28 MALAY POISONS AND CHABM CUBES 



and reciting the meant ations which he composed " 

 (Eel 6), 



Again, continues the To' Bomor Harim, in the days 

 of the Prophet, two of the Prophet*s friends, Omar and 

 Abu Bakar, suddenly became paralysed* Muhammad 

 was very sm-prised to see this ; but presently Gabriel 

 came with a prayer invocation and asked the Prophet 

 to read it over his two sick fiiends (here follows a long 

 passage from the Koran), Muliammad did as Gabriel 

 directed, and both Omar and Abu Bakar soon recovered. 

 The practice of reading this passage from the Koran, 

 in cases of hemiplegia, is in vogue in Kelantan to-day. 



In some respects the Engku Said Abdul-Eahman 

 and other Kelantan physicians still follow the medical 

 philosophy of the Dark Ages and beheve that disease 

 brought by evil spirits springs from the four elements 

 earth, air, fire, and water. Various ailments emanate 

 from earth, especiaUy those characterised by cold and 

 dryness, such as giddiness (Ar. sauifia, lit. to blacken), 

 which is significant of bumt-up blood causing a state 

 of dry chLlL If a hot wind blows over this state of dry 

 chill, dimness of vision with a rush of blood to the head 

 (jntom) ensues, making the earth seem as if it were 

 being folded up to engulf us. This kind of dizziness 

 (gastric vertigo) is ascribed by the ho7nor to two demons, 

 the NmeJc Jin Hitam and the SSmar Kiiam, both black 

 jin belonging to the class of Earthly Beings," one the 

 grandfather of a thousand dangers, the other the black 

 sheath enfolding the earth. Nenek (Ht. grandparent) 

 is used in the sense of the head, i.e., the parent of the 

 body ; a thousand dangers signifies a thousand kinds 

 of illnesses caused by piercing and stabbing winds. 

 The spirit word sSmar is used in the sense of the skin, 

 i.e., the sarong which covers the body. Many diseases, 

 characterised by heat and moisture, come from Air; 



