BLACK ART IN MALAY MEDICINE 69 



be bought from a certain hoimr In Kelantan aud buried 

 beneath the ladder of a sick man's house with the same 

 object in view. 



The homor pitM and the homor mindok work together 

 to the sound of the Malay viol {rehab) and the tabour 

 {ridajp). A great noise is made during their perform- 

 ance by the frequent beating of tliis devil drum. The 

 honioT peteri deals with the haniu rayaf a very powerful 

 evil spirit, with the black jin and the yellow jin among 

 many others, while the homor mindok is more especially 

 interested in the spirits of the hills, those of the clouds 

 and winds, and in the ghost of the faded lotus {hantu 

 telepok layu). Some of these particulars come from 

 Pahang : they are given to show the extent of the art 

 practised by the bonior; many more might be quoted, 

 e.g,t the special hmitu belonging to Malay royalty. 

 Doubtless the same spirits occur under different names 

 in different places. 



Main P6t6ri. — A general idea of the Black Art as 

 it is commonly practised in Kelantan may be obtained 

 from an account of a village performance called per- 

 mainan pMriy or main pMri for short. This is per- 

 formed for various reasons, e.g., primarily to cure the 

 sick, but also to punish an enemy, to discover stolen 

 property, to cause an abatement of epidemic disease, 

 to obtain proof of the infidelity of a wife, or to win the 

 love of a woman. Main pet^i is a much more serious 

 matter than jampi, jampi, or the mere employment of 

 verbal charms. The hmmr peteri proceeds by way of 

 friendly pact with the devil and the leaders of his 

 legions, with many apologies to the Almighty for his 

 action, to set one class of spirits against another, either 

 for the purpose of exorcism or of revelation. His faith 

 in the unseen teaches him that he deals with some non 

 human agency which, fi^om preconceived knowledge, he 



