JELEBU CUSTOMARY SONGS AND SAYINGS. 11 



And to sea-lav^d sounding beaches 

 Where were found the bamboo writings, 

 Roof-tree carved on water drifting, 

 Trees with spikes to climb for honey. 

 Then the Raja marked the fruit trees, 

 He a prince of no mean station, 

 He the first king, king primaeval. 

 Dropped he as the rain from heaven, 

 He with forest-trees coeval, 

 Old as grass at the beginning; 

 White the blood that in him flowed : 

 Erect men made him salutation, 

 Sitting yielded him obeisance; 

 Food men brought him, each a platter; 

 Drank he from a bamboo beaker 

 Overlaid with golden plating; 

 Slept on an embroidered mattress. 



" Where is the path of the prince of Giri ? " 



" On the river-side of the long palace." 

 " What proof is there of the creation of the custom ? " 



" It came down to Batipuh in Padang Panjang." 



Who the wise men and the clever? 

 First Perpateh, second Tenggong, 

 Who knew well the kindred custom, 

 First the custom God inspireth, 

 Second that of worldly teaching. 

 The way to God is, first, the credo, 

 Second prayer, the third almsgiving, 

 Fasting fourth, and fifth the haj : 

 The worldly way is gong and clapper 

 Calling men to food and liquor, 

 To marry and to take in marriage. 



After comes the saying. — 



A broken root, a clod turned upward, 

 A fallen tree to serve as barrier, 

 The upturned clod to bank the rice-field, 

 The trailing stem to bind together. 

 Flat the plain and straight the bankings, 

 Thick the folk and rich the harvest. 



Then the prince was given his kingdom, 

 The chief his shire, the tribe its limits, 

 The village elders their dependants; 

 Men were then by tribes divided, 

 And the tribes were twelve in number. 



i'_. A. Soc, No. 78. 



