XVII. MALAY NOTES. 



By Ivor H. N. Evans, b.a. 



The following disconnected notes on some Malay beliefs 

 and customs, collected in the Malay Peninsula at various times 

 during the last four years, may possibly be: of interest, since I 

 do not remember having seen many of them recorded before. 

 In each case I append the name of the district from which my 

 informant came. 



i Houses should not be built on promontories, eithei 

 those which jut out into the rivers or into padi 

 fields, as such places are frequented by spirits. 

 (From a man of Kampong Linggi, Negri 

 Sembilan). 

 (ii) If you hear a noise at night in the jungle, it is 

 forbidden to call out and ask your companions 

 what is making it. (From a man 'if Kampong 

 Linggi. Negri Sembilan). 



i iii i A small species of house-cricket, which is known to 

 the Malays as Semangat rumah, is said to indicate 

 the good or evil fortune oi the owner of a house. 

 If the cricket is lir>t heard low down in the wall 

 but gradually makes its way up higher, it is 

 considered to imply that the house-holder will 

 become rich. If. however, the sound of the 

 cricket is first heard high up, and then lower 

 down, monetary losses will be incurred. (From 

 a man of Kampong Linggi. Negri Sembilan). 



(iv) Nests, either of the black ant or of the termiti an 

 sometimes thought to be the dwelling places of 

 spirits. (Awang, a Malay smith of Lenggong in 

 Upper Perak asked me one day to desist from 



poking an ant-hill, winch si 1 i lose to his forge, 



with my walking -tick. On my asking the reason 

 lie replied that there was a spirit in it. Ques- 

 tioned as to his grounds for thinking so, he said 

 that, if there were not, he did not see h<>\\ such 

 a tall mound could have arisen). 



(v) It is unlucky to step over a fishing-rod which has 

 been left King on the bank of a river with the 

 line in the water. Mothers scold their children 

 if they do this when a family party is oul fi hing, 

 .1 - i he v think that no lish will be caught. (From 

 a native of Ijok, Selama District of Perak). 



