same.
238 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
with disaster has lost soul-substance and thus loses resistance
to the attacks of some of those supernatural beings who are
supposed to constantly lie in wait for mankind.
I have questioned many Malays about the matter, but from
them I have never yet got an explanation of why misfortune
should follow upon an unsatisfied craving, except from one
man who said that misfortunes occurred because the soul
was lacking in strength. Among some of the pagans, however,
I met with somewhat greater success. Thus, some Sakai-Jakun
whom I visited near Pertang in Negri Sembilan, although
they did not acknowledge — in fact they denied — that spirits
were connected with the ill-luck consequent upon an un-
satisfied craving, yet gave me information which, I think,
makes it fairly obvious that they must believe that they are
so. They told me that before starting on a journey it is
necessary to burn incense to Punan, and that the man who
cooks for the rest of the party in the jungle, must also burn
a little incense each time that he prepares food; while if a
stranger passes when cooking is going on he must take a little
rice or water from the pot and call Punan to partake of the
offering that he is making, at the same time smearing the
rice or water on the back of his neck or on his left forearm.
If Punan is not appeased, some calamity is sure to happen,
the person or persons who have failed to make the customary
offerings will suffer from fever, or from swellings in the groin,
or will be bitten by centipedes or snakes. It is said that
Punan stabs those who have offended (and thus causes their
illness).
The Serting Sakai-Jakun (of Negri Sembilan and S.W.
Pahang) have identical beliefs. For fear of Punan, water is
taken from the rice-pot when cooking in the jungle, the man
who is making this offering calling out, "Punan, Punan,
Punan!" at the same time stretching out the arm on which
he has smeared the rice-water.
I have evidence with regard to these ideas, too, from the
Negrito-Sakai of the Ulu Temengoh region of Upper Perak
and from the Sakai of the Ulu Kinta. In connexion with the
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 239
belief they make use of a word, shelantap or shelentap 1 , of
which I have not been able to get a translation. One Sakai
(an Ulu Kinta man) to whom I had been talking about these
matters, having been given a couple of biscuits shortly after-
wards, went round among his companions, who were squatting
near my tent, and chiefly, I think, with a view to giving me
a practical illustration of how the customs were carried out,
broke off a bit of biscuit for each man, saying as he gave it
to him, " Shalantap!" Apart from greediness, I am inclined
to believe that some idea of this kind may be the reason why,
if one Sakai is given something to eat, all the others expect
to receive a little too, even if they see that your stock of that
particular article is almost exhausted.
The Bera Sakai- Jakun (Pahang) hzvePunan beliefs as well,
and the Kemaman Sakai-Jakun whom I met near the Tekam
River in 1917 told me that for fear of Punan it was customary
for anyone who is offered food, but does not want it, to take
a little and rub it between the base of the thumb and the
first finger of one hand, or on the inner side of one big toe.
Sometimes both thumbs and both big toes are treated in this
manner.
Katil, the headman of the Behrang Senoi, was able to throw
considerable light on the question of why an unsatisfied desire
should bring bad luck in its train, for he told me that his
people acknowledge a Dana Punan (Desire Spirit) who is
responsible for the misfortunes met with by those who have
given it an opportunity of causing them trouble 2 .
A rather curious custom with regard to food is found among
the Sungkai Serioi. If a man drops a piece of food and says
" Peninah," which is, seemingly, an oath of some kind, he
considers that the food which has fallen is tabu to him and
will not pick it up and eat it. To do so would be to court
dysentery.
1 It may be connected with the Malay santap which means "to eat,"
but is only used with regard to a Raja. Rajas santap, commoners and
others makan. Both words mean exactly the same.
* For further discussion of kempunan, vide Appendix B.
240 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
Customs connected with Agriculture
By a Sakai of the Ulu Kampar I was told of a very curious
method of divination which used formerly, and may be still
among the more uncivilized tribesmen, to be employed to
find out whether the Earth Spirit (or spirits) would allow the
people to fell the trees on a piece of land which they were
desirous of cultivating. When a suitable piece of ground had
been chosen, the Sakai went to the site proposed for the new
clearing and repeated some spells. They then swept all rubbish
from a small piece of ground and enclosed it within a frame
of four pieces of wood, each of which was about a foot and a
half long. The pieces of wood were called galang dapor 1 . In-
cense was burnt within the square, and if much smoke arose
from it this was regarded as a sign that the padi crop would
be plentiful. Next, little cups, made of lebak, leaves containing
incense, water, lebak leaves and rice-flour were placed within
the square. The man who performed the ceremony then
covered the square over with leaves and everybody went
home. If on that night he dreamed that the place was not
good 2 , another site was chosen for the clearing. Providing,
however, that his dreams were favourable, the Sakai went on
the next morning to the site for the clearing and uncovered
the square of ground which they had swept. If the soil under
the covering of leaves was undisturbed they looked upon this
as a sign that they might make the proposed clearing, but
if any adventitious substances were found under the leaves,
such as rubbish of any kind, or scraps of wood, another
site had to be chosen and the performance repeated. If some
rubbish had merely fallen on the leaves covering the square,
the clearing might be made, though this was regarded as a
sign that somebody from another settlement would die in the
house. If, however, a clearing were to be made after the
rubbish had been found under the covering leaves, it was
1 A Malay phrase.
2 Dreams about fire or of a piece of wood wrapped in a mat (i.e. a body
ready for burial) were unfavourable.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 241
thought that this would result in the death of one of their
own people.
Care is taken by the Ulu Kampar Sakai to avoid angering
the Earth Spirit and, for this reason, nobody must knock on
the ground with a billet of wood.
The Besisi of Selangor, too, have somewhat similar ideas.
When a new clearing is being made a working-knife must not
be left sticking into the top of a tree stump. If this is done,
or anyone turns back his coat over his head, animals will
come and eat the crop, or it will not grow properly.
We now come to certain customs in connexion with the
felling of jungle in preparation for sowing dry-growing rice.
The Behrang Senoi told me that (as is always the case) the
brushwood is cut away before the large trees are felled. When
making a clearing they work for three days at cutting down
the undergrowth and then rest for a day. This rest-day is
called pahantak kernor, that is, the cutting of brushwood tabu
(kernor, I was told, is equivalent to tebas in Malay). When
the undergrowth has been disposed of, the people set to work
on the big trees for three days and then take another day's
rest for pahantak gani, the felling tabu (gani has the same
meaning as the Malay word tebang). In sowing dry-growing
rice, too, the fourth day from commencement is also a rest-
day for pahantak menugal bah, the padi-sowing tabu.
The Sakai of the Ulu Kampar have identical customs with
regard to the fourth days of cutting away the brushwood
and felling the big trees being tabued, and they also told me
that during the first three days of clearing undergrowth it is
forbidden for anyone else to touch the working-knife of a man
who is engaged in this operation. Similarly, during the first
three days of felling, an adze, which is being used in the work,
must be touched by nobody but its owner. Tabu signs (gawar-
gawar 1 ) are hung up across the approaches to the clearing and
outside the houses on the first day of sowing to warn the
people from other settlements that they must not enter, but
the tabu period is only for one day.
1 A Malay word.
emp 16
242 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
The Bera Sakai- Jakun also have a rest-day on the fourth
day of cutting the undergrowth, which they call pantang mot
wai ("the knife-blade tabu"), and a rest-day, pantang mot
beliong ("the adze-blade tabu"), after three days' work at
felling the big trees. Similarly, too, the fourth day from that
on which sowing is begun is tabued for all manner of work.
From the Besisi, of the Selangor coast, I have only a little
evidence, but it helps to confirm what I have written above
of other tribes, for they too, they told me, have a rest-day
after they have worked for the first three days at making a
new clearing.
We now come to what appears to be a rather important
agricultural custom among many of the pagan tribes, namely,
the taking of the rice-soul, and this, and the foregoing
references to rice sowing tend to open up the question, which
I cannot pretend to answer definitely, as to whether rice
planting is truly native to any of the pagans, or whether it
has been introduced at a comparatively recent date. Skeat,
at any rate, seems to rule the Malays out of court as being
the introducers of rice cultivation to the aborigines, for he
says, "Mr Blagden has shown that there are several non-
Malay names for rice in the Peninsula, and this fact, coupled
with the existence of varieties of the grain special to the
aborigines, and the generally aboriginal character of the har-
vest rites 1 , argues against such words being borrowed from
the civilised (Mohamedan) Malays." Of course what he says
does not deny the possibility that the cultivation of rice may
have been introduced by the somewhat mysterious Mon-
Annam people (or peoples) who have exercised so great an
influence on all the aborigines — with the exception, perhaps,
of the purest Jakun tribes — of whom, I am inclined to believe,
the Sakai may be either primitive forerunners, or degenerate
descendants, probably the former.
With regard to present day rice planting among the abo-
1 I am not at all sure that the harvest rites are of a generally aboriginal
character. The Malays take the rice-soul, for instance, as well as most of
the aboriginal tribes.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 243
rigines, however, it is worth noting, with a view to elucidating
the matter, that it is chiefly dry-growing varieties of padi
which are planted, clearings being made for sowing on the
hill-sides, while " wet-rice " cultivation is somewhat rare among
the pagans, even in localities where the ground is suitable for
the purpose. Furthermore, the tendency seems to be for such
rice as is planted to be consumed quickly after harvest and
regarded as somewhat of a luxury, while the root crops, and
especially kdladi, are looked to as the mainstay of life.
The Behrang Sakai, according to Katil, take the rice-soul,
which consists of seven ears, on the first day of reaping. The
fourth day of reaping is a rest-day, pahantak kenod bah, " the
tabu at the reaping of the rice." On this day things must not
be carried down from the houses to the ground, though any-
thing may be taken up into them. If an article were removed
from a house the rice-soul would follow it and be lost.
The Ulu Kampar Sakai said that at the time of the reaping
of the padi crop the settlement is laid under certain tabus
for a period of six days. During this period cigarettes may
not be smoked, and blow-pipes and fish may not be brought
into the houses. Tabu signs of palm-leaves are hung up as a
warning to outsiders not to visit the clearing. On the first
day of reaping seven ears of padi — the rice-soul — are tied up,
and incense burnt to them. These seven ears are left till
reaping is finished, and round them sufficient padi to fill two
or three reaping baskets, this being the rice-soul's companion.
The rice-soul is finally reaped, and incense is burnt for six
days under the place where it is suspended. After this the
grain from the rice-soul and its companion is taken and
mixed with the seed padi for the next sowing. The season for
planting padi is when the petal fruits are ripe and the durian
and per ah nearly so.
By the Bera Sakai-Jakun I was informed that the rice-
souls consisting of seven ears, are cut by the poyang (magician
or shaman) of the tribe after general reaping is finished. He
carries them to the house in his arms, as if they were children,
and walks slowly and carefully so as not to disturb them. On
16 — 2
244 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
arrival there, they are placed in a basket and covered with
a mat. Noises must not be made in the house for three days,
for fear of frightening the rice-souls away, and, in order to
prevent their escaping, thorny stems of the brinjal-plant are
placed on the threshold of the house for three days. Rice is
left in the cooking-pots for their benefit, and the necks of the
pots are tied up with cord made from the bark of the Terap
tree 1 . The poyang is supposed to call seven rice-souls from
the lower world, one to take possession of each ear of rice.
At the time of the next sowing the rice-souls are pounded to
flour and sprinkled over the crop.
The people of the Ulu Temengoh (Negrito-Sakai) take,
they told me, the millet-soul, for they grow this cereal on
the slopes of the higher hills. On the first day of the pro-
ceedings, before reaping has been begun, an old woman goes
into the crop and cuts about a gantang measure of the heads
of grain, and on the second day she again takes the same
amount. On the third day no reaping must be done, but on
the fourth harvesting is started. Flowers, water and sireh
are placed near the millet-soul, which is hung up in the house.
The millet-soul is finally mixed with the grain reserved for
seed purposes.
The Sakai-Jakun of Titi Ramai, near Pertang in Negri
Sembilan, said that they took the rice-soul when hill padi was
planted, an old woman going into the crop before the com-
mencement of reaping and cutting seven ears. Three days
after the taking of the rice-soul (semangat padi*), general
reaping may be begun. The semangat is placed in a basket
and hung up in the house. It is finally mixed with the seed
for the next sowing.
The following account of the taking of the rice-soul among
the Besisi of Selangor was given to me by a man of that tribe :
At the end of the harvest season the shaman asks the
people if they have all finished reaping, and if they answer,
1 Avtocarpus Kunstleri.
2 A Malay phrase. The Titi Ramai people speak a Malay dialect as their
mother-tongue.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 245
"Yes," he says, " I will take the rice-soul early this morning."
A patch of padi, about as large as could be enclosed by the
two hands, if the points of the two index fingers and the two
thumbs were placed together, has previously been left in the
clearing. The shaman, taking a knife, reaps this patch. He
puts his reapings into a small bag and hangs it up in his
house. Then he burns incense under it. Nobody but the
shaman may touch the rice-soul. When the new planting
season begins the shaman takes the rice-soul and scatters it
in the clearing before anyone else has sown. On the next
day, or the day following, general padi sowing begins.
The Besisi appear to have, too, a number of tabus connected
with agricultural operations besides those which I have men-
tioned above. For instance, when padi is being planted no
one must fold his coat back over his head, for, if the tabu is
broken, rats will eat the crop. After planting (sowing?) also,
a man who is going into the jungle must both leave the
clearing, and return to it by the same path; otherwise deer
and pig will enter the crop by one path, and, after going all
through it and damaging it, will leave by another way.
The Sakai of the Ulu Kinta have certain tabu days when
work on the clearing is prohibited. Thus, I was told that no
work must be done when :
1. The moon falls at the rising of the sun (three days' tabu).
2. The moon is at the full and looks swelled (three days' tabu). The
moon is said to be about to give birth.
3. The moon is beginning to decline and is " notched like a reaping-
knife." (Three days' tabu. It has given birth.)
4. The old moon is about to die (two days' tabu).
5. The new moon appears (two days' tabu).
If work is done when the moon is about to die, somebody
in the house will die. If work is done at the new moon, pigs
will come and damage the crops.
Various Customs and Beliefs
In this section I have placed some rather disjointed notes
on Sakai customs and beliefs which will not fall readily under
any of the above headings.
246 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
In connexion with the magician or shaman I have already
given some details with regard to his supposed ability to turn
himself into a tiger. The Behrang Sakai have some beliefs
connected with tigers which may, or may not, be of the semi-
human variety 1 . It is said, for example, that tigers set snares
for people in the jungle and that if a man cuts through the
spring-stick of one of these (probably some liana) he must not
pass on by that path, or he will be caught in an invisible noose.
If blood, too, is seen on leaves in the jungle, it must not be
touched, or the person who does so will be taken by a tiger.
