MALAY FOLKLORE. 241 



sky with a noisy, yelping pack, and woe to the man who sees him! 

 On the peninsula the people mutter this charm to ward off his evil 

 influence: 



" I know thy history, 



O man of Katapang I 



Therefore return thou 



To thy jung^le of Mohang, 



And do not bring sickness upon me." 



The Malay is a firm, believer in the efficacy of charms. He 

 wears amulets, places written words of magic in houses, and sports 

 a tiger's claw as a preventive of disease. If he is specially primi- 

 tive and back woodsy, when he enters a forest he says: "Go to 

 the right, all my enemies and assailants! May you not look upon 

 me; let me walk alone! " To allay a storm he says: "The ele- 

 phants collect, they wallow across the sea; go to the right, go 

 to the left, I break the tempest." When about to begin an ele- 

 phant hunt, according to Thompson, he uses this charm : " The 

 elephant trumpets, he wallows across the lake. The pot boils, the 

 pan boils across the point. Go to the left, go to the right, spirit 

 of grandfather (the elephant); I loose the fingers upon the bow- 

 string." 



The Malay believes in witches and witchcraft. There is the 

 bottle imp, the Polong, which feeds on its owner's blood till the 

 time comes for it to take possession of an enemy. Then there is 

 a horrid thing, the Penan galan, which possesses women. Fre- 

 quently it leaves its rightful abode to fly away at night to feed 

 on blood, taking the form of the head and intestines of the person 

 it inhabited, in which shape it wanders around. 



Such beliefs may perhaps have their origin in metempsychosis, 

 which in other ways has some foothold among the common people. 

 For instance, elephants and tigers are believed sometimes to be 

 human souls in disguise, and so the Malay addresses them as 

 " grandfather " to allay their wrath and avoid direct reference to 

 them. Crocodiles also are often regarded as sacred, and special 

 charms are used in fishing for them. One such, given by Max- 

 well, is as follows : " O Dangsari, lotus fiower, receive what I 

 send thee. If thou receivest it not, may thy eyes be torn out! " 



The domestic animals also figure in Malay folklore. Dogs are 

 unlucky and regarded with suspicion, for they would like to lick 

 their master's bones. Cats, on the other hand, are lucky, and show 

 a fondness for their OAvners. 



Owls are regarded as birds of ill omen, and their hooting fore- 

 bodes death. 



Days are lucky and unlucky. '^londay, "Wednesday, and Fri- 



VOL. LVI — 20 



