talons of the European Vampire. She has long jet black tresses which flow down even as far as her ankles, but these serve to conceal the hole in the back of her neck through which she sucks the blood of children. Yet her vampirish qualities can be destroyed if the right means are adopted, and in order to effect this she must be caught, and her nails and flowing hair cut quite short, the tresses being stuffed into the hole of her neck, in which case she will become quiet and domesticated, just like an ordinary woman, and she will be content to lead a normal life for many years together. Story relates that the Langsuir returned to civilization until she was allowed to dance at a village festival, when for some reason her savage nature re-asserted itself and with wild screams she flew off into the depths of the dark forests from whence she had come. Dr. Skeat says that a Malay peasant once told him how exceedingly fond of fish these women-vampires are, and how not infrequently they may be seen “sitting in crowds on the fishing-stakes at the river mouth awaiting an opportunity to steal the fish.” This seems completely to explain the following rune by the recital of which a Langsuir may be laid:
O ye mosquito-fry at the river’s mouth
When yet a great way off, ye are sharp of eye,
When near, ye are hard of heart.
When the rock in the ground opens of itself
Then (and then only) be emboldened the hearts of my foes and opponents!
When the corpse in the ground opens of itself
Then (and then only) be emboldened the hearts of my foes and opponents!
May your heart be softened when you behold me,
By grace of this power that I use, called Silam Bayu.
The “mosquito-fry at the river’s mouth” is no doubt an allusion to the Langsuir who were swarming round the fishing-stakes, endeavouring to devour the fish.
Sir William Maxwell in the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Singapore (1878–1899), No. VII, p. 28, thus describes the Langsuir: “If a woman dies in childbirth, either before delivery or after the birth of a child, and before the forty days of uncleanness have expired, she is popularly supposed to become a langsuyar, a flying demon of the nature of the ‘white lady’ or ‘banshee.’ To prevent
