26 
A NANING RECITAL. 
significance of this position is variously explained ; probably 
the suggestion is that the Dato’ Klana can bar innovations by 
the Raja. 
The Johol pavilion is built with a tier. No one can ex- 
plain this feature — not even the present Dato’ Johol, whom 
Mr. Nathan consulted. It is thought by some to be connected 
with the tradition that the first Dato’ Johol was a woman, whose 
balai was built with a raised floor screened by a curtain. I 
think this is probably correct. The shrine of the famous 
Kramat Hidup of Sungai Baru, Alor Gajah, was built in this 
fashion. When I visited her in 1908, the Kramat, a very 
handsome girl, was seated in her shrine within a yellow mos- 
quito curtain, but emerged later to give me curry and tea. 
Jelebu balai balairong — a ‘ hall of assembly’; another 
reading is balai berlorong, which gives no satisfactory sense. 
The pavilion is actually a balai serong, ‘a hall aslant’, 
built at an angle to the Johol and Rembau pavilions. No good 
explanation has yet been given. 
Rembau tanah berkerojan. Berkerojan is probably a pho- 
netic corruption of berkerjaan , and the reference seems to be 
to the installation of Raja Melewar at Penajis in Rembau, in 
1773. 
27. Lines 26S-2'75. This rather cryptic passage seems to contrast 
the long drawn out litigation of contentious persons (through 
the Courts of the Lembaga, Undang, and Raja) with the 
Menangkabau ideal of a quick and peaceful settlement by com- 
promise. 
See Malay Proverbs 51-89, in Journal No. 67, referred to 
' above. The ideal is summed up in the following proverb: 
Menang berkechvndang, 
Alah berketundokan, 
Sa-rayu berjabat tangan. 
Victory — a defeated foe ; 
Defeat — a bowed head; 
Agreement — a joining of hands. 
The point is : even successful litigation is unsatisfactory — it 
leaves an embittered foe. 
28. Lines 290-291. In tuba fishing the juice of the pounded tuba 
root is poured into the river far upstream ; the fish to escape the 
stupefying juice flee downstream and are stopped by a barri- 
cade and speared. A delightful account of a Tuba-fishing is 
given in Mr. W. G. Maxwell’s book “ In Malay Forests ”. 
The connection between the two halves of this verse lies in 
the suggestion of the bridegroom coming from far upriver to 
win a bride downstream. 
Jour. Straits Branch 
