About a Love Philtre,
Known to the Siamese as Nam Man Prai—Spirit Oil.
By Francis H. Giles.
In the "Koh Lak Tradition", which I publish in this Journal, it is stated that a Chinese Prince was given by his grandfather, living in the realm of the gods, a potent love philtre composed of of wax, powder, and sandalwood oil. There can be no question that this love philtre is the Nam Man Prai (น้ำมันพราย), spirit oil, known to the Siamese. The ingredients for making this love philtre were revealed to Prince Muak by the spirit of an ancestor, and the philtre was used by Prince Muak to gain the love of Yom Doey, the beautiful daughter of Prince Mawng Lai. The use of this love philtre led to happenings of great historical importance, which are recorded in my paper "The Koh Lak Tradition." Love is a mysterious influence which attacks the human race, and as love may be gained by the use of a love philtre, it may interest the readers of this Journal to learn how this love potion is made. The details are somewhat gruesome. One of the first essentials is to obtain a fresh corpse and, if the corpse is that of a woman who died while pregnant, the love philtre will be very powerful. Bodies of persons male or female, who have died an unnatural death, can also be used, but the potion is less efficacious. The doctor who intends to obtain the spirit oil proceeds to the cemetery late at night accompanied by two assistants. He takes with him a knife, a cane on which talismanic figures or letters have been inscribed, cotton thread which has been subjected to magic incantations, eight pieces of cloth on which talismanic figures have been written, having magical powers, to be placed at the eight. cardinal points of the compass as a protective measure, a candle known as the "Candle of Victory" (เทืยนชัย) with a wick made of
