230 SHAMANISM IN PEEAK. 



It was after the Sungkei demons had been invoked in vain that 

 propitiatory offerings in a balei berpusing were resorted to. 



The two pawzngs already present were asked to give their aid, 

 their mats were spread afresh, their lamps re-trimmed, and their 

 bowls of parched rice replenished by officious attendants. Present- 

 ly, a couple of men brought in a neat model of a Perak mosque. 

 The house of prayer in an inland Malay village is a very simple 

 affair. It is usually a square building with a door or window on 

 each of the four sides. The main roof of the edifice, instead of 

 terminating in a point, is surmounted by a little square crow's nest 

 with a peaked roof. This was exactly reproduced in white wood 

 very neatly and artistically finished. At the bottom of the minia- 

 ture building was a single bamboo support, the end of which being 

 hollow fitted like a socket upon an upright rod fixed on the floor. 

 The one leg of the model being thus fitted on to a stationary 

 upright, the little house could be turned round and round at will, 

 presenting each door in turn to each point of the compass. As 

 soon as it was fixed, a kind of frill or border, made of young cocoa- 

 nut leaves with a deep fringe of the same material, was tied round 

 the base of the model so that the ends hung down, entirely con- 

 cealing the bamboo leg and the simple mechanism by which it 

 worked upon its pivot. This fringe is called jari Upan ore " centi- 

 pede's legs" from some fancied resemblance to the liberal num- 

 bers of members with whichNature has gifted that insect. When this 

 had been tied round the miniature mosque and the ends of the fringe 

 had been docked with a pair of scissors by a female slave, so as to 

 admit of the model revolving freely, it was time to fill the interior 

 with the propitiatory sacrifices. This was the task of the nearest 

 relations and of the representatives of the old lady, in accordance 

 with whose vow the balei berpusing was being dedicated. 



The offerings to demons when made in this manner are of four 

 kinds — lemak, mantis, masam, pedas ( the fat, the sweet, the sour, 

 the pungent). The "fat" consisted of a fowl sacrificed then 

 and there before us. The blood was caught in a leaf and placed 

 in the centre of the miniature building, or balei, as I shall now call 

 it. The feathers were plucked out, the entails removed, and tho 



