RECORDS OF MALAY MAGIC. 51 
The land is God’s, the Raja adminsters it for the benefit of 
the community ; the man who squats on it has only the right to 
his usufruct, and if he does not make it produce he has no good 
claim to hold it. In a disputed claim, it is evident that he who 
can prove himself to be the first who brought the land into cul- 
tivation has the best title to it; therefore if he can prove that 
he felled the first tree of the clearing, cut the first rattan or 
creeper to tie a fence, and turned the first sod to plant it, his 
contention is a strong one. 
6 
Sess # oS yy pe 
5 s = 
Sy wa pe Cs St es ca Ce 
Pinang nen gaya 
Nior yang saka 
J irat yang panjang 
Ninek moyang sahya yang 
ter-muka’an (punya buka/’an). 
The areca and coconut palms are so tall that they are 
blown about by the winds; 
The line of graves is lengthened out: 
It was my fore-fathers who planted them all. 
This saying is also recited in claiming land in dispute; but 
in a different sense to that of the last, which is urged in support 
of a claim to a district, as having been the first settler. In this 
case the claimant seeks to prove that the holding is ancestral 
property and bases his claim upon work done and evidence left 
by his progenitors. 
In land disputes I have always found it most useful to 
prove who planted cocoanut trees, and who were actually buried 
in the grave-yard which is found at the back of nearly all old 
holdings. 
