FOLKLORE OF THE MALAYS. 19 



Houses. 



The superstitions about houses are of infinite number and variety. 

 It is. unlucky to place the ladder or steps, which form the approach 

 to a Malay house, in such a position that one of the main rafters of 

 the roof is exactly over the centre of them. Quarrels or fighting 

 iu the house will certainly be the result. In selecting timber for 

 the uprights of a Malay house care mast be taken to reject any 

 log which is indented by the pressure of any parasitic creeper 

 which may have wound round it when it was a living tree. A 

 log so marked, if used in building a house, exercises an unfavoura- 

 ble influence in child-birth, protracting delivery, and endangering 

 the lives of mother and child. ^lany precautions must be taken to 

 guard against evil influences of a similar kind, Avhen one of the 

 inmates of a house is expecting to become a mother. No one may 

 "divide the house" (belali rumah,) that is, go in at the front 

 door and out by the back, or vice versa, nor may any guest or 

 stranger be entertained in the house for one night only ; he must 

 be detained for a second night to complete an even period. If 

 an eclipse occurs, the woman on whose account these observances 

 arc necessary must be taken into the penangga (kitchen) and 

 placed beneath the shelf or platform (para) on Avhich the domes- 

 tic utensils are kept. A spoon is put into her baud. If these 

 precautions are not taken, the child, when born, will be deformed. 



To trip on the steps, or to knock one's head against the lintel 

 (Malay door-ways are always inconveniently low) on leaving a 

 house, is unlucky, and if the person to whom this happens is start- 

 ing upon any business, it must be postponed, and he must stay at 

 home, for the accidents mentioned forbode death. It is also 

 unlucky to start on a j ourney when rain is falling, for the rain 

 signifies ayer mata (tears). 



It is unlucky for any one to stand with his arms resting on the 

 steps of a ladder going up to a house for the purpose of talking to 

 one of the inmates. The reason is, that if a corpse is carried out of 

 the house, there must be a man below in this position to receive it. 

 To assume this attidude unnecessarily, therefore, is to wish for a 

 death in the family (menyuroli hap). 



Laxgxah. 

 The Malays share with most other Eastern nations the superati- 



