10 RECORDS OF MALAY MAGIC. 
whole of the three days during which the taboo has to be 
observed. 
6. Whenever the reapers commenced reaping, they were 
to repeat the charm :— 
Layang-layang jatoh bertimpa 
Timpa di ’laman kami, 
Bayang-bayang dengan Rengkesa 
Jangan berchampor dengan kami.* 
A cat having given birth to kittens the night before the 
ceremony, I was told by the Pawang that it was a very good 
sign, and that it was a known rule that if there was no human 
being ready to bear children at the time, ‘‘God substituted a 
cat.” (Tuhan Allah mengganti-kan kuching). 
Pounding the first reaped padi. 
I witnessed this ceremony three days later, at about 9 
a.m. The baskets filled with the first reapings were removed 
from the mat on which the rice child lay and their contents 
emptied out in the front room upon anew mat, (to each corner 
of which four rice ears were tied) and trodden out (‘‘ di-irek- 
kan”) by the owner of the field. Then the rice was poured 
back into two of the baskets and the straw plaited into a 
wreath. These preparations being completed the two baskets 
full of padi were carried down the house-ladder and out to 
an open part of the field a little way from the house and 
* The local charms similarly used run as follows :— 
1. Lengkesa lengkesi 
"Ku gerek tiga gerek 
*Ku rajah tiga rajah 
Aku tilek, hati-mu mati 
’Kau chapai, tangan ’kau patah 
*Kau sorakkan, ponggong-mu burok 
Kalau ’kau sakat sening sri 
’Kau di-sumpah de’Allah ta’ala 
Kabul Allah. d. s. b. 
Lengkesa tenghesi 
2. Lengksa mari kamari 
Aku ’nak berjanji dengan ’kau 
Kalau ’kau datang pada hari ini ; 
Kalau ’kau ta’datang 
Jangan ’kau datang lagi, 
Kalau ’kau datang, 
’Kau di-sumpahkan de’Allah dengan api. 
