Zoological Names and Theories of the Malays. 447 



powerful incentive which a savage can have to the study of 

 natural history. Among the Malays, the hunter is looked upon 

 as a magician {pdwdng or homor) ; there are deer magicians, 

 crocodile magicians, and even jungle-fowl magicians, each of 

 whom has made a special study of the habits of the animal 

 which he hunts, as well as being versed in the proceedings 

 of magical wood-craft generally — such as the correct methods 

 of appeasing spirits offended by trespass, of cajoling and 

 subduing the " soul " of his quarry, and of driving out from 

 its body the "mischief" that belongs to all living things and 

 manifestations of nature : 



" O Mischief, Mother of Mischiefs, 

 Mischiefs One Hundred and Ninety 

 I know the origin from whence you sprang. 

 The mischief of an Iguana ^ was your origin, 

 The Heart of Timber was your origin, 

 The Yellow Glow of Sunset was your origin, 

 Keturn to the places whence ye came, 

 Do me no harm or scathe." ^ 



I. 



With regard to the similarity between the zoological folk- 

 lore of the Malays and that of the northern Scandinavians, it 

 is not my purpose to say very much. Students of folklore are 

 aware that the conceptions of primitive races are very similar 

 all over the world; and in noticing the likeness between 

 those of the Siamese Malay States and those of the islands 

 of the north-west seas, I am only remarking on this world- 

 wide relationship. When an epidemic of small-pox is raging 

 in Malaya, men think it well to talk of the disease as sdkU 

 ordng haik, the "good person's illness": in Gaelic a common 

 euphemism for small-pox is " the good woman." ^ It is well 

 known how the Siamese reverence a white elephant, and 

 how fortunate they consider themselves to capture one — I 

 am speaking of the Siamese country folk, and not of the 

 •' highly civilised " citizens of Bangkok. The Faroemen think 



^ I.e., the monitor, Varanus. In the original the word is BlawdJc. 



2 Malay charm, translated by W. W. Skeat, "Malay Magic," p. 177. 



3 See Campbell, " Superstitions of the Scottish Highlands," p. 237. 



