POLKLOBE OF THE MALAYS. 21 



different qualifications are attributed. Good or evil fortune may be 

 expected according as the various periods fall to the various por- 

 tions of the design. Numerous Malay treatises on this, to them 

 all-important, subject exist. One well-known one is called Se- 

 dang Budiman. The most popular, perhaps, are those which 

 treat of the five ominous times ( hatika lima ) and the seven 

 ominous times (katilcci tujoh). The latter are ruled by the bin- 

 tang tujoli ( the seven planets ), which the Malays enumerate as fol- 

 lows: Shevis, the sun ; Kamr, the moon ; Marih, Mars; Utarid, Mer- 

 cury ; Zahrat, Venus ; Mustari, Jupiter; Zahal, Saturn. Tables are 

 drawn up assigning the influence of one of these to every hour of 

 the week, and the nature of the influence which each planet is sup- 

 posed to exercise is fully explained. 



Tin: Rainbow. 



Palangi, the usual Malay word for the rainbow, means " striped.*' 

 The name varies, however, in different localities. In Perak it is 

 called palangi minum (from a belief that it is the path by which 

 spirits descend to the earth to drink), while in Penang it is known 

 as ular danu* ("the snake danu"). In Perak, a rainbow which 

 stretches in an arch across the sky is called bantal (" the pillow 51 ) 

 for some reason which I have been unable to ascertain. When 

 only a small portion of a rainbow is visible, which seems to touch 

 the earth, it is called tunggul (" the flag"), and if this is seen at 

 some particular point of the compass — the West, I think, — it 

 betokens, the Perak Malays say, the approaching death of a Raja. 



Another popular belief is that the ends of the rainbow rest on 

 the earth, and that if one could dig at the exact spot covered by one 

 end of it. an untold treasure would be found there. Unfortunately, 

 no one can ever arrive at the place. 



Sunset. 



Sunset is the hour when evil spirits of all kinds have most power. 

 In Perak, children are often called indoors at this time to save 

 them from unseen dangers. Sometimes, with the same object, a 



* Dhamik, in ii industani, means " a bow" and is a oommon teim in India, 

 among Hindus, for the rainbow; dhanu and dhanush also signify "a bow, " 

 dhanu [a used for the sign Sagittarius. All these words are of Sanskrit origin. 



