302 APPENDIX. 



Malays on the north of the Peninsula, were, like the 

 Malays, at first nature- and spirit - worshippers. When 

 they were converted to Buddhism their old beliefs found 

 in the new religion an attitude so gently tolerant, and 

 even so kindly disposed, that the old beliefs continued 

 to flourish to an extent impossible under Muhammad's 

 stern creed of " There is no God but Allah." The Siamese 

 are more skilled than the Malays in the use of charms, 

 spells, and herbs ; and the Malays so readily admit the 

 superiority, that in many a Malay village one may find 

 an old Siamese man who has established himself there 

 as the local pawang. Neither the Malays nor the Siamese, 

 the Muhammadans nor the Buddhists, seem to consider 

 the position in any way remarkable : more or less un- 

 consciously they recognise the fact that they meet on 

 common ground in the beliefs that both nations shared 

 before their religions took them along different paths. As 

 an example of the extent to which the Malay pawangs 

 are indebted to the Siamese, I may refer to an article 

 in Journal No. 45 of the .Royal Asiatic Society (Straits 

 Branch), to which I have contributed an account of the 

 mantras used by the Malays in catching wild elephants. 

 The charms have been in use for many generations, and 

 the Malays have little knowledge of their origin other 

 than that there is a tradition that it is Siamese. The 

 language is certainly not Malay, and is either some 

 exceedingly corrupt form of Siamese, or else some tongue 

 that is no longer known in the Peninsula. The influence 

 of the Siamese pawangs is also seen in the frequent 

 reference in the mantras to the Maha Rishi, the Great 

 Sages of Buddhism. 



Such, then, are the sources from which the pawang 

 has derived his present knowledge of charms, spells, and 

 medicines. His services are requisitioned at every birth 

 and death (not at a wedding, a social contract of com- 

 paratively modern origin and distinctly religious aspect, 

 where the kathis and imaums will not brook his inter- 

 ference), at every sowing and reaping of the rice -crop, 



