may be, and very frequently are, possessed by spirits, and that when so possessed they may be moved by the latter's agency. It is probable that neither of the rites is of Malay origin, but unfortunately it is impossible to classify them, as we do not possess the charms.
As regards the Sendings, one of the principal ingredients of the idea underlying these ceremonies appears to consist in employing certain objects or insects which, thanks to their bizarre appearance or otherwise suggestive characteristics, have acquired an evil reputation, such as would no doubt work strongly, through suggestion, upon the minds of a superstitious people. Thus magic rites of the Polong or Pelesit types most probably owe their origin to the peculiar shape, colour, or perhaps even notes, of certain strange insects, such as the Malay lantern-fly, grasshopper, caterpillar, and house-lizard. The last-mentioned is in fact an almost certain instance, as it is regularly classed with the crocodile, obviously on account of its shape; and the same may perhaps be said of the Tuju Jindang or caterpillar-sending; a belief in whose attacks may perhaps account for the terror with which Malays regard a certain swelling of the foot, which they attribute to the bite of a caterpillar.[1]
The suggestiveness of shape comes out, however, yet more clearly in the employment of the heart-shaped blossom- tip of the banana, but most clearly of all, perhaps, in the use of arrow-points and daggers, for which, in North America and Australia, the use of the magic bone appears to be the almost universal equivalent. On the other hand,
- ↑ [These ideas, however, are not confined to insects, for in other parts of the world we find horned animals similarly employed, as for instance deer in Java, and antelope amongst the Fanti, and even harmless animals are occasionally utilised, though there are doubtless in each case special reasons for so doing. All these cases appear, however, to be merely local variations of the werwolf idea, and as such should be classed with the wer-tiger beliefs, which are held very strongly by the Peninsular Malays, and in many other parts of the Malay region. N. W. T.]
