which rhyme alternately. The first set begins as follows:
"Thus I brace up, I brace up the palm-blossom,
And summon the elder sister to descend by herself.
Thus I brace up, I brace up the palm-blossom,
And summon the second sister to descend with the first."
The same words are repeated mutatis mutandis until all seven sisters have been summoned to descend, the witch then covers the two sprays of palm-blossom with a Malay plaid skirt or wrapper and five cubits of white cloth, folded double and fumigated. The chaunt now changes abruptly into the second set of seven stanzas:
"Borrow a hammer, borrow an anvil to forge the neckbones
of this our sting-ray (i.e. the sheaf of blossom).
Borrow an orchard, borrow a courtyard,
To bring down upon earth the fairy sisters."
Six stanzas follow, in which the names of six other parts of the sting-ray, i.e. the head, wings, tail, gills, &c., are successively substituted. At this point rice is thrown over one of the two sprays, its sheath is opened, and the contents fumigated. Then the old woman takes the newly-fumigated spray between her hands, holding it upright at the base with her hands just resting on the ground, and the third set of stanzas commences with the words:
"Dig up, O dig up the wild ginger-plant,
Dig till you get a finger's breadth or two of it.
Seek for, O seek for a magnificent domain
Into which to bring down the fairy sisters."
The remaining six stanzas of this set are similar to the first, with variations appropriate to each one of the six remaining spirits. During the chaunting of this third set, the erect spray of Palm-blossom, held between the witch's hands, commenced swaying, at first almost imperceptibly, to the tune of the music, its motion becoming more and more accentuated as the chaunt proceeded.
