68 MALAY POISONS AND CHARM CURES 



or to the place where anything stolen is concealed, the 

 rods vibrate in a remarkable manner (Ref. 6). It has 

 been suggested that the mzard of the divining-rods may 

 be self-deceived by muscular fatigue causing a change 

 of position in his hand. 



Main Gfibioh, — The performance of mam gehioh is 

 almost similar to that of main rnok pek, except for the 

 presence of a drummer and the substitution of a bunch 

 of green twigs for the divining-rods made of rattans. 

 The leaves of these twigs {daun sitneru or kemmitu) have 

 a pungent smell, especially on bruising, Mr. I. 

 Bui'kill kindly identified simeru botanicaDy from a 

 specimen sent to him from Kelantan as Clausena 

 excavata, Brum., Rutaceae. Main gehioh, like main 

 mok peky is generally a village performance. 



Malays sometimes trade on the fears and superstitions 

 of others by means of hidden objects of evil portent. 

 For example, in 1910 a handful of earth was sent by the 

 Kelantan police for investigation ; it contained some 

 small bones, probably those of a goose, a bit of wax 

 candle, a sprinkling of broken shells, and a rusty nail : 

 these had been put into an old metal bowl and buried 

 under the bedchamber of the late Bui tan to act as 

 witchcraft against the Sultanah, A homjor fi'om the 

 interior was implicated, and some anxiety was displayed 

 as to whether he had emploj-ed the bones of an animal 

 or those of a dead child , A lady of the palace, impelled 

 by jealousy, is reported to have persuaded the homor to 

 cause annoyance in this way. A similar procedure 

 [talamaia^ is carried out in Melanesia, in which a parcel 

 consisting of a dead man*s bones, or part of an arrow 

 which had killed a man, is wapped m leaves and placed 

 in the path of the man it is desired to injm'e. A piece 

 of hide from a buffalo that has been killed by hghtning 

 stroke, with certain Arabic figures traced upon it, can 