The Sakai of the Ulu Kinta have some curious ideas about
breaking a promise to go on a journey. Thus, I was told that
if three men have planned to go on a journey, or to fell jungle
together, but one man remains at home without saying any-
thing (i.e. excusing himself from going), it is thought that,
if one or other of his two friends fall sick, he is the cause of
the illness. In such a case, the two who have started on their
journey will immediately return, and the third man must say
spells for the recovery of the patient. If, however, before
his companions start, the man who stops at home makes some
excuse for not going, no ill-fortune which they encounter can
be ascribed to him.
The Behrang Sakai have almost identical beliefs and Katil,
the headman, told me that they say that there is a Dana
Sirlok, or "Promise Spirit 2 ." This spirit attacks persons to
whom promises have been made and broken. Thus, if a man
has agreed with another to go on a journey, and subsequently
leaves his friend in the lurch, the Dana Sirlok will accompany
the traveller in his friend's place (being presumably at first
invisible) and will attack and kill him in the shape of an
elephant, a tiger or a snake.
Folk-Tales
The Behrang Sakai, probably the most intelligent aboriginals
whom I have met, have a large number of folk-stories, of which
1 For all I know all tigers may be thought to be human beings who have
assumed an animal shape.
2 The Malay phrase that he used was Hanlu Janji.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 247
I obtained several. Two of those given below appear to be
truly indigenous, while, of the other two, that of Budak Yoid
Intoie seems to show some non-Sakai elements, and the tiger
story may possibly be of Malay origin. Folk-stories, Katil
informed me, should be told at night, as this brings good luck
in hunting animals in the jungle. A man who told folk-stories
during the day-time would, he said, hurt his foot against a
stump. I gathered, however, that this latter was a popular
saying rather than a strong belief. It may be remarked that
it is always the youngest-born son (bonsu) who is the clever
man in these Senoi tales.
The Cockroaches' Village
Told by Katil
There was once a man who had seven male children. Their
names were Sulong, Tengah, Alang, Ruh, Penangkap, Bumbun
and Bonsu Api.
One day the eldest son (Sulong) went off into the forest
to hunt for game, and far away from his home he came upon
an ara-tree (Ficus sp.) in fruit. He sought out a convenient
place at some distance from the tree to make a shelter for
the night, and there he slept.
Early in the morning he went to the tree and climbed up
into it with his blow-pipe to shoot the monkeys, birds and
squirrels, which came in hundreds to eat the fruit.
The tree was on the top of a hill, and below the hill, on one
side, though hidden from view, was a clearing. While he was
in the tree he heard people laughing and the cries of children
coming from the clearing. So he came down from the tree,
and, making his way towards the sounds, eventually arrived
at the clearing. He entered a patch of sugar-cane and came
across a fowl which cackled loudly. Next he came to a house
and saw a mortar in which he had heard somebody pounding
padi. Then he called aloud, "Hoi, sister! Hoi, sister!" but
nobody answered, and going up into the house he found that
the people had vanished. He saw food ready cooked there
and said to himself, "What am I to do, for I am hungry?
248 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
If this is spirits' food it will be savourless, but if for human
beings it will be salt." So he tasted the food and found that
it was salt, and, thinking it safe to do so, ate until he was
satisfied. After this he took water and drank it, and then
he took sireh, which was also set out there, to chew. Now
the first quid that he chewed tasted sweet, the second rich,
the third intoxicating, and the fourth sweet. Then, feeling
giddy, he lay down on some mats which were spread in the
house. When he had fallen into a stupefied sleep, the people
of the house, who were all women, but who had become cock-
roaches at his approach, came out of their lurking places and
ate his body till little remained to him but his life. At last,
on his awaking, they killed him with billets of wood.
Now, as he did not come home, the second brother set out
to look for him, and came across the hut in which he had
spent the night. Here he slept, and, in the morning, he went
to the ara-tree where, on the previous evening, he had found
his brother's blow-pipe, dart-quiver and spear, together with
the rotting bodies of the animals that he had shot. He, also,
climbed up into the tree and shot some of the animals and
birds which were eating its fruit, and, towards midday, while
still in the tree, he heard the sound of people pounding rice
and of laughter coming from the place where the clearing was
situated. So he said to himself, "Perhaps that is where my
brother went." Then he climbed down from the tree, and
heaping together the bodies of the beasts that he had shot,
he left them there with his blow-pipe and working-knife, and
went in the direction of the sounds. When he got to the patch
of sugar-cane the hen clucked loudly (and, as before, the
people of the house became cockroaches and hid themselves).
He, too, on coming to the open space in front of the house
called out, "Hoi, people ! Hoi, sister !" but nobody answered
him.
So he went up into the house and found no one there, but
food and sireh set out ready. He waited for some time, but
as nobody came, and he felt hungry, at last he said, " If this
is spirits' food, it will be savourless, but if for human beings
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 249
it will be salt." Then he tasted the food, and, finding it salt,
he ate his fill. Next, he drank water, and after this he took
sir eh and chewed it. The first quid that he chewed tasted
sweet, the second rich, the third intoxicating, and the fourth
sweet. And he, also, felt dizzy and went to sleep. Upon this
the cockroaches came out and ate him up; and they hid his
bones under a big cauldron, just as they had done with those
of his brother.
Now when he did not come home either, the third brother
took up the search, and met with the same fate, as did also
the fourth, fifth and sixth.
At last, the youngest brother, Bonsu Api, said to himself,
"How is it that my brothers do not come home?"
That night his grandfather came to him in a dream, and
he asked him how it was that his brothers had not returned,
and where they had gone.
The grandfather replied that they had not come home
because they had been killed by the Cockroach Demons
(Rengkasi 1 Upas).
"What am I to do about them," said Bonsu Api, "and
how am I to kill them?" " You must give chenduai 2 to them,"
said his grandfather.
Then Bonsu Api awoke and, remembering his dream,
thought that he, also, would follow his brothers. So he told
his father and mother of his desire, and, having made his
preparations, on the next morning he set out.
He, too, came to the hut where his brothers had slept and
found the fruit-tree where they had left their blow-pipes and
quivers. The heap of rotting game under the tree was as big
as a large ants'-nest, and the quivers and blow-pipes which
had been left there by the brothers who had preceded him
were already partly destroyed by "white-ant."
Then he thought of what his grandfather had said to him
in his dream. So he, also, climbed up into the tree and shot
the birds and animals that were feeding on the fruit. After
1 Rengkasi is equivalent to the Ma'ay Gergasi.
2 A herb from which the Sakai make love-charms.
250 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
a while he, too, heard voices from the clearing, and, coming
down from the tree, noticed that the track made by his
brothers led in the direction whence the sounds arose. Now
when he neared the clearing he lit a cigarette, into which he
had put chenduai, and observing from where the wind was
blowing, found that it was from him and towards the clearing.
Then he went carefully in that direction and came to the
house, where he heard the people complaining and saying that
they could not keep awake; for they were made sleepy by
the fumes of the chenduai that he kept blowing towards them
as he smoked his cigarette.
Then each woman in the house left her work and fell asleep,
and Bonsu Api went up into the house and found the floor
covered with women lying there ; for they had not had time
to become cockroaches when they were overwhelmed by the
fumes of the chenduai.
So he went through all the rooms of the house, and at last,
in an upper storey, he found a beautiful princess, who was
awake, since the chenduai fumes had not reached her. Then
he threatened to kill her, but she besought him to relent,
asking him why he should wish to do so. Thereupon he told
her that her followers had killed his brothers, and she replied
that, if it were true, she knew nothing of it, for she seldom
left her room.
So he pardoned her on condition that she should find out
what had been done with the bodies of his brothers, but the
people below slept on, and could not be awakened. However,
the princess at last found the bones of the six brothers below
the cauldron.
Then Bonsu Api took the bones and heaped them together
in front of the house. And he told the princess to follow him,
saying that he would kill her if she did not. So she consented,
and made ready for the journey. Now when she had come
down from the house, Bonsu Api shut the door and set fire
to the walls and roof, so that all the people inside began to be
burnt. And Bonsu Api spoke to them and said, " If you wish
to live, become cockroaches for ever, not sometimes cock-
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 251
roaches and sometimes human beings; and in future eat the
fragments of food that are left by mankind." So they became
cockroaches. As for Bonsu Api he brought his brothers to
life again and went home, taking them and his princess with
him.
Bonsu and Tak Kemoit
Told by Katil
A youth named Bonsu (youngest-born) was once wandering
in the jungle. He came from the going down of the sun, the
Island of Fruits (Pulau Bah). As he was journeying he came
to a tampoi tree on which the fruits were light-coloured and
unripe. He took off his dart-quiver and his chopper and,
putting them and his blow-pipe down against the tree, went
to sleep.
He slept on and on, until the fruit of the tree was ripe,
and at last a single fruit fell on his chest and awoke him with
a start. So, seeing that the fruit had ripened, he climbed up
into the tree and ate a little of it. Then he called aloud, saying,
" If there is any one in this country let him come and eat
fruit"; but nobody answered him. He ate some more fruit,
and again called out, and this time he heard a voice answering
him from the direction of the going down of the sun, " Where
are you, grandchild?" "Here I am, grandfather," said he.
Thus they kept on calling and answering each other until the
newcomer was close at hand. Then Bonsu saw that the
stranger was an old man with red and deeply sunken eyes.
Now the old man began to eat the fruit, swallowing it,
branches, leaves and all, and, when he had satisfied his hunger,
he said to the youth, "Your grandfather wishes to relieve
himself." Then Bonsu replied, "If grandfather wishes to
relieve himself, let him go far away down-stream." So the
old man started off, and after a while he called out, "Where
shall I relieve myself?" and Bonsu answered, "Far away
down-stream." In a little while he called again, asking the
same question, and Bonsu answered him as before, for he
was frightened that the old man would eat him, having seen
252 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
how he had swallowed the fruit, branches, leaves and all.
Thus they went on calling and answering until neither could
hear the other.
Then Bonsu came down from the tree, and ran away till
he saw a plain by the edge of the sea, where a pinang dara 1
and a birah plant 2 were growing side by side near the shore.
When he reached them he called to him wild pigs, wood-
peckers and porcupines, and they came. So he told them that
if the old man, the Red-Eyed Spirit, came to the place and
climbed up into the birah plant to follow him, they were to
wait till it had grown up to the sky, and were then to cut it
down. This they promised to do. Then Bonsu climbed into
the pinang tree and sang,
" Tinggi, tinggi batang pinang!
Tinggi, rendah puyoh Melaka!
Aku takut Hantu Merah Mata 3 !"
And the pinang tree immediately grew up into the clouds
carrying him with it.
Not long afterwards the Hantu Merah Mata came to the
spot and, seeing that Bonsu had gone up to the clouds on the
pinang tree, climbed into the birah plant and chanted,
" Tinggi, tinggi batang birah !
Tinggi, rendah puyoh Melaka!
Aku takut Hantu Merah Mata!"
And the birah plant immediately grew upwards carrying the
Red-Eyed Spirit with it. But the Red-Eyed Spirit could not
catch Bonsu because he had reached the sky. Whereupon
Bonsu called out, "Ancestor 4 , open the door." Then his
ancestor opened the door, and he went in and shut it again.
Upon this the pigs, the woodpeckers and the porcupines cut
1 A betel-nut palm which has not yet borne fruit.
2 A kind of aroid.
" 8 A Malay verse (panturi) :
" High, high is the pinang trunk !
Tall and low are the quails of Malacca !
I'm frightened of the Red-Eyed Spirit!"
4 This is Ungku (Turul), who governs thunder and lightning. Bonsu of
this story is not, of course, Ungku's brother of the same name.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 253
away the stem of the birah plant so that it fell into the sea
carrying the Red-Eyed Spirit with it, and he was drowned.
Budak Yoid Intoie
A folk-story of the Behrang Senoi
(Katil, the Sakai who told me this story, declared that it had been
handed down among his people for generations. There seems to me,
however, to be good reason for thinking that, at any rate, parts of it
must have been adopted from the Malays, or, if the tale is really old,
from some fairly civilized people with whom the Sakai were in contact
before the time of the invasion of the Peninsula by Malays.)
There was once a youth called Budak Yoid Intoie (Youth
of the Big Knife) who was the youngest of seven brothers.
His six elder brothers were famous smiths, and one day, when
they had finished work, Budak Yoid Intoie asked them for
some iron in order to try his hand, but his brothers refused
to give him any. So he said to them, "How am I to learn,
if you won't give me any iron?" Then he collected the odds
and ends and scales of iron that they had left, beat them out
into a huge knife as large as a birah leaf, and made a handle
for it as large as the bole of a coconut tree.
When it was finished, he said to his father and mother and
his brothers, " I am going on a journey." So he made ready,
but before starting he planted a certain kind of flowering
shrub, with a single blossom upon it, in the level space in
front of the house, saying to his mother, and to his brothers,
"See, O mother, see, you, my brothers, this shrub of mine!
If the blossom on it withers entirely I shall be dead, but if it
shuts and then opens again, I shall still be alive."
Then he set out, taking his knife with him, and made his
way through jungle, cutting down as he went the big and
small trees that stood in his path. And the sound of the great
trees being cut and falling was, " Prung punggau, prung pung-
gau, prung punggau I ' ' Now a man who happened to be walking
towards him, hearing the noise of the trees falling, and being
frightened that one of them might kill him, began to call out,
"Ail Ail Ail I am coming towards you and shall be struck
by a tree !" "What is your name?" said Budak Yoid Intoie,
254 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
and the newcomer replied, "My name is Rah Serpik 1 (Pull-
the-canes)." Then answered Budak Yoid Intoie, "If your
name is Pull-the-canes, well, pull the canes !" So Rah Serpik
pulled the canes out with one hand. " Well," said Budak Yoid
Intoie, "if you can do that, you are rightly named Rah
Serpik." So they stopped to chew betel-nut, and Rah Serpik
asked his companion what his name was, to which he made
reply, "Budak Yoid Intoie." "Why, if that is so," said Rah
Serpik, "where's your knife?" " I don't know," said Budak
Yoid Intoie, "I have not got one; its only my name." Now
he had hidden his knife in a large tree.
He, in his turn, asked Rah Serpik if he had a knife, and
Rah Serpik replied, "HI carried a knife my name would not
be Pull-the-canes." Then he again asked Budak Yoid Intoie
for a knife, as he wanted to cut up the betel-nut, and Budak
Yoid Intoie said, " I have put it into the big tree over there.
If you can lift it, I will become your follower, but, if you
cannot, you shall become mine."
So Rah Serpik went to get the knife, but was unable to
raise it, and Budak Yoid Intoie said, "Very well, you shall
be my follower."
Then he got up and fetched it himself, and they chewed
betel-nut, and, when they had finished, set out on their journey
together, Rah Serpik following Budak Yoid Intoie,while Budak
Yoid Intoie cut down the trees that stood in the way, toalang
trees, kempas trees, merbau trees, meranti trees, or whatever
they were, " Prungpunggau, prung punggau, prung punggau! "
Soon another man cried from in front of them, "Ail Ail
Ail" just as Rah Serpik had done before. So Budak Yoid
Intoie called the newcomer to him and asked him his name,
and he replied, "Tinju Tebik n (Thump-the-Banks)." Then
said Budak Yoid Intoie, "Well, if your name is Thump-the-
Banks, just thump the banks of this river !" So Tinju Tebik n
thumped the banks of the river with his fist, and they fell
down and blocked the stream.
