FOLK-LORE AND POPULAR RELIGION OF THE MALAYS. 9 



small wooden altar bad been built : it consisted simply of a 

 small square platform of wood or bamboo raised about three 

 or four feet above the ground, each corner being supported 

 by a small sapling with the leaves and branches left on it and 

 overshadowing the platform, the sides of which appeared to 

 face accurately towards the four cardinal points. To the 

 western side was attached a small bamboo ladder leading from 

 the ground to the edge of the platform. At the four corners 

 of the patch of grass were four larger saplings planted in the 

 ground. On the branches of all these trees were hung a num- 

 ber of kefupats, which are small squarish bags plaited of strips 

 of the leaves of the screw-pine [mengkuang] or some simi- 

 lar plant, like the material of which native bags and mats are 

 made. A larger ketupat hung over the centre of the altar, 

 and all of them were filled with a preparation of boiled rice. 

 On the altar were piled up various cooked foods laid on plantain 

 leaves, including the flesh of a goat, cooked in the ordinary 

 way, as well as rice and different kinds of condiments and 

 sweetmeats. The Pawang was present as well as a number 

 of the villagers, and soon after my arrival with the Penghulu 

 the ceremony began by some of the villagers producing out 

 of a bag the skin of a black male goat with the head and 

 horns attached and containing the entrails (the flesh having 

 been cooked and laid on the altar previously ). A large iron 

 nail four or five inches long and thick in proportion was placed 

 vertically in a hole about two feet deep which had been dug 

 under the altar, and the remains of the goat were also buried 

 in it with the head turned towards the east, the hole being then 

 closed and the turf replaced. Some of the goat's blood, in 

 two coco-nut shells {tempurong), was placed on the ground 

 near the south side and south-west corner of the altar close to 

 the ladder. 



The Pawang, after assisting at these preliminaries, then 

 took his stand at the west side of the altar, looking east- 

 wards : he covered his head, but not his face, with his sarong 

 wrapped round it like a shawl, and proceeded to light a torch, 

 the end of which was tipped with incense ( kemenyan ). V/"th 



