88 MALAY POISONS AND GHAEM CURES 



"with coco-nut ]ia!m leaves. A tiny and thii'd collection 

 of all the foodstuffs, including another silver dollar, is 

 placed upon this little platform. 



After playing aU night in the manner already 

 described, the devil eventually enters the bomor about 

 three or four o'clock in the morning : the candles are 

 then ht and the j)etiri proceeds to taste, or pretends to 

 taste, the sacrifice. He commences first with the 

 offerings displayed on the small mat called peng, 

 proceeding to the four-post platform and ending at the 

 basket cradle called halai Raja. He is finally dispos- 

 sessed about daybreak, and now the To' Bomor Petiri 

 performs the concluding ceremony of Main P^ierL This 

 is called ^eUpas, and by it the sick man is released fi'om 

 all machinations by evil spirits. A cup containing 

 gromid rice in the form of a thin paste {tSpong iaioar) and 

 a number of strips of palm leaf tied with slipknots in the 

 form of a bow {Ulipas) are placed in readmess ; he takes 

 the rice paste and marks a cross {pangkak; Kelantan, 

 hakoh) on his own forehead and on the foreheads of 

 those (especially the children) who happen to be near 

 him , and then pulls the bows to pieces. The sick man 

 bathes in the water of the three jars containing the 

 yellow croton and deep red dracaena leaves, and the 

 ceremony of pelepas is ended by the homor makuig a ring 

 out of each smah skein of thread, which he passes in turn 

 over the head of the patient, drawing each slowly over 

 the body do™ to the feet. The performance is now 

 over ; the platform is taken to the neighbouring jungle 

 and left there, but the smaU mat caUed peiig and the 

 cradle are kept in the village for a few days. The 

 " topsy-turvy " water in the copper pitcher is to be 

 drunk by the sick man after a lapse of seven days, or he 

 may be allowed to bathe himself in it. The use of water 

 by the Malay " medicine-man " is of interest because 



