RECORDS OF MALAY MAGIC. 7 
the blade with the oil of frankincense, and inserting the thumb 
of the right hand into her mouth pressed it against the roof of 
the palate, on withdrawing it she proceeded to cut the first 
seven ears in which the child spirit of the padi is supposed to 
reside. 
During the performance of this part of the ceremony 
(which is called ‘‘ cherangkan talitrap”) omens are taken as to 
the prosperity or otherwise of the people of the house, and the 
observations have therefore to be made with the greatest care. 
The most disastrous omen is the cawing of a crow; next to 
this in point of disastrous significance comes the mewing 
ery of the kite, and thirdly the flight of the ground dove called 
“ tekukor.” A good omen is the flight of the bird called the Rice’s 
Husband (Laki Padi), but the best omen is the complete absence 
of any unusual sight or sound, such as the falling of a tree, the 
cracking of a branch, or a shout in the distance, all of which are 
harbingers of misfortune. 
To go back to the cutting of the first seven ears, the Pa- 
wang repeated in cutting them the same “Ten Prayers” as before. 
Then she laid them together, kissed them, turned up the whites of 
her eyes thrice, and thrice contracting the muscles of her throat 
with a sort of “click” swallowed the water in her mouth. Next 
she drew the small white cloth from the cradle, laid it across her 
lap and depositing upon it the little bundle of the seven ears 
anointed them with oil ani tied them round with particoloured 
thread (benang panchawerna), after this she fumigated them 
with the incense, and strewing rice of each kind over them, 
wrapped round them the ends of the cloth, and laid the bundle 
back in the cradle, which was then handed to the first Bearer. 
Standing up, she now strewed more rice over the sheaf and 
tossing some backwards over her head, threw the remainder 
over the rest of the party, saying “‘ tabek” (pardon) as she did so, 
and exclaiming “‘ Kur semangat, Kursemangat, Kur semangat” 
in a loud voice. Next she pushed the cocoanut shel! which had 
been filled with ‘“ Tepong tawer ” into the middle of the sheaf, and 
removed all traces of the late isolation of the sheaf (round which 
a lane had been trodden to make it accessible) by bending back 
the surrounding ears of rice until they concealed the gap, so 
that at this spot the rice looked as if it had never been disturbed. 
Then the first bearer slinging the cradle of the rice-baby about 