1 Runtun manau in Malay. Rotan manau is a very useful kind of rattan
cane which is collected by the Sakai for sale to the Chinese.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 255
Then Tinju Tebik n asked Budak Yoid Intoie his name, and
he told him. " If that is your name," said Tinju Tebik n ,
"where is your knife?" " I don't know," replied Yoid Intoie.
So they sat down to chew betel-nut, and Budak Yoid
Intoie asked Tinju Tebik n if he had a knife to cut the nut
into pieces with, but Tinju Tebik n answered, " If I had a
knife, my name would not be Thump-the-Banks." After a
little, Tinju Tebik" asked Budak Yoid Intoie if he had not got
a knife, and Budak Yoid Intoie told him where it was hidden,
making him promise, just as he had done with Rah Serpik,
to become his follower if he could not lift it. But Tinju Tebik n
was not able to raise the knife any more than Rah Serpik,
and Budak Yoid Intoie went and got it himself.
When they had finished chewing their betel-nut, they set
out again, Budak Yoid Intoie being in front, with Rah Serpik
and Tinju Tebik n following him; and the sound of the trees
being cut and falling before Budak Yoid Intoie was, " Prung
punggau, prung punggau, prung punggau!"
After a little time some one cried out from in front as
before, and again Budak Yoid Intoie called the newcomer to
him. "What is your name?" asked Budak Yoid Intoie, and
the stranger replied, "Lingkong Benua (Push- the-Coun try-
Round)." "Oh," said Budak Yoid Intoie, "if your name is
Push-the-Country- Round, just push the country round !" So
Lingkong Benua pushed the country round till its back was
broken, and Budak Yoid Intoie said to him, "Your name is
rightly Lingkong Benua."
So they sat down to chew betel-nut and Lingkong Benua
asked Budak Yoid Intoie for his knife, and was not able to
lift it any more than Rah Serpik or Tinju Tebik n had been
able to do.
After a while they continued their journey, and at last they
came to the sea and wished to cross it ; and Budak Yoid Intoie
said to his companions, "Wait here, while I go and search
for a bridge." So he searched, but could not find any. Then
he took his knife, and said to it, " Tohoityang sah! Eng sind-
rang sah! Engsaihih! Engputau! Engnujum! Eng Mian!
256 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
Yoid eng jadi papat 1 ," and the knife in its sheath became a
bridge on which they could cross the sea. But a large dragon
came up from below and waited under the bridge.
Then they went across, Budak Yoid Intoie's companions
being in front of him ; and, when they came to the other side,
Budak Yoid Intoie drew his knife from its sheath, and cut
off the dragon's head : and it floated away until it came to a
Raja's bathing-place, and there it remained.
Now the Raja complained because the head was rotting
and polluting the river, and ordered all his followers, from
the mouth of the river to its source, to come together and
remove the dragon's head; and they came together.
Meanwhile, Budak Yoid Intoie and his companions went
on their way until they came to a house, the owner of which
was an old man named Tak Tempait Bungah (Grandfather
Patterned Jar).
Tak Tempait Bungah asked them whence they came, and
they replied, "From the neighbouring country." Then they
climbed up into the house, which was situated up-stream from
the Raja's palace; and there they stayed.
Now the Raja had given it out that whoever could remove
the dragon's head should marry his daughter, who was shut
up in an inner room and enclosed by a seven-fold fence of
ivory; but nobody could do it, for the dragon's head was as
big as a mountain.
One night Budak Yoid Intoie asked Tak Tempait Bungah
what was the trouble from which the Raja wished to be set
free, and Tak Tempait Bungah told him how the dragon's
head had stranded at the Raja's bathing-place.
Some nights afterwards a follower of the Raja's came to the
house, and Budak Yoid Intoie said in his hearing, "Why, if
I only pushed the dragon's head with my finger, I could
remove it."
When the Raja's follower got home, he told the Raja that
1 I could not get a true translation of some of this charm. " Tohoit yang
sah " seems to be an invocation of some kind. Eng sindrang (I luck-bringing).
Eng nujum (I astrologer). Eng blian (I were-tiger). Yoid eng jadi papat
(Knife I become plank).
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 257
he had met four men at Tak Tempait Bungah's house, one
of whom said that he could remove the dragon's head with
a finger. So the Raja ordered the four men to be called, and
when the messenger told Budak Yoid Intoie the Raja's order,
he said, "How can we go to the Raja's palace in these clothes,
which are all covered with mud?"
The messenger returned to the Raja and told him what
Budak Yoid Intoie had said, and he thereupon sent clothes
and everything necessary to Budak Yoid Intoie.
So Budak Yoid Intoie set out, leaving his companions
behind him, and when he arrived at the palace, the Raja gave
him food and betel-nut.
After he had fed, the Raja asked him from where he came,
and he replied that he came from the country across the sea,
and asked why he had been sent for. Thereupon the Raja
told Budak Yoid Intoie how he had heard that he (Budak
Yoid Intoie) could remove the dragon's head with one finger
and promised him, that, if he could do so, he should have his
daughter in marriage.
Now Budak Yoid Intoie went alone to the river to see the
dragon's head, and gave it a slight push, which sent it floating
down-stream; then he returned to the house where he was
staying, without the Raja knowing about it.
After a time some of the Raja's people came down to the
river and found that the dragon's head was gone; and, when
the Raja was informed of this, he called Budak Yoid Intoie
to his palace and wished to give his daughter to him in
marriage; but Budak Yoid Intoie excused himself, saying
that he wished to travel more and see other countries before
he married. So Budak Yoid Intoie gave the Raja's daughter
to Rah Serpik as wife.
Now the Raja's daughter was betrothed to Bonsu Jangkah
Benua 1 , the son of another Raja, and was to have married
him in three months.
One day Bonsu Jangkah Benua drew his sword, the blade
of which was as large as a banana-leaf, and the hilt like the
1 Youngest-born-Strides-Over-Country (?).
E M P 17
258 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
bole of a coconut tree, and said, " Why, the rust on my sword-
blade is like a ' male ' ants'-nest 1 ; perhaps someone has married
my betrothed!"
Then he got ready his ship, loaded it with weapons of all
kinds, and set sail.
When the Raja saw Bonsu Jangkah Benua's ship approach-
ing he thought to himself, "Perhaps this is my daughter's
betrothed." And Budak Yoid Intoie and his four companions
were in the palace at the time.
As soon as the ship came to land, Bonsu Jangkah Benua
went straight to the Raja's palace and called from below the
steps, "Whoever has taken my betrothed, come down !"
Now when the Raja had heard the music of the gongs and
the flutes coming from Bonsu Jangkah Benua's ship, as it
approached, and the noise of the cannon being fired, he had
ran away into an inner room, and had hidden his head in a
single-ended drum.
Budak Yoid Intoie heard Bonsu Jangkah Benua below the
steps, and he called to him to come up into the palace to chew
betel-nut, acknowledging that there had been a fault in the
matter of the princess marrying. But Bonsu Jangkah Benua
refused to chew betel-nut with him, and said that he would
cut in two the man who had stolen his betrothed.
Then Budak Yoid Intoie took a censer and burnt incense,
saying,
"Chiloh tak pedak n eng mar slak bah."
Come down ancestor sword I size leaf rice.
Whereupon the sword came down from the sky, and it was
of the size of a rice-leaf. And he told Bonsu Jangkah Benua
to return to his ship, but he refused.
So Budak Yoid Intoie came down from the house, and when
he had reached the lowest step Bonsu Jangkah Benua aimed
a blow at him with his sword; but Budak Yoid Intoie leapt
aside, and Jangkah Benua's sword cut the step in two. Thus
they fought, but Budak Yoid Intoie did not attack and
avoided the blows of Jangkah Benua's sword; when he
1 Tall and pointed nests of the termite are called male nests.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 259
smote low, jumping high; when he smote high, bending
low.
At last Budak Yoid Intoie leant against a tree, and Jangkah
Benua stabbed at him, and broke his sword in the tree as
Budak Yoid Intoie jumped aside. Next he took a keris, and
that also broke against a tree; and then, in turn a sundang,
a lamang, a tumbok lada, a golok, a badek 1 and a gun, but each
in turn became useless.
Then he took a cannon and fired at Budak Yoid Intoie for
seven days and seven nights, so that the village and every-
thing in it was destroyed.
After this Bonsu Jangkah Benua had no more weapons left,
and the fight stopped, Budak Yoid Intoie, up till this time,
having made no attack.
Then Budak Yoid Intoie began to dance the war-dance
(Malay gayong) and made a feint at Jangkah Benua ; but the
latter taunted him, asking him how he expected to kill a
man with a sword the size of a rice-leaf. Again Budak Yoid
Intoie made a feint at Jangkah Benua, and again Jangkah
Benua taunted him. Then said Budak Yoid Intoie, " I have
made two feints at you, if I make another, just see if you
don't remember it !" and he made another feint at him from
far off. But Jangkah Benua continued to jeer at him, saying,
'You fool, how can you expect to reach me with your sword
from such a distance?" "If you don't believe that I have
touched you," said Budak Yoid Intoie, "just bow your head,"
and on Jangkah Benua doing so, his head fell off and he died.
Then Budak Yoid Intoie collected all Jangkah Benua's
weapons, and those which were bent became straight, and
those which were broken became whole.
Next he brought Jangkah Benua to life again, and gave him
back his weapons, and sent him away in his ship.
(Budak Yoid Intoie then goes through exactly similar adventures at
the courts of two other Rajas to whose bathing-places the dragon's
head drifts, and marries his two remaining followers to their daughters ;
just as he married Rah Serpik to that of the first Raja.)
1 Different kinds of swords, knives and daggers.
17—2
260 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
Now, after the last of his three followers (Lingkong Benua)
had married, Budak Yoid Intoie planted a shrub, bearing a
single blossom, in the open space in front of each of their
houses, just as he had done in front of his father's house
before he set out on his journey; and telling them that he
wished to travel again, explained how, if he died, the flowers
would wither.
Then he set out towards the open sea, and at last he came
to a city called Bandar Benua, which lay close to the shore :
but he found no people dwelling there; not even any animals.
At length he came to the Raja's palace, and, going up into
it, he called aloud three times, but nobody answered him.
So he searched the house, and, after a while, came upon
a single-ended drum, and, on sitting down to beat it, heard
someone calling from inside it. Then the person in the drum
came out, and he found that it was a beautiful princess ; and
she told him how the country had been laid waste by an
enormous twice seven-headed Roc 1 which came every evening
from the Pauh Janggi 2 , that grew on the shore near the palace.
Then the princess gave him food, but towards evening she
hid herself in the drum again, and Budak Yoid Intoie went
out on to a platform in front of the palace and burnt incense,
calling to his ancestor to let down his sword from the sky,
for it had vanished after each of the fights with the three
Raja's sons. Upon this the sword came down to him, and it
was not long before the Roc came and perched on the Pauh
Janggi; and every head croaked, "Law! Laur! Law!"
Then Budak Yoid Intoie cut off the heads of the Roc, till
only one remained, and when he cut off this as well, the Roc
fell forward, dead, pinning him under one of its wings.
Now at about this time Budak Yoid Intoie's followers
observed that the flowers on the shrubs that he had planted
had withered. So they set out to search for him, and at last
they came to Bandar Benua, and there they met the princess,
1 The Sakai name for this bird is Panger; the Malay name, Garuda.
2 The Pauh Janggi: a tree believed by the Malays to grow on a sunken
bank in the centre of the ocean (Wilkinson's Dictionary).
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 26r
who told them how Budak Yoid Intoie had been pinned
beneath the Roc for seven days and seven nights. Then they
cut away the Roc's body and released him. So Budak Yoid
Intoie married the princess and lived at Bandar Benua, but
his companions returned to their homes.
A Tiger Story
Told by Katil
A large tiger once took up its quarters in a deserted house.
One day four men came to the place; for they had formerly
lived there. They looked in at the door, and the tiger called
to them, "Come children and play!" So they came up into
the house and said, "What does Nenek (ancestor) want to
play at?" "Oh," said the tiger, "we will sing a little." Then
the four men winked at one another, and two of them went
down the steps, and passed underneath the house, while the
other two remained inside. Now the tiger's tail hung down
under the house through a crack in the flooring. The tiger
began to sing:
"Dua chertang! dua chergi!
Dua petang! dua pagi! 1 "
"For," he thought to himself, " I'll eat two this evening and
two in the morning."
Then the four men replied,
"Dua cherkam, dua cherkul!
Dua menikam, dua memukul!"
(i.e. two to stab him and two to hit him).
Now one of the two men below the house had put bindings
(Malay, simpai) round the tiger's tail and tied it to a post
of the house, while the other held it firmly. Meanwhile, the
song went on, the tiger singing "dua chertang, dua chergi,"
and the men replying, "dua cherkam, dua cherkul." Then,
when everything was ready, and the tiger's tail firmly tied,
the two men came up from below the house, and two of the
1 The second line is Malay and means, "Two in the evening, two in the
morning." The first line, I was told, is Sakai, and means just the same as
the second. I am rather doubtful, however, whether chSrtang and chergi
are genuine words at all.
262 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. n
lour stabbed him, while the other two beat him about the
head, just as they had said they would do in the song. Thus
the tiger died.
The Mai Mensud
(This rather disconnected story was told to me by a Senoi
of Jeram Kawan on the Sungkai River)
The Senoi used to be attacked by a race of men called Mai
Mensud 1 (Mensud men), who came from Pahang. These had
hair all over their bodies, arms and legs. They used to come
into people's houses, and after feeding there (as guests), seize
some of the inhabitants in their arms, as they were sitting
round the fire, and fly off with them to the mountains. After
travelling for some time they used to come to a great marsh
called Paya Lekut. (The sticky marsh: lekut = Malay, lekat.)
Here they told their prisoners to sit down and rest, and when
they did so, they seized them and threw them into the middle
of the swamp. As soon as the prisoners had sunk into the
marsh, there arose from its surface spears, working-knives,
adze-heads and blow-pipes. These the Mai Mensud collected
and took home with them. If the Mai Mensud seized children
they sold them as slaves. Sometimes a Mensud man used to
take a halak (magician) with him and go to a cave. They
placed a little kijar 2 near the mouth of the cave, and a snake
came out of the hole, smelt the kijar, and then went back
again. After this, dollars and beads appeared from out of the
cave. These they gathered up, and then went home.
(I was told that one man, named Bek Jawil, who was still
alive, had been seized by the Mai Mensud about three years
before, but had managed to make his escape.)
