58 MALAY POISONS AND CHABM CUBES 



gives the crash of the falling timbers, and then follows 

 their wicked laughter, Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! " 



Just as in Eoghsh tradition certain plants and trees, 

 such as the bay tree, mistletoe, wood betony and true- 

 love, are protective against the mahce of demons and 

 witchcraft, so also Malays think that certain old trees, 

 tombs of saints, graves, rocks, and even some animals 

 possess wonder-working charms. This must be a 

 survival of a very old behef. With regard to the bay 

 tree (Laurus nohiUs), Dr. Parkins (1814) says : *' And 

 I am mistaken if it were not Mizaldus ^ who saith that 

 neither witch nor devil, thunder nor hghtning will hurt 

 a man where a hay tree is." Again, we have the oak 

 as the abode of Thor, the Thunder-God, and the wild ash 

 as Yggdrasil (Igg*-di*a-sir), or the '* tree of Hfe," of 

 Scandinavian mythology, Li England as well as 

 Scotland the rowan tree is especially protective against 

 demons, witches, and the envious and evil eye : — 



Black luggie, hammer-liead 

 Rowan-tree, and red thread, 

 Put the warlocks to their ©peed. 



Malays use a bracelet made of black silk threads 

 {gilang hajang) to protect their babies from a male 

 vampire in the form of a pole-cat {hajang), which is 

 supposed to be generated from the blood shed in child- 

 birth. A ligature made of a woman's hair is supposed, 

 in Kelantan, to be a magic antidote to the wound made 

 by a cat-fish. Skeat describes the ceremony of marking 

 the forehead of the new-born child vnth certain ashes 

 in a certain way to protect it against evil spirits and 

 convulsions (Ref. 8). 



There are curious ideas about foot-prints ; in some 

 places a tiger with one foot-print smaller than the 



* Mizaldus. Mizau!d Antonio, an eaxly writer on meteorology and weather 

 forccaating. 



