BLACK ART IN MALAY MEDICINE 91 



building, and four plates, each containing fifty cents, are 

 slung up in little swing platforms attached to the four 

 walls. This money is in addition to the nineteen cents 

 of the kindurit or sacrifice made to the spirits by the 

 To' Bormr Peteri at the opening of the performance. 



In days gone by the old-established custom of tolah 

 hala (fit., repelling misfortmie) used to fall heavily on 

 the peasants, because the village headmen coUected the 

 money from them by force to pay for the white buffaloes 

 and the rest of the veiy elaborate performance ; but the 

 old idea of tolak hala is still existent, as may be seen 

 from a letter written to me by one of the late Saltan's 

 micles on April 25th, 1920. After compUments : " I beg 

 to inform my friend that I intend having a permainan 

 'peteriy and to slaughter a white buffalo to cast out 

 misfortune, as is the custom, once m every three years. 

 It is now more than ten years since this has been done, 

 owing to the difficulty in raishig money. Formerly, the 

 sum of twenty-five cents was collected from every house 

 in the vicinity of Kam/pong Chinas as far as the rivers 

 KMadi and Tikat The performance then lasted for 

 seven days and seven nights ; but I am now gomg to do 

 it only for three days and tlnree nights. Therefore I 

 hope my friend will please arrange with the Government 

 to grant me any reasonable amount that he may think 

 fair." 



Main Bfirjin, — The bonior berjin and the homor 

 orang hunian deal with elves and fairies of the forest who 

 are descended from the fallen angels ; they use no 

 music, and, hke tlie boimr mamhang, mostly concern 

 themselves with the spirits kno\sTi as Celestial Beings." 

 The bomor berjin speciahses in the mainbang spirits that 

 are personified in the golden sunset clouds, such as 

 hantu mambaTig bulangf the en winding sphit, and Jianiu 

 mamhatig kmiitig, the yellow spirits. The term mam- 