(iii) SOME BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS OF THE JAKUN
Granting that the Jakun belong to the Malay race and
formed an earlier wave of migration from Sumatra than the
Malays proper, a view which is very generally accepted, we
1 The Mensud and Temir Rivers, on which they were said to live, were
stated to be tributaries of the Bertang (or Bertam) River in the Ulu Jelai
District of Pahang. 2 An unidentified substance.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 263
may, I think, with reason, expect to find them in their
greatest purity in the state of Johore — which they must have
easily reached in canoes via the Archipelago which lies between
Singapore, just south of Johore, and their original home —
and away from much possibility of contact with Sakai tribes.
As I have remarked above, I have included in the foregoing
paper on the Sakai many tribes (such as the Besisi and the
"Biduanda" or "Mantra") which Skeat classes among the
pagan Malays (Jakun) and, no doubt, these Sakai-Jakun, as I
have termed them, do, physically, tend more to the Malay
type than to that of the Sakai ; but, while some of them speak
Sakai dialects and some Malay, they mostly have the Jakun
system of chiefs. In spite of these facts, however, I have
placed them with the Sakai as, in their customs and religion,
they seem to have a not inconsiderable affinity with them.
In the present paper, I deal with some communities which
appear to be essentially similar in customs and ideas. These,
though I do not know quite how far their territory extends
inland, are found about the mouth of the Pahang River, and
in the coastal regions, and up the different rivers that reach
the sea between the Pahang and the Endau River, which, in
its lower reaches, forms the boundary between the states of
Pahang and Johore. They are closely related, too, to the
"Orang Laut 1 " (Sea People), who, leading a more or less
nomadic life in their boats, haunt some of the islands off the
coasts of Pahang and Johore, and were formerly to be found
in the bays, creeks and estuaries at the extreme south of the
Peninsula and on and around Singapore Island. Furthermore,
there is, seemingly, little difference between them and the
majority of the pagan tribes of Johore 2 , and it is for this
reason that I have labelled them "Jakun." My experience
of them, however, is not extensive and is limited to a few
1 They are of the same race as the "Orang Laut" of the West Coast of
the Peninsula who are found in the neighbourhood of Trang in the Siamese
States.
2 Judging by the accounts of the Jakun of Johore which have been given
by various writers. I have never visited any of the Johore tribes, with the
exception of the Endau Jakun, who move backwards and forwards between
Johore and Pahang.
264 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
visits to some of their settlements during an expedition, of
about a month's duration, which I made to the Rompin and
Endau Rivers in 1917, and to a few somewhat desultory con-
versations that I had with them while resident in Pekan 1 , the
royal township of the state of Pahang — while I was doing
temporary non-ethnographical work there during parts of the
years 1918 and 1919, when the nature of my duties did not
give me much opportunity of becoming intimately acquainted
with them : consequently my notes are but scanty.
Deities
My inquiries have not, hitherto, brought to light any
evidence with regard to a belief in a deity, or deities, among
the Jakun of Pahang. A Malay friend of mine, however,
Inche Abubakar, Malay Secretary to H.H. The Sultan of
Pahang, tells me that he thinks that there is some reason for
supposing that the people of the Ulu Rompin 2 pray to the
sun, for, on one occasion, though he did not pay much
attention to the matter, he saw several men staring intently
at that luminary, and, apparently, going through rites of
some kind.
The Shaman
The shaman, who is called poyang* by the Jakun, is, as
among the Sakai and Negritos, a person of considerable im-
portance. According to an Endau man the poyang possesses
a familiar spirit which he may have either obtained by in-
heritance, or which may have come to him in a dream. My
informant gave me the names of the familiars of several
poyang with whom he was acquainted, these being, Bujang
Berawan (Youth Encircled by Clouds), Rantai Banga (Chain
of Flowers) and Bujang Pelangai (Rainbow Youth).
1 Some few miles from the mouth of the Pahang River.
2 These people may, perhaps, be Sakai-speaking people of mixed race
(i.e. what I have termed Sakai-Jakun). I heard that there were "Orang
Semlai" — a term commonly in use among Malay-speaking groups to denote
those whose dialects belong to the Sakai group — far up the Rompin River.
3 This word, a variant of the ordinary Malay term pawang, is also in use
in certain parts of Sumatra.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 265
The poyang is called in to expel the spirits which cause
diseases, and when a sick man is under treatment the house
in which he lies is placed under a tabu, no strangers being
allowed to visit the patient. During the tabu period, too, the
length of which is such as the poyang may fix, nothing made
of iron may be brought into the house, or if it should be
inadvertently, it must not be taken out again for three days
after the removal of the ban. Furthermore, nobody must
break a gourd or a plate in the sick man's house, tap or beat
its threshold, or indulge in quarrelling 1 .
The Rompin Jakun told me that the dead bodies of poyang
are placed on platforms, and their souls go up to the sky,
while those of ordinary mortals, whose bodies are buried, go
to the under- world.
The poyang of the same " tribe " use switches of palas leaves
in calling their familiars, and small tambourines, made out
of half a coconut-shell covered with the skin of some kind of
fish, are beaten during the performance of the magical rites 2 .
The Pekan Jakun told me in 1918, that among them the
poyang sits facing the east when he is holding a seance and
that he flourishes his switch (or whisk) over his right shoulder 3 .
Furthermore, he uses the article for brushing the bodies of
the sick. A performance for the benefit of anyone who is ill,
they said, extends over three consecutive nights.
Burial and Existence after Death
Though I have but little evidence with regard to Jakun
ideas concerning existence after death, yet it appears from
the fact that the Rompin Jakun think that the souls of the
dead go to the under-world, and from the custom of placing
food, etc. on the graves of the newly buried, that there must
be some fairly well-developed beliefs connected with the sub-
ject. Furthermore, when a death occurs, according to the
Rompin Jakun, the clearing and the houses of the settlement
1 The information in this paragraph is from the Endau Jakun.
2 I was lucky enough to obtain a specimen of both of these articles.
3 Vide, for the sake of comparison, p. 213, supra.
266 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. 11
are deserted for from ten to fifteen days, the friends and
relations of the dead person being frightened of his ghost;
and the house in which the death took place is usually not
reoccupied.
The Endau Jakun said that the dead are buried lying face
upwards, with their heads pointing to the west, and this also
seems to be the custom of the Jakun who live near Pekan.
A Rompin man, on the other hand, told me that his people
also bury the dead lying on their backs, but with their heads
pointing to the east.
For seven days after somebody has died, it is tabu among
the Endau Jakun to beat drums, to trade, or to try to collect
debts. If a creditor attempts to collect a debt during this
period, the debt is considered cancelled, and, if he asks for
his money arrogantly, he is fined, nowadays, I was told,
twenty-five dollars, but formerly one hundred and eight
plates 1 .
The Endau Jakun said that they placed food on a new grave
on the day of burial, on the morning of the third day after it,
and again on the morning of the seventh day, while a Jakun
man from the neighbourhood of Pekan stated that food is
placed at the foot of a grave every afternoon for the first three
days after the corpse has been interred, and that feasts are
held on the third, seventh, and hundredth days 2 .
A description of a Jakun grave mound (with a sketch) has
already been given by Hervey, and is quoted by Skeat 3 , but
an account of such an erection which I got from the Jakun of
the Anak Endau — I did not see a grave — may perhaps be of
interest. I was told that a post, about five feet high, is set
1 Judging from what I have seen of the Endau Jakun, such fines, if
inflicted, could not possibly be paid. Perhaps large amounts may be men-
tioned merely as marks of displeasure. The custom of fining so many plates
is interesting, vide Logan (J. I. A. I. 274), who states that among the Binut
"binuas" the fine imposed upon a murderer used to be sixty plates.
2 I suspect, that if these feasts really take place, they are copied from the
Malays, but I am inclined to think that the Jakun was merely trying to make
out that he was practically a Malay — i.e. a man of a superior people. Among
the Malays such feasts are celebrated on the third, seventh, fortieth and
hundredth days.
3 Pagan Races, II. 114-115. The sketch is also reproduced.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 267
up at the foot of the grave. This post has fourteen notches
cut in it, seven running up one side, and seven down that
opposite. It is called the tangga semangat (soul-ladder), and
I was given to understand that the seven ascending notches
represent the surviving relatives, while the descending notches
represent, or are for the use of, the dead person's soul. Two
other posts, called nisan (grave-posts), which diverge at an
angle of about forty-five degrees, are, my informant said,
planted close together on the top of the grave.
This account differs in some particulars from that given
by Hervey, and from the details in his sketch. He calls the
notched posts — of which he shows two — nisan, and the smaller
posts, which, according to my account, should be nisan, he
dubs tangga semangat. Probably difference of locality may
account for the discrepancies, though his notched post might,
without much difficulty, be taken to be conventional repre-
sentations of double house-steps, while the small uprights are
placed just like Malay grave-posts {nisan).
Various Customs and Tabus
The custom of calling a man who has had a child, "Father
of So-and-so," found among the Sakai of South Perak, in
Borneo, and in other parts of the Malayan region, is also
common to the Endau Jakun and to those who live in the
neighbourhood of Pekan. The Endau people told me that on
the birth of his first child (male or female) a man becomes
known as "Father of So-and-so." If his first-born child dies
he is still known as "Father of So-and-so," provided that he
has another living child, the name of the second child being,
of course, substituted for that of the first ; if, however, he has
no other he is known as Mantai. Should his wife and all his
children die he is known as Balu, and, on marrying again, this
style is still retained until he has a child, when he again
becomes "Father of So-and-so." Similarly, a woman who is,
or has been, married is known as Mak Anu ("Mother of So-
and-so "), Mantai, or Balu. My informant about these matters
was one, Pak Dedup, i.e. Father of Dedup. Among the Pekan
268 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
Jakun these customs do not seem to be so well developed, but
a man who has lost all his children is known as Pak Merat,
and a woman as Mak Merat.
Jakun womenkind, when expectant, as do some of the
Sakai, observe certain restrictions with regard to food and
other matters, and some of these are binding on their husbands
as well. Thus, a woman of the Endau Jakun who is five
months gone in pregnancy, may not kill animals of any kind,
and a man, whose wife is in this condition, may not kill any-
thing from the time when his wife gives birth until the child
is seven days old. When a child is born, both husband and
wife refrain from eating the flesh of the Rusa-deer, and of
two species of mouse-deer [pelandok and kanchil) — the hus-
band till the child is seven days old, the wife as long as the
child is "small." It is said that if the woman were to eat
deer flesh, she would go mad and run wild like a deer.
(iv) MISCELLANEOUS NOTES ON MALAY CUSTOMS
AND BELIEFS
The following disconnected notes on some Malay beliefs
and customs, collected at various times, and in various parts
of the Peninsula, during the years 1912-1921, may possibly
be of interest, since I do not remember having seen many of
them recorded before. In each case I append the name of
the district to which my informant belonged :
i. Houses should not be built on promontories, either those
which jut out into rivers or rice-fields, as such places are
frequented by spirits.
(From a man of Kampong Linggi, Negri Sembilan.)
ii. If you hear a noise at night in the jungle, it is forbidden
to call out and ask your companions what is making it.
(From a man of Kampong Linggi, Negri Sembilan.)
iii. A small species of house cricket, which is known to the
Malays as Semangat rumah (i.e. house-soul), is said to indicate
the good or evil fortune of the owner of a house. If the cricket
is first heard low down in the wall, but gradually makes its
way up higher, it is considered to imply that the householder
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 269
will become rich. If, however, its sound is first heard high
up, and then lower down, monetary losses will be incurred.
(From a man of Kampong Linggi, Negri Sembilan.)
iv. Nests, either of a large species of black ant or of the
termite, are sometimes thought to be the dwelling places of
spirits.
(Awang, a Malay smith of Lenggong in Upper Perak, asked
me one day to desist from poking a termite's nest 1 , which
stood close to his forge, with my walking-stick. On my asking
the reason for his doing so, he replied that there was a spirit
in it. Questioned as to his grounds for thinking so, he said
that if there were not, he did not see how such a tall mound
could have arisen.)
v. It is unlucky to step over a fishing-rod which has been
left lying on the bank of a river with the line in the water.
Mothers scold their children if they do this when a family
party is out fishing, as they think that no fish will be caught.
(From a Malay of Ijok, Selama District of Perak.)
vi. Women, while making the yeast {ragi) for tapai cakes,
must not see a corpse, or, when the cakes are being made,
fermentation of the flour will not ensue.
(From a Malay of Kampong Linggi, Negri Sembilan.)
vii. According to Province Wellesley Malays fireflies are
the clippings from people's finger-nails.
viii. If you think that you have seen a ghost you must spit
three times, in order that no evil results may follow.
(From a Province Wellesley Malay.)
ix. A couple of nights after the death of the late Sultan
Ahmad of Pahang (May, 1914) there was a bad storm of wind
at Taiping in Perak. This was considered by all the Malays
living in the town to be a sign of the Sultan's passing 2 .
x. If a cock and a hen copulate on the roof of a Malay
1 Those called male nests (busud janlan), which are tall and roughly
cylindrical, but come to a point at the top, are credited with spirit tenants.
2 For a similar idea in England vide The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Oct. 19th,
1662. "Waked with a very high wind, and said to my wife, 'I pray God
I hear not of the death of any great person, this wind is so high!' fearing
that the Queen might be dead."
270 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
house, they are caught and killed. Both are then skinned and
the skins placed on slender poles planted in the ground, one
on either side of the way at a place where paths cross. A small
horizontal supporting bar is often tied to each pole a little
way from the top, in order that the skin of the body may be
spread over it, while the head and neck of each bird rest on
the ends of the uprights.
(I saw two or three instances of crucifixion of this kind in
Upper Perak in 1913.)
xi. If a man washes his hands, and, in shaking the drops
from them (to dry them), splashes a companion, the latter
says, " Lepas-kah?" {i.e. "Do you release me?"). To this the
man who has been washing himself must reply " Lepas" (i.e.
" I release you "). If this were not done the sins (dosa) of the
man who washed his hands would cling to the man who was
splashed.
(I saw a man so splashed, and heard the above question
and answer in 1916. The explanation was given to me by a
Province Wellesley Malay, one of the men concerned.)
xii. After the boria performances (connected originally with
the deaths of Hasan and Husain, but now more or less comic
entertainments given by bands of Penang or Province Wel-
lesley Malay youths, who visit the houses of the wealthy in
the month Muharram) all those who have taken part in them
go, after the last performances have been given, to bathe
ceremonially, in order to rid themselves of the bad luck
(buangkan sial) which attaches to them as having taken part
in a dramatic performance. At Taiping in Perak the boria
performers bathe at the Waterfall, and, after this, partake of
a curry feast. The washing of the body should be done with
seven dippers of water in which limes and soap-root 1 (sintok
limau) have been mixed till the water is full of suds. When
the bathing is over the remains of the soap-root and the limes
are thrown away, each man as he thus disposes of them
saying, " Satu, dua, tiga; buang! " (i.e. " One, two, three. Throw
them away !") . The "soap " is, of course, washed off afterwards
1 The root or fibre of Cinnamomum sentu.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 271
in the ordinary way. Before the feasting begins a handful of
food — all the kinds to be eaten are included — is taken and
placed below a tree in the jungle. The boria is performed only
by Penang and Province Wellesley Malays, and is said to have
been adopted originally from Indian troops stationed in Pe-
nang.
