Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalof283018951897roya).pdf/150

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

a case a few years ago in the village of Sempang, where the beneficial effect was most marked); the widespread belief in the power of měnuju, that is, doing injury at a distance by magic, in which the Malays believe the wild junglemen especially to be adepts; the belief in the efficacy of forms of words as love-charms and as a protection against spirits and wild beasts—in fact, an innumerable variety of superstitious ideas exist among Malays, and, of course, it is quite impossible even to refer to them all here. I must also leave to others the task of citing parallels from the folk-lore of other races and can only conclude this paper by expressing the hope that some of the facts I have mentioned, though in themselves trivial, may derive additional interest from such comparisons.

C. OTTO BLAGDEN.