JELEBU CUSTOMARY SONGS AND SAYJXGS. 9 



SONGS OF OKIGIX. 



I. 



Ere God was known to men as Lord 



Or Aluhamad as His Prophet. 



Ere Earth was given the name of Earth, 



"When Earth was called the country's navel, 



Ere sky was designated sky 



When sky was called the world's umbrella : — 



Earth no bigger than a salver. 



Sky no larger than a sunshade : — 



Crows were white and black were egrets; 



Our first forebears, boy and maiden 



Knew not yet the bond of wedlock: 



When to earth a prince fell standing, 



And the first of chiefs fell pensive. 



And the first of tribal headmen 



Fell in attitude of homage : — 



Then arose two ways of custom. 



One to seaward, that of Tenggong. 



Landward one, that of Perpateh, — . 



Custom sure with its set sayings. 



Giving each his share and portion. 



Bamboo laths were split for building, 



Mankind tilled the earth primaeval, 



Iron clinked and log-ends smouldered, 



Clods were turned for tilth and planting, 



Bamboo stems grew up in order. 



To' Kali rided in Padang Genting 



To' Senama in Suasa, 



To' Kalifah in land of Tambang, 



In Sumanik To' Hangkuduni; 



The prince of Paggarruyong hailed it 



And the custom went to Siak, 



Then to Siam and to Jambi 



To Eokan and to Panalian 



here = "large trees on which bees have built a nest '*. (and such trees are still 

 'pesaka in Negri Sembilan) ; below, we get si-balong as a variant. And it is 

 probable that the iron pegs were driven in as " climbing steps " and not as 

 boundary-marks: though another customary phrase lantak bertukal = "the 

 boundary-marks that are hammered in," not "the boundary posts that are 

 beaten," as the authors of "Rembau" (Journal 56, p. 10S XXIII) translate it, 

 if by that rendering they allude, as one would infer, to "beating bounds": — 

 their note on p. 47 is correct. 



R. A. Soc, No. 73. 