(Information obtained from Awang, a Province Wellesley
Malay.)
xiii. If you go to bed with a grain of rice sticking to your
clothes or body, you will dream that a tiger is hunting you.
(From a Malay of Kampong Linggi, Negri Sembilan.)
xiv. Filings from a porcupine's tooth, if drunk in water,
are a remedy for poison taken internally.
(From a Malay of Kuala Krau, Pahang.)
xv. When women go down to the river to get water for
use in berhantu ceremonies (spiritualistic seances) held for the
benefit of a sick person, they must not speak to any one while
carrying it. Furthermore, they must cover the mouths of the
full vessels with leaves, and, in filling them, must let the water
trickle in slowly, and not enter with a gurgling sound.
(From a Malay of Pulau Tawar, Pahang. My informant,
seeing a woman on the banks of the Pahang River carrying
up a water-pot whose mouth was covered with leaves, gave
me this note.)
xvi. If you are afraid that some mischance will befall you
because you have left your village without satisfying a craving
for tobacco or food 1 , put the third finger of your right hand
into your mouth and suck it three or four times. You will
thus avert misfortune.
(From a Malay of Pulau Tawar, Pahang.)
xvii. There is a deep round depression near the Pahang
River, not far from Jerantut, but on the opposite bank, which
is called Lebor Chupak. It is said that a village once stood
on this site, but was overwhelmed by a storm and swallowed
up by subsidence of the ground, because a man placed two
half coconut-shells — chupak measures — like caps on the head
1 Takut kSna kSmpunan. Vide Appendix B.
272 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
of a dog and a cat, and laughed at them in company with
other villagers 1 .
(From a Malay of Pulau Tawar, Pahang.)
xviii. To bring rain the cooking-pots and their cane stands
must be washed, and a cat given a bath 2 .
(From a Malay of Kampong Linggi, Negri Sembilan.)
xix. Scrapings of an incisor tooth of a bamboo-rat, when
applied to wounds in the feet caused by bamboo-stumps, will
effect a speedy cure.
(From a Malay of Kampong Perak, near Batu Kurau,
Perak.)
xx. Wood must not be chopped on the threshold of a house
or the owner will be bitten by a snake or centipede when he
goes to the jungle.
(From a Malay of Kampong Perak, Batu Kurau, Perak,
whom I heard rebuking his wife for thus chopping firewood.)
xxi. Nobody should lie with legs sprawled out of a door-
way, or a tiger will come to the village.
(From the same Malay as the above, who had occasion to
rebuke his wife in my hearing for breaking this tabu also.)
xxii. If the owner of a gun constantly uses it for shooting
big game, he should not keep, or place it, in a leaning position ;
otherwise, animals that he shoots, if mortally wounded, will
not fall dead for some time.
(From the same Malay as numbers xx and xxi.)
xxiii. "Sheet" lightning is called kilat gajah (elephant
lightning) as it is thought that when sheet lightning is seen
elephants are journeying through the jungle in the distance.
(Malays of Batu Kurau, Perak, and also those of Pekan,
Pahang.)
1 I have obtained stories of the dreadful fate which overtakes those who
dress up animals and laugh at them from Sakai in several districts, but this
is the first time that I have heard of such a belief among the Malays. The
word used in the neighbourhood of Pulau Tawar for a bad storm followed
by a subsidence of the ground is kelebor, lebor, seemingly, being the name
given to places where such subsidence is thought to have occurred. ChHau,
a term frequently used by Sakai (when speaking Malay) to describe these
storms caused by impious actions, has a very similar meaning.
2 Mandikan periok, mandikan lekar, mandikan kuching.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 273
xxiv. If hornets build a nest on a house, it is a sign that
the occupants are about to leave it.
(Malays of Batu Kurau, Perak.)
xxv. A riddle from Pekan :
I a ia; tetapi bukan ia; tetapi ia mati kerana ia.
The answer to this is an artificial spinning-bait (kachau) which
is often made in the shape of a fish, the material usually being
mother-of-pearl.
A rough translation of the riddle is :
" It's it, but not it, but they die because of it 1 ."
xxvi. A rain charm. This is recited by children of Pekan,
Pahang, when a storm appears to be approaching. The object
being to drive away the threatening rain.
Very probably the formula may once have been used by
grown-ups in all seriousness.
Sana kepala beruang; sini kepala itek.
Sana bahagi tuang; sini jangan sa-titek 2 .
(v) MALAY FOLK-TALES
Why the Bear has no tail 3
(A folk-story of the Pahang Malays obtained
near Kuala Kerau)
A very thin buffalo was once feeding in a meadow. To him
came a tiger and said, "lam going to eat you." The buffalo,
however, besought him to wait for seven days, "For," said
he, "I am very thin, and if you wait for seven days, I shall
have an opportunity of growing fat." To this the tiger agreed.
Now on the morning of the seventh day the buffalo was
wandering disconsolately along, when a crippled monkey, who
was sitting in a tree, called to him, and asked him why he
1 I.e. "It's a fish, but not a fish, but they die because of it."
2 " There the head of a bear; here the head of a duck.
Let it pour there; but don't let's have a drop here."
3 A variant of this story, translated by G. M. Laidlaw, in which the
mouse-deer plays the parts of both the buffalo and the monkey, is to be
found in J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 48, pp. 86-89.
emp r8
274 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
was looking so sad. So the buffalo related how he had pro-
mised to meet a tiger, who wished to eat him.
"Very well, I will see if I can't help you," said the monkey,
"but you must carry me on your back."
Thus they started off in search of the tiger, with the monkey
sitting on the buffalo's back; and before very long they met
him.
Now as soon as the monkey saw the tiger, he began to
munch two brinjal fruits, which he had brought with him,
exclaiming loudly as he did so, "My word, this tiger's head
tastes good!"
The tiger, who heard what the monkey said, became fright-
ened, and ran away as fast as he could. While he was still
running he came upon a bear, and told him about the monkey
that ate tigers' heads.
Then he tried to persuade the bear to go and investigate
the matter, but the bear replied that it was not his affair;
still, if the tiger wished it, they could go together. Then, as
each was afraid that the other would run away, it was agreed
that they should tie their tails together.
[At this time the bear had a fairly long tail, and the tiger's
was shorter than it is now.]
So they tied their tails in this manner, and set out. After
a little while they came to the place where the buffalo was
waiting, and saw the monkey still crunching up the "tiger's
head." Thereupon, being frightened, they both tried to escape,
forgetting that their tails were tied together.
At length, as they struggled one against the other, the
bear's tail broke off short, and they both ran away.
The next time that the tiger met the bear, he said, "Your
loss is my gain; for you have lost your tail, while mine has
become longer."
So that is the reason why, to the present day, the bear has
only a stump instead of a tail.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 275
Awang Durahman
(I took down the following little story — very quaint when told in
Malay, but most difficult to translate into English — from Pandak
Leman of Kampong Perak in the Batu Kurau mukim 1 of Larut, in
December, 1 9 1 7 . I have tried to follow the Malay as closely as possible,
and to preserve the jerky method of narration, which is intended to
represent the flight of Awang Durahman 's thoughts.)
Awang Durahman was sitting one day in a tumble-down
hut in the rice-fields, while his mother was weeding among the
young crop. He took two cents from his mother's sireh wallet,
and, as he held them in his hand, he said to himself, " With
this money I'll buy two eggs, one a male ; the other a female.
After a time what a lot of fowls there'll be — thousands ! These
fowls too many ! If so, sell these fowls. Buy ducks. Make a
big pond ; place for ducks to play. Ducks also many. ' Pak % '
up-stream, ' Pak ' down-stream ! 'Whose ducks are these?' 'The
ducks of Awang Durahman.' Ducks eat people's padi. Sell
ducks ; buy goats. Many goats go and eat people's crops. Very
much trouble ! ' Whose goats are these ? ' ' The goats of Awang
Durahman!' Sell goats; buy oxen. Oxen not a few. 'Boh 3 '
up-stream, 'Boh' down-stream! 'Whose oxen are these?'
'The oxen of Awang Durahman!' Sell oxen; buy many
buffaloes. Milk them. That old woman 4 drinks lots of milk;
eats lots of curd ! ' Whose buffaloes are these ? ' ' The buffaloes
of Awang Durahman!' Sell buffaloes; buy elephants. Ele-
phants 'Ruh 5 ' up-stream, ' Ruh' down-stream! Get into
peoples' villages. ' Whose elephants are these? ' ' The elephants
of Awang Durahman !' Young male elephant with tusks just
enclosing its trunk 6 . I tell mother to load it with dollars and
bring it to the Raja's house, asking the hand of his daughter.
Raja gives it. Raja builds a house for the marriage. When
I have married, I sit in the balaP. Play chess. Princess
comes, 'Come my lord and eat rice.' I don't want to. I give
checkmate 8 . She comes again. She wears anklets, ' Cherong,
1 Parish. 2 The quacking of the ducks.
3 The lowing of the oxen. 4 His mother.
6 The noise made by the elephants. 6 Gading apit bSlalai.
7 Audience Hall. 8 Sahya sah sahaja.
18—2
276 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
chering 1 .' 'Come my lord and eat rice.' I don't want to. I
give checkmate 2 . She catches my hand. Digs me in the ribs.
Dig her in the ribs ! Chokok, chokok, chokok, chokok, chokok,
chokok! 3 "
And as Awang Durahman dug himself in the ribs, first on
one side, and then on the other, wriggling the while, the posts
of the hut gave way, and he came to the ground cutting his
legs on a tree-stump. "What's the matter with you, Awang
Durahman?" said his mother. "The Raja's daughter dug
me in the ribs," answered Awang Durahman. "Where's the
Raj a's daughter ? ' ' asked his mother. ' ' Oh, I was only thinking
about her," replied Awang Durahman.
(vi) MALAY BACK-SLANG
The following are some examples of the kind of Malay back-
slang, chakap balek (obtained from a Linggi Negri Sembilan
Malay), which is used by bad-mannered Malay children when
they wish to talk secrets before their elders and betters, or
before uninitiated companions. The first stanza is a pantun*
in ordinary Malay ; the second the same converted into back-
slang. A beginner is supposed to learn both of these by heart
in order to acquire a facility in this secret means of communi-
cation. There do not seem to be any very well-defined rules
for converting ordinary words into back-slang by this method,
except that in those of two syllables, the syllables are generally
transposed. In three-syllable words, letters or syllables may
be inserted, and the original letters or syllables transposed,
but the last syllable, in many cases, remains unchanged.
Rioh rendah bunyi-nya burong.
Burong terbang dari seberang.
Hinggap sa-ekor atas bumbongan {tulang bumbong).
Menegoh bumbongan hanyut dari ulu.
Perisek pekasam udang.
Anak rimau jantan mati jerongkong.
Yori yarah nubi nerubong.
Nerubong terbarung rida serabung.
1 The sound of the anklets. 2 Sahya mat sahaja.
3 Awang's hysterical exclamations. * Poem, verse.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 277
Ngahip jikau latung u-ung.
Megonoh latung u-ung nyor-at rida luhu.
Pesingik pesangum dahung.
Nahak mori tajan tima jikorong.
Further examples of ordinary Malay with back-slang equi-
valents :
(1) Angkau hindak ka-mana?
(1 a) Angkangau nahak kenema?
(2) Aku hendak pergi Taiping.
(2 a) Kua nahak giper Payteng.
The next example was given to me by a Province Wellesley
man. In it the insertion of the letter s either with, or without,
a vowel before, or following, it seems to be the chief feature.
There appear to be many different methods of talking back-
slang.
(1) Hang 'nak pergi ka-mana.
(1 a) Has nasak perasgisi kas-mas-nasa.
(Other specimens of back-slang were added to my original
paper 1 by Mr H. C. Robinson, who obtained them from a
Selangor Malay. These, however, I omit, as I did not collect
them myself.)
(vii) SETTING UP THE POSTS OF A MALAY HOUSE
While staying at Pianggu on the Endau River in 1917
I was lucky enough to be present at the ceremony of setting
up the posts of a Malay house. When I arrived at the site
of the new dwelling the holes for receiving the posts had
already been dug, while the posts themselves, conveniently
disposed, were lying in pairs with cross-beams attached, ready
to be set up. The proceedings were begun by a large piece of
kundor — a kind of gourd — and a fragment of a small silver
coin, wrapped in white cloth, being thrown into each hole.
Ceremonial bands of plaited coconut (?) leaves — called jari
lipan (centipedes' feet) from their shape — to which were
attached little square closed-in plaited boxes (ketupat) of the
same material and filled with rice, were then bound round each
post in about the middle.
1 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums, vii. 116.
278 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
After an orthodox Mohamedan prayer had been said by a
lebai, and incense burnt, the men who had come to help in
erecting the house partook of a meal of rice dyed with tur-
meric {pulut kunyet), parched rice (berteh), bananas and pulut
(Oriza glutinosa) wrapped in leaves, which was served to them
on the recumbent posts. When they had finished eating, a
man, who had been chosen by the pawang 1 as his assistant,
brought water and poured it along every post, walking clock-
wise round the house-site. After him came the pawang with
a sprinkler made of the leaves of several kinds of plants 2 , in
his right hand, and a brass bowl of ceremonial rice-flour mixed
with water (tepong tawar) in his left. Then, having murmured
a spell at the first post, he sprinkled the tepong tawar along
the posts, and into the holes which were to receive them.
After the pawang had performed this rite, the workmen
gathered round to raise the first pair of posts, which they
did with loud shouts of " Mohamed RasuV Allah," the offici-
ating lebai reciting a prayer meanwhile. The rest of the posts
were then similarly erected ; and the ceremony was at an end.
On meeting the pawang subsequently, I asked him to tell
me the spell which he had said over the first post, when about
to sprinkle it with the tepong tawar or "neutralizing flour";
and he gave the two following verses, which wish prosperity
to the new house and its inhabitants :
Tepong tawar, tepong jati ;
Tepong awal mula menjadi.
Dapat mas berkati-kati.
Lagi i&np sampai ka-mati.
Tepong tawar, tepong jati :
Surok batang mali mali.
Sa-lengkak daan pegaga.
Salamat ambil-lah galah.
Minta dayang sini.
Salamat puji bahagi Allah.
1 Medicine-man, or shaman.
2 Ribu-ribu (Lygodium soandeus), gandarusa (Justicia gandarusa), jen-
juang (?) and sapuleh (?).
