Page:Jstraitsrsa31-33.pdf/22

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to be used when the Pawang has done her work by the owner of the rice field, and the blade of which is fitted into a piece of the wood called pompong [the reason given being that " pom- pong "was the wood of which these instruments were originally made] whilst what I may call the handle of the instrumente was made of a slip of Bamboo with the hollow filled from end to end with wax. About the other two "penuweis" (b) and (c) there was nothing specially remarkable. Close to the Dulang was a cocoanut shell filled with the "tepong tawar" which plays so prominent a part in the more important magic ceremonies of the Malay, the brush consisting of the leaves of seven different plants bound up as usual with a cord of terap bark and ribu-ribu. The plants which furnished the leaves were as follows:—

1.—The sapenoh.

2.—The sapanggil.

3.—Jenjuang (or lenjuang) merah.

4.—Gandarusa.

5.—Pulut-pulut.

6.—Selaguri.

7.—Sambau dara.

But the most intersting object was a small oval-shaped basket about fourteen inches long and similarly bound with "ribu-ribu" which was standing just in front of three rice-baskets and close to the pawang, and which was destined (I was told ) to be the "cradle" of the padi-spirit. I was permitted to examine it and found that at the moment it contained the following objects only:—

1.—A strip of white cloth (at the bottom of the cradle).

2.—A piece of partly coloured thread (benang pancharona).

3.—An egg.

4.—One of the hard jungle-nuts (bush kras) already referred to

5.—One of the shells called "krang"

6.—A long iron nail

7.—Five hasta of red cloth in which the "cradle" was to be slung. This latter should in strictness be a cloth of the kind called "jong sarat," I was informed by the Pawang, but the "kain jong sarat" being unobtainable, this substitute was