ADVENTURES IN PURSUIT OF MAGIC 409 

 18. ADVENTURES IN PURSUIT OF MAGIC 



(From the Long-Glats, kampong Long Tujo) 



Once there lived a woman, Boamaring, who was Raja 

 Besar in a large kampong where people did not know 

 how to work. They could not make ladangs nor prahus. 

 Everything they needed came to them of its own accord, 

 and the rajas of the neighbouring kampongs were afraid 

 of her. This is the way it came about. 



She heard a rumour of a musical instrument which 

 could play by itself, and which had the power of bring- 

 ing all necessary food. She said to her husband, whose 

 name was Batangnorang, "Go to the limit of the sky 

 and bring the instrument that plays by itself." Putting 

 on tiger skin, and carrying his parang and sumpitan, 

 Batangnorang went into a small prahu which was able 

 to fly, and it flew one month, to the end of the sky. He 

 landed in a durian tree, near a small house covered with 

 the tail feathers of the hornbill. Its walls were of tiger 

 skins, the ridgepole, as well as the poles of the frame- 

 work, were made of brass, and a carving of the naga stood 

 out from each gable. 



He heard music from inside the house, and saw a 

 woman dancing alone to the tune of the instrument that 

 played by itself. She was the antoh of the end of the 

 sky, and he knew that she ate people, so he was afraid 

 to come down, for many men since long ago had arrived 

 there and had been eaten. Many corpses of men could 

 be seen lying on the ground. From his bamboo cask he 

 took a small arrow, placed it in his sumpitan, and then 