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 279
(viii) BEL A K AM PONG
Bela kampong is an annual ceremony which is performed
by the Malays of the Endau— and, I believe in other parts
of the country as well— in order to avert misfortune and
disease. It is difficult to give a suitable translation of the
Malay name for these rites, and the nearest approach that I
can make is ."rearing (or cultivating) the village." The cere-
mony is purely pagan and, as such, is frowned upon by the
more orthodox Malays.
While I was stopping in Kampong Pianggu, on the Endau
River, in August, 1917, a bela kampong, which was to have
been held, was postponed owing to the presence of three Dyaks,
who were with me. These men were engaged in shooting birds
and mammals and in collecting insects and botanical speci-
mens; such actions being tabu while the ceremony is being
performed.
The Dyaks having left me temporarily, I tried to persuade
the pawang to perform the rites while I was in the village,
and before my men should return from up-stream. This, how-
ever, appeared to be impossible, as he each day made some
excuse; that there was a wedding on, or that someone had
died, and that it was not allowable to hold the bela kampong
in consequence. As I had already made arrangements for
leaving the Endau, I was unable to postpone my departure
until the pawang should fix upon an auspicious day; never-
theless, by dint of questioning him, and others, I got some
details which are, perhaps, worth placing on record.
According to old customs, while the bela kampong is being
celebrated, the village is laid under a five days' tabu by the
pawang, and during this period strangers may not enter it,
nor may any of the inhabitants shoot animals, pick coconuts
or sireh leaves, leave the village, dig their land, use abusive
language, or make a loud noise {e.g. beat gongs as at weddings) .
The day chosen for the beginning of the rites depends largely
on the pawang 's dreams. Should he intend to hold the bela
kampong on a certain day, he will put it off if he has an un-
lucky dream during the night before— that he is being chased
PT. II
280 THE MALAY PENINSULA
by a tiger, for instance, or that somebody is angry with him;
but will hold it if his dreams are lucky (e.g. that he has been
given many presents).
The signs that a village is under tabu are white rag tied
to cords at the bathing-places (jamban), if the settlement is
on the main river; but, if it is on a side-stream, a cord from
which white rags are suspended is frequently stretched from
bank to bank.
Nowadays, only a one-day's beta kampong is allowed at
Pianggu, and the prohibitions with regard to persons arriving
at, or leaving, the village are no longer in force.
It appears that the ceremony is performed rather with a
view to keeping the local spirits of the soil in a good temper,
and gaining their aid against invading evil than with a view
to banishing troublesome and evilly disposed supernatural
beings, a not uncommon practice in many parts of the Malay
region, and one which is resorted to on the Endau if epidemic
diseases appear, when the villages are placed under a seven
days' tabu and spirit-ships launched. These are supposed to
carry away the spirits which are causing the trouble.
On my mentioning the custom of the yearly purification
of villages by means of spirit-boats to the pawang of Pianggu,
he said, "Lain pawang, lain adat" (Other pawang, other
customs).
I obtained very few details with regard to the ceremony
proper, but it appears that the pawang makes a round of the
village, collecting small offerings of food from each house-
holder, and that, towards evening on the third day, he places
the offerings, or hangs them up, in the jungle, and invokes
the spirits to protect the village throughout the ensuing year.
(ix) CUSTOMS OF THE CAMPHOR-HUNTERS AND
BAH ASA KAPOR
The tabu language, used by Malay and Jakun collectors
of camphor in Johore and South Pahang, which is called
bahasa kapor (camphor language), chakap berkapor ("cam-
phonng talk"), or pantang kapor (camphor tabu), has been
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 281
dealt with at various dates, and in the order given below, by
Logan 1 , by Mikhicho-Maclay 2 , by Hervey 3 and by Lake and
Kelsall 4 .
While paying a visit to the Endau River in August, 1917,
I made a list of tabu words (mostly obtained from Malays)
and elicited any further information that I could with regard
to the customs of camphor-hunters.
The most complete vocabulary of the bahasa kapor yet
published is that of Messrs Lake and Kelsall, which was
collected in the Endau District of Johore. Some, at any rate,
of Logan's material is from the neighbourhood of the Endau
River itself. The present paper traverses in part the work of
others, but where it does so, I trust that my evidence may be
not without interest for purposes of comparison. A few of
the words in the vocabulary are 5 , I believe, new, and also
the story of the Camphor Princess with a considerable amount
of information about customs and beliefs.
My informants, with the exception of a Jakun man from
whom I obtained a few words of bahasa kapor, were Malays ;
one being a penghulu kapor (leader of camphor-seekers),
another a man who had been hunting for camphor in a sub-
ordinate capacity. Very little, if any, camphor seems to be
collected nowadays in the vicinity of the Endau River.
The followers of a penghulu kapor are known as his " Sakai."
He and his " Sakai " must use the bahasa kapor while working
in the jungle, and, besides this, they have to observe tabus of
various kinds, which are more numerous and important in
the case of the penghulu than in that of his followers.
The Spirit of the Camphor (Bisan) is female and assumes
the form of a cicada. She requires propitiation by the cam-
phor-seekers, or they will return empty-handed. A sacrifice
of a white cock is made by the penghulu and his " Sakai " just
1 Journal of the Indian Archipelago, I. 263-266.
2 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Soc, Straits Branch, No. 1, pp. 39, 40.
3 Ibid. No. 3, pp. 112-115; No. 8, pp. 100-102; No. 9, pp. 167-168.
4 Ibid. No. 26, pp. 39-56.
5 My vocabulary originally appeared in a compilation of Iiahasa kapor
words made by R. O. Winstedt. Vide Journal of the F.M.S. Museums, ix.
Part I, p. 59 et seqq.
282 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
at dusk on the first evening when they have arrived at their
headquarters and built their hut, after which they partake
of the bird and of pulut (Oriza glutinoza) which is also offered
to the Bisan. The penghulu must eat in moderation of the
feast and may not make a second meal from its remains, if
there are any. His "Sakai" are, however, not prohibited
from doing so, provided that what is left over is hidden from
the penghulu and that he has no knowledge of the matter.
Before the feast takes place, "when the fowls go up to their
perches and the Cicada (Bisan) is heard"; the camphor-
seekers call out (berteriak) to the camphor spirit as follows:
Bisan, O Bisan!
Bisan ulu ayer, hilir ayer,
Pengadap chindir, penekan chindir ;
Koh mambong minta 'mbin kapor yang sa-penoh isi.
Koh mambong minta 'mbin kapor Sieng-Pengelat,
Sieng Kalu, Sieng-Penepang,
Koh minta lau pada ai,
Bih buleh bih, tongkat terang.
This invocation is chiefly in the bahasa kapor, though it
may be noted that the ordinary Malay word for "water"
(ayer) is used instead of the bahasa kapor word sempeloh.
It may be translated in this manner :
Bisans, O Bisansf
Bisans of the headwaters, Bisans of the lower reaches,
In front of the hut, behind the hut :
We ask you to give us camphor (trees) with full contents.
We ask you to give us camphor of Singapore.
Trengganu and Pahang.
We ask you to give us,
Without fail, to-morrow morning.
After this the penghulu, who has gone out of the hut, throws
into it some handfuls of rice in the husk, while his "Sakai"
remain quietly within.
When the feast is finished the penghulu recites an imaginary
conversation between a Bisan (camphor spirit) and her
mother, as follows :
i. Bisan. " Mak! Mak! A pa pichim dalam sempeloh?"
2. Mother. " Yak-lah, dayang, seluang lari."
3. B. " Apa sebab seluang lari?"
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 283
4. M. " Itu, dayang, bernama sebarau bujang."
5. B. " Mak! Mak! Apa pichim menekoh batang kayu?"
6. M. " Yak-lah, dayang, 'dopan Penghulu Muda."
7. B. " Amboi, lembut-nya, mak, pinggang Penghulu Muda!"
8. M. " Yak-lah, dayang, aik jamu Penghulu Muda imping berkuah."
This may be translated :
1. B. "Mother! Mother! What thing is that in the water?"
2. M. "That, maiden, is a seluang badak."
3. B. "Why does the seluang fly?"
4. M. "Because, maiden, of the sebarau bujang."
5. B. "Mother! Mother! What is it that eats the trunks of the
trees?"
6. M. "That, maiden, is the livelihood of the Penghulu Muda."
7. B. "Good gracious, how pliant (thin), mother, is the waist of
the Penghulu Muda!"
8. M. " Yes, maiden, you must feast the Penghulu Muda on emping
with sauce."
One or two points in this recitation call for an explanation.
Lines one, two, three and four seem to be purposeless. The
seluang badak is a kind of small fish, and the sebarau is a large
sort which preys upon such small fry. Sebarau bujang (bachelor
sebarau) is, perhaps, a distinct variety or species. The fifth
and following lines, however, are not without meaning. The
Bisan asks what is cutting into the tree-trunks, and her
mother replies that it is the penghulu kapor's axe (his liveli-
hood). The Bisan, seeing the slight haft of the axe, says to
her mother, "How thin the penghulu' s waist is !" To this her
mother replies, "Yes, you must feed him well with emping
(crushed rice) in sauce" {i.e. camphor).
After the feast, certain verses are sung, this ceremony being
known as berpiu. The Penghulu Kapor, Dolah bin Mapak,
from whom I got a portion of my information, said that he
could not recite them for me, as it was tabu for him to do so.
If he did, he would not get any camphor when he went in
search of it again. Furthermore, he seemed to be afraid that,
if he broke the tabu, the camphor spirits might afflict him
with sickness or some other misfortune. My chief informant,
Dolah bin Udah, the former "Sakai," told me that the peng-
hulu must chant the verses in the hut, and that if he hears one
284 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
of his "Sakai" singing them at any other time he fines him
a chopping-knife, an adze-blade, and an adze-haft. From him
I obtained the only fragment of the berpiu verses that he could
remember :
Dari Pauh 1 ka-pematang,
Singgah merapat ketam 2 keniudi.
Deri jauh sahya datang,
Dangar Bisan murah budi.
From the Pauh-tree to the ridge,
Call in and pass close to the rudder-board (?).
I come from afar,
Hearing that Bisan is generously disposed.
I have mentioned above that there are certain restrictions
by which both the penghulu kapor and his " Sakai " are bound,
but that they are more numerous in the case of the penghulu
than in that of his followers.
For the first three days of the search for camphor, none of
those employed in it must bathe, have intercourse with a
woman, or put oil on their hair ; moreover, during the whole
time that he is occupied in camphor-seeking, the penghulu
kapor, whether in the jungle or at home in his village, must
not tell a lie, steal "even a cent" or have connexion with a
woman. It is regarded as an offence if one of the "Sakai"
sleeps on after the penghulu and his companions are astir,
and he is forced to drink a little of the penghulu s urine, or
some water containing pounded chillies.
The penghulu relies upon his dreams to afford him an in-
dication of the lucky or unlucky result of the search, while
should he, before starting, consider his dreams unfavourable,
he will defer the expedition till he is satisfied that it will have
a lucky outcome.
It is thought that if the penghulu kapor dreams of carrying
rice, or of a princess, a tree full of camphor will be found; if
of carrying salt in a back-basket, or of diving into a river,
that the party will be chased and stung by wasps ; if of fighting,
or of a woman being in love with him, that somebody will be
1 Possibly a village. The Pauh is a kind of wild mango.
2 Or, I believe, getang in the Kedah dialect.
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 285
taken by a tiger ; if of a child wounded over the eyebrow, that
little camphor will be obtained.
According to a legend there were originally seven penghulu
kapor, each of whom employed a different method of ascer-
taining whether a tree contained camphor and spoke a slightly
different bahasa kapor. Nowadays, all the penghulu kapor,
I was told, test a tree by smelling a chip of its wood, but it
is said that differences in the tabu language of certain Peng-
hulu are due to this seven-fold origin.
According to one account the seven penghulu, who were
brothers, were named as follows: Penghulu Chium, who tried
a tree by smelling it; Penghulu Sulor, who, I understand,
inspected the trees with a torch; Penghulu Bubok, who looked
for round lumps of camphor {bubok) exuding from the tree;
Penghulu Puar, who looked for small slits in the bark {puar)
which might contain camphor; Penghulu Kepang, who cut
notches in the trees and smelt them ; Penghulu Pandang, who
knew at sight whether a tree contained camphor, and Peng-
hulu Bongsu, the youngest brother.
Another version has it that the seven were named Penghulu
Jangkar, Penghulu Batang, Penghulu Dahan, Penghulu Ran-
ting, Penghulu Daun, Penghulu Tunggul and Penghulu Jala.
Penghulu Jangkar tried a tree by smelling its roots {jangkar
in the tabu language) ; Penghulu Dahan the branches ; Peng-
hulu Ranting the twigs, Penghulu Daun the leaves, Penghulu
Tunggul the base of the tree, while Penghulu Jala caught the
tree in a casting net {jala) if it fell into a river.
I give below a story about these seven men, which was told
to me by Penghulu Kapor Dolah bin Mapek. The first list
of names is his.
The Legend of the Camphor Princess
All these seven penghulu once went to the jungle, and six
of them worked at camphor-getting; but the seventh and
youngest, Penghulu Bongsu, did nothing but sleep in the hut
day and night. The six brothers came back, bringing with them
three or four katties each evening, but the seventh did nothing.
286 THE MALAY PENINSULA pt. ii
When they had been in the jungle for about fourteen days,
the six brothers returned to their village, leaving the seventh
behind.
After they had gone home, Penghulu Bongsu, who had set
off by himself to fish, espied a princess bathing in the stream
at a place where it plunged down from a mountain.
He walked carefully, so that she should not know of his
presence, and caught her by her hair, which was seven cubits
(hasta) long, while she was bathing in the stream.
Then the princess said to him, "Do you wish to follow
me?" Penghulu Bongsu replied, " I wish to follow you, that
is why I caught you by the hair !" "If you wish to follow me,"
said the princess, "do not speak."
Then she took him up into a camphor tree — her house.
Now, after Penghulu Bongsu had been with her for seven
days, the princess asked him why he looked so sad, and Peng-
hulu Bongsu replied that he was thinking of his wife and
children — for he was married.
So the princess told him to bring his carrying-basket. She
combed her hair over it, and, as she combed, the camphor
fell from her hair into it until it was full.
Then the princess said to Penghulu Bongsu, "When the
people of your village ask you where you have been, keep
silence."
After this she pointed out the way to the village and Peng-
hulu Bongsu, leaving her in the jungle, returned home,
carrying the camphor with him ; but when his brothers asked
him whence he had got it, he was silent.
He sold the camphor and paid his debts ; then, when seven
days had passed, he returned to the jungle, according to a
promise that he had made to the princess. He stayed with
her for seven days, and at the end of that time persuaded her
to go back to his village with him.
