64 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [March, 1909. 
As regards the belief that the mineral spirit is something 
external to the mineral, the following prayer may be quoted 
from the same authority, or rather that part of it which is a 
prayer pure and simple without any direct threat— 
Assemble yourselves together, Rubbish and Trash, 
House-lizards, ‘‘ Kalerik,’’ Centipedes and Millepedes [ob- 
serve how any suggestion of the true name is avoided | 
And partake of my banquet. 
Let whosever comes bring me one. 
A kttong or two, 
A fistful or two, 
and so on. 
Both in the Patani States and in British Malaya the gold 
and the tin spirits are believed to be able to assume an anima 
‘form which has no obvious connection with the metal. If this 
animal be insulted or injured, the spirit carries the ore away. 
Vegetable souls would seem to resemble thing souls rather 
than mineral spirits in their origin. They represent the grow- 
ing and the ripening rice, are at once its essence, its strength 
and its vitality; each plant has not its individual soul, 
but all of one species growing in the same field share a soul in 
common. ‘This is natural enough, for it is difficult for any agri- 
culturist to look upon the individual plants in his crop as units. 
At harvest time the soul from the whole field is gathered to- 
gether, as it were, into a special bunch of ears, in which it is pre- 
served until the following season. There is not even a sugges- 
tion that it could exist apart from the rice, and any talk or 
ism, but who has fathomed the secrets of vegetable growth ? 
Animal souls need not be considered apart from human 
Souls, for the distinction between them is very slight. Every 
ted than expressed, but the hunter addresses the soul of his 
quarry and deceives and cajoles it as he would any other spirit. 
As regards the origin of human souls, I have already told all 
I know, nor can! find any definite statements on this point 
in literature. Here again we may have the medicine-man’s 
threats and sham revelations, unmeaning save occasionally, 
as referring to some obscure legend, which may be either local, 
Mahommadan or Hindu. 
The question next arises, If the origin of souls is obscure 
to the Malay, is their nature any clearer to him? On the 
whole it is. In the first place, we can state definitely that the 
