CHAPTEB III 



CHARMS AND AMULETS 



The Malay language is replete with cbarms and 

 spells which bear the Brahmanistical name of mantSra 

 and the Arabic name of doa ; numbers of them have 

 been translated and explained by Winstedt, Skeat, 

 Blagden, and several other authors. Winstedt in his 

 *' EngHsh-Malay Dictionary " differentiates charms to 

 engender love, beauty, and courage ; to protect against 

 ghostly and material hurt ; to silence enemies ; to 

 counteract poison, etc. ; to terrify ; to cause forget- 

 f ulness ; to hinder a girl from marrying a rival ; to 

 obtain good business ; to secure from lust and thieves ; 

 to shatter a rival's weapon, and charms hung on fruit 

 trees. The charm hung on fruit trees is to make the 

 fruit disagree with any one who steals it. Skeat gives 

 many more in his " Malay Magic *' : his are magic 

 rites connected with the several departments of Nature, 

 e.g., charms for wind and weather ; bird charms ; 

 beast charms ; vegetation charms ; mining charmB ; 

 reptile charms, and so on. 



Kelantan Charms. —Reference will be made only 

 to a few Kelantan charms, which are mostly of interest 

 in regard to poisoning and disease, and to a few odd 

 love charms. They are the special wealth of the homor 

 and have come down to him orally from generation to 

 generation of " medicine-men," and later have been 

 recorded in ilhterate transcriptions. The homor uses 

 them in jampiy jampi before he finally blows his breath 

 on the patient with the idea of blowing the disease out 



