THE WOEK OF THE BOMOR 



23 



segMah' The Hadji then inquired as to the nature of 

 their work. Raja Sitiar Pati replied * I am the evil 

 spirit of Cholera, and when I feel hungry I go to other 

 countries and devour men.' '* 



The Malay word jin corresponds to the Arabic djin^ 

 jinn or^'in, which stood for the fairies who, according to 

 Arabian fable, were created fi'om " smokeless fire " 

 2,000 years before Adam was made of earth. They are 

 generally, but not necessarily, supposed to be evil 

 sphits and are said to be governed by Nabi Sulaiman 

 (King Solomon). Sir Frank Swettenham states in liis 

 book " Malay Sketches " : '* The following legend gives 

 the Malay conception of the origin of all jm, hantu, 

 hajang, and other spirits. The Creator determined to 

 make Man, and for that purpose He took some clay 

 from the earth and fashioned it into the figm'e of a man. 

 Then He took the spirit of Life to endow this body with 

 vitality and placed the spirit on the head of the figure. 

 But the spirit was strong, and the body, being only clay, 

 could not hold it and was reft m pieces and scattered 

 into the air. These fragments of the first great Failure 

 are the spirits of earth and sea and air. The Creator 

 then formed another clay figure but into this one He 

 wrought some iron, so that when it received the vital 

 spark it withstood the strain and became Man " 

 (Bef. 14). McNadr gives a different idea which is also 

 taken from Malay hterature : " God, in order to render 

 steadfast the foundations of the watery expanse, girt 

 it round with an adamantine chain, viz., the stupendous 

 mountains of Caucasus, the wondrous region of genii 

 and aerial spirits " (Ref. 9). A more detailed view is 

 that when the twins Cain {Kabil) and Abel {Habil) were 

 in the womb of their mother Eve they bit their thumbs 

 till the blood came, and when they were bom the blood 

 turned into spirits both good and bad. The blood 