When the princess arrived at the village she told Penghulu
Bongsu to build a house for her in which she could keep her-
self shut up in safety, "For," said she, "if the Raja hears
about me he will kill you and try to take me for himself,
though I shall be able to fly away."
pt. ii THE MALAY PENINSULA 287
Now the princess was living in the new house that Penghulu
Bongsu had built for her, and shortly after she had given
birth to a female child, the Raja called Penghulu Bongsu to
his palace; but before he started the princess said to him,
"Whatever the Raja orders you to do, do, unless he tells you
to chant the magical camphor-chants (berpiu) which I have
taught you."
Penghulu Bongsu presented himself before the Raja and
the Raja ordered him to show him how he searched for
camphor, and to recite the magical verses.
Penghulu Bongsu at first refused, but on the Raja threaten-
ing to kill him, he began to sing the camphor-chants. He had
not sung more than three verses, when his wife, leaving the
child in its swinging cradle, flew out of the house, in which
she had shut herself up, through a small hole, and perched
in a coconut tree to wait for him 1 .
On Penghulu Bongsu's return, not finding his wife in the
house but hearing the noise, " kok-kok-kok," which she made
in the trees, he took his child on his back and followed the
sound made by the princess as she flew off into the jungle;
after which he was never seen again.
[While he was cutting his way through the undergrowth
in the jungle, he accidentally wounded his child above the
eyebrow with his chopping-knife. And that is the reason why,
if anyone dreams of a child wounded in this way, he will not
get much camphor.]
1 She became a cicada.
VOCABULARY
(With some remarks thereon)
L. and K.
s 1
No.
English
Malay
Bahasa Kapor
56
Chopper
parang
peranchas
249
Adze
beliong
pemuting
42
Elephant
gajah
sagentir
346
Tiger
harimau
selemah
75
Star
bintang
penabor penerang
225
Pig
babi
semongkor
220
Crocodile
buaya
bagin
132
Water
ayer
sempeloh
86
Mother
mak
ibu bisan
248
Axe
kapak
penengar
253
House
rumah
chindir
4
Eye
mata
penengok
199
Ear
telinga
penengar
208
Nose
hidong
penchium
Head
kepala
telombong
448
Umbrella
payong
pengembang
Wound
luka
chehhir
Camphor
kapor barus
kapor barus
33
Tooth
gigi
pengerep
33, 36
Ivory
gading
pengerep
39. 40
Foot
kaki
penegap
143
Hair
rambut
penurun telombong
Skirt
sarong
sarong pumpun
232
Coat
baju
peresok
231
Headcloth
saputangan, detar
pemilit telombong
179
Coconut
kelapa
buah pulau
92
Companion
kawan
kaum (i.e. family)
180
Rice, cooked
nasi
buah rumput
180
Rice, husked
beras
buah rumput
180
Rice, in husk
padi
buah rumput
195
Boat
perahu
lopik (cf. Malay, lopi)
66
Wind
angin
penyup
456
Gambir
gambir
pengelat, getah pahit
Lime
kapor
aseh
Sireh-box
bekas sireh
lopik
256
Tobacco
tembakau
pengayar
233, 383
Cooking-pot
belanga
bingkai
233
Cooking-pot (for rice)
periok
kawat
383
Cauldron
kuali
pakau
203
Arm
lengan
penganak
227
Snake
ular
akar
Gong (kind of)
tetawak
jauh penengar
Wasp
penyengat
tajam bun tut
295
Cooking-place
dapor
balan
Firewood
kayu api
pelakat
1 Messrs Lake and Kelsall's numbers in their Bahasa Kapor vocabulary.
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Straits Branch, No. 26, pp. 39-56.
PT. II
THE MALAY PENINSULA
289
L. and K.
's
No.
English
Malay
Bahasa Kapor
20
Fire
api
pahangat
Rice (0. glutinosa)
pulut
buah rumput mohut
Log (half-burnt)
puntong
pelakat pahangat
Fowl
ayam
jongkar
Steamer
kapal api
lopik pahangat
253
Hut
pondok
chindir
Sugar
gula
pemanis
181
Salt
garam
pemasin
38
Fish
ikan
pengumpan
Bear
beruang
chingkrat
84
Bird
burong
bisan bersayap
291
Hungry
lapar
rengkai
Satisfied (with food)
kenyang
rengkai
164
Cold
sejok
siap
198
Body
badan
isi
Mosquito-net
kelambu
chongkob
Boot
kasut
penegap penapak
144
Moustache
misai
jpenurun pgngerep
J penurun pemamak
187
Paddle
pengayoh
chuie
187
Oar
dayong
chuie sayap, pemaut
64
Pole (for punting)
galah
penekan
206
Mouth
mulut
pemamah
30,31
Many
banyak
kon
Matches
goris api
flin (Eng. flint?)
Ox
lembu
chiweh boh
228
Buffalo
kerbau
chiweh uak
Mouse-deer
pelandok
pasing penimbok
>>
kanchil
pasing tonjing
Tortoise
baning
tomang
Bat
kelawar
bisan bungkus
Stone
batu
choh-ut
259
Rattan
rotan
pengikat ("binder")
259
Rattan (kind of)
rotan layar
pengikat bersayap
("sail rattan")
("winged binder")
»i
n a
rotan tunggal
pengikat sa'mambong
("solitary rattan")
("one fellow binder")
)>
»i j>
rotan batu
pengikat choh-ut
("stone rattan")
("stone binder")
224
Dog
anjing
chiweh kieng, ninchor
229
Goat
kambing
chiweh 'mbek
222
Deer
rusa
sebalieu
226
Rhinoceros
badak
sagentir bih pengerep
(i.e. "elephant no tusk")
167
Black
hitam
mersik
Dream
mimpi
ehlamat
Unlucky
sial
joh-ut
Peck, to
patok
tekoh
Poisonous
bisa
pedas ("hot")
Poisonous, is it?
bisa-kah?
pedas-bih?
420
Bring, to
membawa
'mbin
1
See, to
tengok
jengok
260
Thorn
duri
niniar
Yellow
kuning
mas
Cook rice, to
bertanak
memangat
Get up, to
bangkit
menyingkat
EMP
19
290
THE MALAY PENINSULA
PT. II
In Pagan Races there will be found a considerable amount
of information with regard to the derivation or formation of
words in the bahasa kapor, but a few further remarks anent
them may, perhaps, not be out of place. Many of the tabu
words, are, of course, merely periphrases: thus, the nose is
called "the smeller"; the eye, "that which sees"; the ear,
"the hearer"; wind, "the blower"; a gong, "that which is
heard afar"; a wasp, "sharp behind"; sugar, "the sweet
thing"; a fish, "that which takes a bait"; the mouth, "the
L. and K.'s
No.
English
Malay
Bahasa Kapor
408, 409
Go back, to
kembali
berlipat
49
Lie down, to
baring
memantir
150
Sleep, to
tidor
merapat
327
Climb, to
memanjat
tingkat
324
Cap (Malay)
songkok
chongkop telombong
366
Dig, to
gali
pichodok
Pudenda muliebria
puki
chenega
Eat, to
makan
menekoh
23, 24, 25
Walk, to
berjalan
beteroh
48
Fell, to
tebang
memantir
Drink
minum
menekoh sempeloh
Water
ayer
sempeloh
453
Rain (rainy weather)
hari hujan
sempeloh melau
73
Night
malam
tongkat gelap
Go before, to
berdahulu
berjok
60
Afterwards
kemudian
penekan
1 penegok tongkat
7i
Sun
mata hari
4 terang
( tongkat terang
bulan
\ penegok tongkat gelap
\ tongkat gelap
73
Moon
7i
Daylight
siang hari
tongkat terang
Water, to pass
kenching
melau sempeloh
368
Singapore
Singapura
Sieng-Pengelat
Bark, to
menyalak
berkepang
Johor
Johor
Sieng-Jor
372
Kelantan
Kelantan
Sieng-Alu
Jakun
Jakun
Kaum Sieng
90
Malay
Melayu
Kaum Masin
276
Village
kampong
sieng
210
Jungle
utan
sieng
373
Trengganu
Trengganu
Sieng- Kalu
37o
Pahang
Pahang
Sieng-Penepang
Stool, to
berak
mingkai
90
Male organ
zakar
a Jul
Copulate, to
berjamak
berbayong
(Coarse abuse)
butoh angkau
a Jul ai
>> >>
puki mak
chenega ibu
99
A numeral coefficient
sa'biji
mambong
81
Woman
perempuan
bisan
109
I
sahya
koh mambong
PT. II
THE MALAY PENINSULA
291
chewer"; a moustache, "that which comes down over the
chewer"(or over the teeth); poisonous becomes "pungent,"
a snake, "a root"; gambir, "that which is astringent" or
"bitter gum"; hair, "that which descends from the head";
rice, "grass fruit "; companions, " family "; fire, "that which
is hot"; an axe, "a hearer," because the blade is ear-shaped;
yellow," golden"; an adze, "that which has a tang"; rattan
cane, " the binder " ; etc.
It has been recognized that the bahasa kapor also contains
certain words, which cannot be derived from Malay. These
are, in some cases, still in every-day use among the Jakun;
in others they appear to be obsolete words which have been
preserved only in tabu speech. Those in my list for which
I cannot find any ordinary Malay derivation, seem, therefore,
likely to belong to these two classes. Among them are-
Elephant
Tiger
Pig
Wound
Tooth
Mosquito-net
Bear
Paddle, a
Many
Tortoise
Stone
Thorn
Pudenda muliebria
sagentir
sSlSmah
sSniongkor
chelihir
pengSrep
chongkob
chingkrat
chuie
kon
tomang
choh-ut
niniar
chSnega
Head
Lime
Cooking-place
Fowl
Hut
Dog
Deer
Black
Unlucky
Bring, to
Lie down, to
Go before, to
Water
Wlombong
aseh
balan
jongkar
chindir
ninchor
sSbalieu
mersik
jok-ut
'mbin
memantir
bSrjok
sSmpeloh
APPENDIX A
PUAKA
In Tregear's Maori Comparative Dictionary is to be found
a work poaka, meaning a pig, a hog, and it is stated that the
term, commonly supposed to be a corruption of the English
word "porker," is genuinely Polynesian.
Poaka is found, in varying forms, in many Polynesian dia-
lects and languages. Thus, according to Tregear, we have
Samoan— pua'a; Tahitian— puaa ; Hawaiian— puaa ; Tongan
— buaka; Ravotongan— puaka ; Marquesan— ^puaa ; Mangare-
van — puaka.
Outside Polynesia proper, too, but not outside the bounds
of Polynesian linguistic, and other influences, we have such
examples as vuaka (Fiji); puaka (Rotuma).
Now to anyone who knows Malay, the word puaka (or
puwaka) is, of course, quite familiar. It is not at all un-
common to come across places, often where there is some big
tree, which are said to be ber-puaka, i.e. haunted by a. puaka.
The Malay has, however, as far as I have been able to find out,
absolutely no idea that puaka has anything to do with "pig,"
a puaka being apparently, according to Malay belief, a spirit,
either a tree-spirit or a genius loci 1 .
Among the Dusuns of British North Borneo 2 the puaka 3 is
said to be a spirit which has the form of a pig. The puaka go
in companies, hunt human beings, and have the peculiarity
—like many spirits— that they cannot cross water with im-
1 "The locally presiding earth-demon" (puaka). Malay Magic, p. 144.
" Ayer berputar jangan chebok,
Puwaka besar dudok mSnunggu
don't take your water from an eddy, a mighty demon dwells there to guard
it." Wilkinson's Malay Dictionary.
2 Those of Piasau in the Tempassuk District.
3 The word was, by mistake, written pukou in a folk-story which I
collected in Borneo. I am nearly certain, however, that the spelling puaka
is correct. For the folk-story vide J.R.A.I., 1913 p 452
APPENDIX A 293
punity. If they do so, they die, through licking all the flesh
from their bones with their sharp tongues.
In Hawaii, besides being commonly used as the ordinary
word for pig, puaka either by itself, or in combination with
some other word, may mean a spirit of some kind, often a
spirit in the form of a pig; thus, we find in Tregear's dictionary
the statement that " puaa" seems to have been originally the
name of any large quadruped, but (was?) afterwards restricted
to hogs. The word occurs frequently in old legends and myths
as descriptive of monsters, etc. Kama-puaa was a goblin,
worshipped as a god, half man and half hog. Poo-puaa was
one of the gods in a temple ; his head resembled a hog. Kane-
puaa was the god of husbandry : He akua kowaa Kanepuaa —
"a furrow making god was Tanepoaka."
Now the pig, as is well known, played, and plays, an im-
portant part in agricultural rites in Europe 1 , and, to gain
some idea of this, it is only necessary to glance through that
part of "The Golden Bough" which is named "Spirits of the
Corn and of the Wild." Furthermore, there is a close con-
nexion between tree or vegetation spirits, genii locorum, and
those of agriculture.
To return, however, to the word puaka, I have shown that
in Polynesia and in Borneo 2 the word can mean a pig-bodied
or pig-faced spirit, and that in Polynesia it can mean pig only.
Now there can be no doubt that the word is of identical
origin in Polynesia, in Borneo, and in the Malay Peninsula,
seeing that the languages of Polynesia and Indonesia all
belong to one group.
The Malays have no idea that puaka in any way refers to
1 Possibly the fact that wild pig often rout up large pieces of ground in
search of worms or roots, so that they almost look as if they had been
ploughed, may have had something to do with the respect in which the pig
is held in connexion with agriculture; vide supva, the epithet "furrow
making." Furthermore, the wild pig takes a great interest — an inimical
interest — in agriculture. The Sakai tribesmen of some parts of the Malay
States believe that the earth-spirits, if offended, will appear as wild pigs, and
come in droves to devastate the crops. The Dusuns of the Tempassuk
District of North Borneo, too, tell how the people (spirits?) from certain
villages far away become pigs in order to plunder the ripe padi.
2 Puaka is not the Dusun word for either the domestic or the wild pig.
19—3
294 APPENDIX A
the pig, but consider a puaka to be a tree-spirit or a genius
loci. It seems probable, however, that puaka actually did
mean pig in Malay at one time, or, if not, a pig-like tree-spirit,
vegetation-spirit, or genius loci 1 ; but that nowadays — very
likely owing to the introduction of the religion of Mohamed —
the connexion of pig with puaka has been forgotten (sup-
pressed) and there merely remains the belief that the puaka
is a tree-spirit or genius loci.
APPENDIX B
KEMPUNAN
In a paper of mine in the Journal of the Royal Anthropo-
logical Institute (xlviii. 193), I gave an account of certain
beliefs of the Sakai with regard to persons going into the
jungle while some craving of theirs (for food, tobacco, etc.)
remains unsatisfied. Ill-luck is thought to pursue those who
thus expose themselves to the dangers of the forest, and they
will be fortunate if they are not bitten by snakes or centipedes,
or stung by scorpions.
A Malay man who has met with such a misfortune, and
ascribed it to the above-mentioned cause — for the Malays
also have these beliefs — will say that he has kena kempunan.
As far as I have been able to find out, the ill-luck occurs
owing to loss of soul-substance due to the unsatisfied craving 2 .
