A PULAU TIUMAN SUPERSTITION. 101 



Susu Riniau. In Journal No. 22, on page 340, I gave some- 

 account of the curious vegetable product known to the Malays 

 as Susu Rimau, the sclerotium or resting stage of some species 

 of Polyporus. I have since obtained other fine specimens of the 

 tuber and the fully developed fungus attached in Singapore and 

 Penang, and Mr. Massee, of Kew, has identified it as Polyjiorus 

 sacer, a very widely distributed fungus. 



A Pulau Tiuman Superstition. 



I visited the Pahang island of Tiuman in 1898 and stumbled 

 across a superstition which did not impress me very much at 

 the time, though it was recalled to my memory by hearing later 

 of an almost identical belief concerning a hill in upper Siam. 



Shortly after going ashore at the island the headman re- 

 quested me to prevent my Chinese cook bringing any vinegar off 

 the boat ; he informed me that if by any chance the vinegar 

 should be spilt, the island would be convulsed and a terrible 

 storm result. On an occasion a few years previously the cook 

 of an European prospector at work on the island had by a simi- 

 lar accident raised such a typhoon that, to quote my informant 

 " the sea was invisible for five days." 



This superstition is evidently connected with the widespread 

 belief that no dragon can face vinegar, for it was told me in the 

 village under the peculiar double spur of hill at the extreme 

 south of the island called " Chula Naga " (Dragon's Horns), and 

 it has peculiar application in this instance, though dragons are 

 accredited to several other mountains on the peninsula. 



w. a 



