100 MALAY POISONS AND CHABM CURES 



Not in entire forgetftihiess, 



And not in utter nakedness, 



But trailing clouds of glory do we come 



From God, who is our honae : 



The origin of the formula has been forgotten ; even in 

 Kelantan no information of what the words or somids 

 mean could be obtained. A Perak protective formula 

 is : " When you meet your enemy face to face, stare 

 hard at him until you see written on his forehead ya 

 ilah-ilaJii (0 God ! 0 God I 0 Divine One !). Continue 

 staring until you can rub the words oE again, and you 

 will subdue bis will." According to Islam each man's 

 fate is WTit large on his forehead. The pre-natal 

 language occui-s for the second time in a spell to prevent 

 anybody quarrelling with the maker of it. This spell 

 consists of a very rough drawing of the human figure on 

 a piece of banana leaf. The figure is enclosed in tw^o 

 squares of unequal size, the smaller square being 

 placed diagonally witlun the larger one. 



Pre-natal language is written in the four comers. 

 Three of these have to be made and given, one a day, 

 to a buffalo to eat. The buffalo thus consumes the 

 suspected person's possible mahgnancy and so protects 

 the ow^le^. The way in which the banana tree is used 

 by Malays in preparing a vindictive spell is described 

 in Begbie's " Malay Peninsula." It is known as the 

 Tuju Jantong, or " Aiming at the Heart," ceremony : 



The cordi-form top of a newly-opened bunch of 

 bananas is tied to the accompaniment of a prayer (or 

 rather charm) and the point is then burnt. This 

 communicates with the heart of the intended victim, 

 causing excruciating pain. Eventually the top is cut 

 off, the victim's heart drops from its proper situation ; 

 he vomits blood and exph-es." 



A few paragraphs of Nik Ismail's old manuscript are 