One Malay — the only man from whom I have been able to
get a "reasonable" explanation of these beliefs — told me that
the misfortune happened because "the soul was lacking
strength," due to the craving, and, of course, anyone whose
soul-substance is not in an active and healthy condition easily
falls a victim to the attacks of evil spirits.
1 The genii locorum in a jungle-covered country like the Malay Peninsula
would probably be those of the jungle, i.e. of trees, especially of those which
were large, or in any way remarkable.
2 Vide also Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, "Indonesians," 4.
APPENDIX B 295
The Editor has added a footnote to my paper in the Journal,
explanatory of the word kempunan. I remarked that the
meaning of the word, as given in Wilkinson's Malay-English
Dictionary, was "a dilemma," but that "this does not give
the whole meaning which the word conveys to the majority
of Malays." If a country Malay is asked what kempunan
means, he will generally reply, "To get bitten by a snake or
centipede through going out into the jungle with a craving
for food, or tobacco, or sir eh unsatisfied."
Now the Editor would derive kempunan from " Ka-ampu-
nan, signifying to 'ask pardon' (for leaving the table), as
one has to do if one leaves in the middle of a meal." He says,
therefore, that Ka-ampunan would easily come to mean "to
go craving."
Not being absolutely satisfied with this explanation, and
knowing that certain Jakun tribesmen talk not of kempunan,
but simply of punan 1 , while the Sea Dyaks also use the ex-
pression puni in exactly the same sense, as kempunan 2 , it
occurred to me that, the word being, seemingly, fairly widely
used by Malays and Indonesians, I might possibly come across
something of interest in connexion with it in that store-house
of good things for those interested in the Malayo-Polynesian
area, Tregear's Maori Comparative Dictionary. There I found
under the heading " Punipuni," a large amount of most in-
teresting information, of which the following paragraph con-
tains the most important items :
" Punipuni (Maori). Samoan — -puni, a place enclosed to catch fish;
punipuni, to shut, to close. Tahitian — puni, to be enclosed; pupuni,
to hide oneself 3 ; atipuni, to be besieged 3 . Hawaiian — puni, to
surround, as water does an island; to enclose; to be hemmed in, as
one person by multitudes, to encircle; punihei, to ensnare. Tongan —
1 The Behrang- Valley Senoi of the Perak-Selangor boundary, who are
Sakai with a Selangor Sakai-Jakun strain in them, speak of a Dana Punan,
or PimaM-spirit, who is responsible for ill-luck met with by those who have
given it an opportunity of causing them trouble.
2 Seventeen Years A mong the Sea Dyaks, p. 320. Very similar customs with
regard to touching unwanted food are found among some Sakai-Jakun tribes.
8 The connexion between "to hide oneself," i.e. to shut oneself up, and
to be besieged, enclosed or surrounded, i.e. to be shut up, is obvious.
2 q6 APPENDIX B
buni, closed, shut; tapbuni 1 , to close up, to shut; tabu 1 , prohibition.
Mangaian — puni, to hide. Paumotan — punipuni, refuge, to take
shelter. Malay — cf. buni, to hide."
I think, then, that in view of the obviously intimate con-
nexion between kempunan of the Malays, punan of the Jakun,
puni of the Dyaks and such Polynesian words as puni, buni,
etc., the Editor of the Journal's derivation of kempunan will,
unless very remotely, scarcely hold good. It will be noted
that the meanings of the Polynesian forms of the word, such
as "to be shut in," "to be enclosed," "to be hemmed in,"
are very similar to those given by Wilkinson for kempunan,
which, in extenso, are as follows, "a dilemma; a difficulty
caused by every course open to one having its disastrous
features. ' Lepas deri kumpunan ' (sic) : ' to escape from an
awkward fix.' "
1 The identity of the words tapbuni, tabu, and the Malay buni, "conceal-
ment," "hiding," is interesting.
INDEX
Aborigines of Malay Peninsula, dis-
tribution of, 135-136
After-world (Dusun), 33, 35; (Ne-
grito), 156-157; (Sakai), 209-
210; (Jakun), 265
Agriculture, customs connected with
(Dusun), 18-19, 25-26; (Sakai),
240-245
Ancestors, deified (Negrito), 147-15 1
— spirits of (Dusun), 6
Animals, beliefs with regard to
<Dusun), 16, 37-38; (Malay),
268, 269-270, 272, 273; (Sakai),
208, 222, 234, 246
— legends regarding (Bornean), 40,
47, 48, 49, 55-61. 62-65, 65-68,
68-72, 87-88, 93, 103-105, 106-
107, 109-113, 116, 119-129;
(Malay), 273-274; (Negrito),
146, 187, 193-194; (Sakai), 247-
251, 261-262
— omen (Dusun), 15, 37, 38
Back-slang (Malay), 276-277
Bajaus, dispersion of, legends about
(Dusun), 47, 89-92
— distribution of, in Tempassuk
and Tuaran Districts, 1
— origin of, 2
Banana-plants, story about (Illanun),
116
Bees'-wax, story about (Dusun), 85-
86
Bells as talismans (Dusun), 21, 31
Bird-soul (Negrito), 169-170
Birth customs (Negrito), 174; (Sakai),
221-223
Blood-brotherhood (Dusun), 86
Blood-throwing (Negrito), 152
Blow-pipe (Negrito), 193
Boats, magical, story about (Dusun),
114-115
Body-snatching spirits (Dusun), 3,
14
Bow (Negrito), 193
Buffaloes, unlucky marks on (Dusun),
39
Bull-roarer (Negrito), 177
Burial (Jakun), 265-267; (Negrito),
176-179; (Sakai), 224-230
Butterflies, souls of dead as (Sakai),
210
Camphor, customs of searches for
(Malay), 280-291
Cannibals, stories of (Dusun), 38;
(Negrito), 145
Chinoi (Negrito), 148, 150-151, 160-
167, 171-174, 186
Cleverness rewarded (Dusun), 107-
109
Combs (Negrito), 147, 183
Couvade (Dusun and Bajau), 13;
(Jakun), 268
Cowry, ceremonial use of (Dusun), 21
Cravings, unsatisfied (Dusun), 39;
(Malay), 271, 294-296; (Sakai),
237- 2 39
Creation (Dusun), 16, 45, 46, 47, 48;
(Negrito), 154
Dart-quivers, magical patterns on
(Negrito), 182-183
Days, lucky and unlucky (Dusun),
42, 43. 44. 45
— tabued (Negrito), 170-171
Dead, abode of the (Dusun), 33-35;
(Jakun), 265; (Negrito), 156-
157; (Sakai), 208-210
— journey of the (Dusun), 34, 50;
(Negrito), 157; (Sakai), 208, 209
Death customs and beliefs (Dusun),
1 4> 32, 33
Deitie&JDusun), 4, 5, 16-17, 45~49.
50, 84, 93; (Jakun), 264; (Ne-
grito), 147-151, 152, 158 ; (Sakai),
198-199, 209
Disease, beliefs and customs with
regard to (Sakai), 219-221
— spirits of (Dusun), 3, 19, 29, 30,
47. 48, 53-55
Divination (Dusun), 26-28
— agricultural (Dusun), 28; (Sakai),
240
Dog, guardian of Nabalu (Dusun), 35
Dreams (Dusun), 40; (Malay), 271;
(Negrito), 167-168
Dress, ceremonial (Dusun), 10, 11,
20-22
Dusuns, dispersion of, legends about.
47. 8 5. 89-92
— distribution of, in Tempassuk and
Tuaran Districts, 1
— meaning of name, 2
— origin of, legendary, 47
298
INDEX
Earth, spirits of (Dusun), 17, 60, 64
Fishing, tabued acts regarding (Ma-
lay), 269; (Negrito), 185
Folk-tales (Malay), 273-276; (Ne-
grito), 185-195; (Sakai), 246-
262
— season for telling (Sakai), 247
Food tabus (Dusun), 15; (Jakun),
268; (Negrito), 175, 181-182,
187; (Sakai), 232-237
Ghosts, driving away (Dusun), 34
— fear of (Negrito), 157-158, 177-
178
Giants (Dusun), 38, 87
Goblins (Dusun), 38, 106-107
Good conduct rewarded, bad pun-
ished (Dusun), 65-68, 99-101
Graves (Dusun), 32, 33, 34
Guardian spirits of village (Dusun),
29-30, 53-55
Half men (Dusun), 92
Hand-washing, belief with regard to
(Malay), 270
Head-houses (Dusun), 24-25
Head-hunting (Dusun), 11-13,22-25
House, setting up posts of (Malay),
277-278
— tabus (Dusun), 35, 36
Hunting, custom with regard to
(Malay), 272
Illanuns, presence of, in Tempassuk
District, 1
Iron tabued (Dusun), 26; (Jakun),
265
— use of, as a talisman (Dusun), 9,
14
Jakun, groups classed as, 197
Jars, burial (Dusun), 14, 32, 33
— sacred, spirits of (Dusun), 3, 5, 6,
52, 53
Jungle, beliefs with regard to (Du-
sun), 39
Laziness (Dusun), 101-103
Love-charms (Negrito), 168
Malays, story of origin of (Negrito),
146
— transformed into pigs (Negrito),
193-194
Markets, Bornean, 129-133
Marriage customs (Dusun), 13; (Ne-
grito), 175-176; (Sakai), 223-
224
"Medicine-hut" (Negrito), 150, 158,
186; (Sakai), 210-217
Month (Dusun), 42, 43, 44, 45
Moon (Dusun), 88; (Negrito), 155;
(Sakai), 207-208, 245
— eclipse of the (Dusun), 49, 50;
(Negrito), 155; (Sakai), 207-208
Mother-in-law tabued (Negrito), 180-
181
Mountains, sacred (Dusun), 33-35
Mourning (Negrito), 179
Names indicating personal condition
(Jakun), 267-268
— personal (Dusun), 40; (Negrito),
179-180; (Sakai), 230-231
— tabued (Dusun), 15, 35
Negrito groups, names of, 144-146
Negritos, origin of, legendary, 146
Negrito-Sakai groups, 197
Night, belief with regard to (Sakai),
208
Oaths (Negrito), 168; (Sakai), 199,
218
Offerings (Dusun), 7-9
— to dead (Dusun), 15, 33; (Jakun),
265; (Sakai), 224-225, 227
Omen animals (Dusun), 15, 37, 38;
(Negrito), 184-185
Orang-utan, skulls of (Dusun), 25
Paradise (Negrito), 157
— bridge (Negrito), 157 ; (Sakai), 209
Plants, magical (Dusun), 18, 26-27;
(Negrito and Sakai), 168, 249,
250
— origin of (Dusun), 16, 46, 47
Poison, remedy for (Malay), 271
Pottery, origin of (Dusun), 86
Priestess (Dusun), 4, 7, 20-22, 26-28
Promontories, beliefs with regard to
(Malay), 268
Property-tabus (Dusun), 36
Punishment tales (Dusun), 87-88;
(Malay), 271-272; (Negrito),
148, 153-154; (Sakai), 199-206
Rafts, ceremonial (Dusun), 8
Rain (Negrito), 155
Rainbow (Dusun), 15, 51, 52;
(Negrito), 155; (Sakai), 208
Rain-making ceremonies (Dusun), 9 ;
(Malay), 272
Raja and pauper, story of (Illanun),
116-119
Rattles, ceremonial (Dusun), 7, 22
Religion of aborigines of Malay
Peninsula, 138-143
INDEX
299
Rice ceremonies (Dusun), 9, 18, 19
Rice-soul (Dusun), 3, 18, 19, 25;
(Sakai), 243-245
Riddle, a (Malay), 273
River, spirits of (Dusun), 10
Sacrifice (Dusun), 10, 52-53
Sagit (Dusun), 40
Sakai-Jakun groups, distribution of,
197
Seances, water for use at (Malay),
271
Seven, the number, sacred (Dusun),
28, 71, 76, 89, 90, 96, 98, 101,
103, 105, 108-109; (Sakai), 217,
224, 243, 247; (Malay), 270,
285
Sex, nominal change of (Sakai),
223
Shaman (Jakun), 264-265; (Ne-
grito), 158-167, 186; (Sakai),
210-217
— female and male (Dusun), 4, 7,
20-22, 26-28
Shamanism among aborigines of
Malay Peninsula, 139 /
Shells, ceremonial use of (Dusun), 21,
22, 25
Signatures, doctrine of (Dusun), 36;
(Malay), 272; (Sakai), 220
Skulls, beliefs with regard to (Du-
sun), 24
Sky, pillar which supports the (Ne-
grito), 156
Small-pox, beliefs about (Negrito),
184
Songs (Negrito), 1 71-175
— shaman's (Negrito), 161-167
Spells (Negrito), 168
Spirit-paths (Sakai), 219
Spirits expelled from village (Du-
sun), 6, 7, 19, 20; (Malay), 279
Stars (Dusun), 82-84; (Negrito), 155;
(Sakai), 207
Stone implements, beliefs regarding
(Negrito), 152
Stones, guardian (Dusun), 29
— sacred (Dusun), 28, 29
Storms of wind, beliefs with regard
to (Malay), 269; (Sakai), 200-
201, 206
— spells to drive away (Malay), 273 ;
(Sakai), 204-205
Sun (Negrito), 154-155; (Sakai), 207
Swords, head-hunting (Dusun), 11,
12, 21
Tabus, agricultural (Sakai), 241-243,
245
— food (Negrito), 175, 181-182, 187;
(Sakai), 232-237
— social (Dusun), 15 ; (Negrito), 180-
181; (Sakai), 231-232
— various (Dusun), 36, 37; (Jakun),
268; (Malay), 268, 269, 272, 279,
281, 282; (Negrito), 185, 195
— war (Dusun), 35
Tailed men (Dusun), 38
Talismans (Dusun), 30, 31 ; (Negrito),
183-184
Termites, spirits in nests of (Malay),
269; (Sakai), 227
Three, the sacred number (Dusun),
13. 85, 89, 108; (Malay), 269,
270, 280
Threshold, belief with regard to
(Jakun), 265; (Malay), 272
Thunder, customs, beliefs and stories
connected with (Dusun), 14, 81,
82; (Negrito), 148, 149, 151-
154; (Sakai), 199-207
Totemism, possible remains, or be-
ginnings of (Dusun), 40
Trees, houses in, stories of (Dusun),
89
— sacred (Dusun), 31-32, 51
— spirits of (Dusun), 6, 31-32; (Ne-
grito), 171
Trumpet, conch-shell ceremonial
(Dusun), 12
Twins (Sakai), 222-223
Village, expulsion of spirits from
(Dusun), 6, 7, 19, 20; (Malay),
279-280
— tabus (Dusun), 36
Wicked, punishment of (Negrito),
157
Wind-storms (Malay), 269; (Sakai),
200-201, 206
Words, Negrito, identification of,
195-197
Wounds, cure for (Malay), 272
Year (Dusun), 44
Yeast, tabu with regard to (Malay),
269
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