CHARMS AND AMULETS 45 



This rigmaroie is to be recited for three mornings 

 over any seven leaves from any kind of tree, three times 

 over each leaf, after which each of the seven leaves is 

 dra™ gently do\\iiwai'ds over the painful spot. 



During the wet weather of November a Kelantan 

 Malay, Nik Ismail (vaccinator and travelling apothecary 

 on the State hospital staff), was bitten between the toes 

 by a non-poisonous snake at Kampong Banggor, He 

 called in a village homor, who was able to reheve the 

 acute pain. The bomor grasped Nik Ismail's leg firmly 

 above the knee and chanted a song in some language 

 mikiio™ to Nik Ismail, and then blew with his breath 

 down the hmb. He then apphed an anodyne made in 

 the form of a poultice from tw^o jungle roots. This was 

 a fiiendly service, otherwise a fee of a Straits dollar 

 (2s. 4d,) would have been charged. The self-reliance 

 of the hovwr and his sublime belief in his calhng does 

 much towards the cure of a credulous patient by means 

 of charms. An ancient formula intended to neutralise 

 any kind of poison was given me by To* Bomor Enche* 

 Abu Bakar, a very old homor now hviug in the jungle, 

 but formerly for many years a vaccinator on the hos- 

 pital staff. It is the 190 charm, so called from the 

 supposed 190 bones of the human frame, the 190 veins, 

 the 190 kinds of humao blood, the 190 diseases, the 

 190 forms of insanity, and so on : — 



The cliann ! the miglity charm, that of the hundred and 

 ninety ! 



The charm is not mine, but that of the fair-faced Dato* 



Mengkadom, 

 Springs its virtue from the white roc, 

 And the white elephant ! 



White blood, white bones, and a white (aincere) heart. 

 With it have I charmed away salt from the sea, 

 Yea ! and thee too will I charm ! 



I pray that my chann may chaitn away venom and quench the 

 borning. 



