88 
FASCICULI MALATENSES 
often kept alive as pets, their cooing being much admired. It is not necessary 
for a specimen to be either yellow or black for it to get the reputation of 
being a lucky individual, and such specimens as have acquired fame through 
the good fortune that has accompanied them are often sold for large sums of 
money. The only way to know whether an ordinary Ketiti is really lucky or 
not is to keep it and see whether good fortune comes with it. 
Sea Snakes 
The sea snakes ( Hydrophidae ), to which several references have already 
been made in the course of this paper, are among the most serious dangers 
in the life of a fisherman at Patani, for they are all very deadly, and when 
dashed about in the surf during the stormy season, also very vicious. It is 
true that few boats go to sea at this time, but several men are said to die 
annually owing to bites received while shrimping along the beach near the 
mouth of the Patani River. The following story was told me by my Patani 
‘ boy,’ to account for their venom : — 
‘Once the python ( Ular Sawa ) was the most poisonous, as well as the 
strongest of snakes. The python had a fish-pond, from which a man took 
the fish. The python bit the man, who went home and died. Next day the 
python saw the crow sitting on a tree outside the man’s door. “ Why do 
you sit here ? ” said the python. “ I await the feast,” said the crow. The 
python’s heart grew sick, for he thought the man had recovered, and he went 
to the sea and vomited out his poison. Now, in the sea there was a snake called 
Ular Berang , who swallowed the python’s poison ; but a little remained, 
which the other sea snakes ate. Luckily the Ular Berang is very rare, and 
no one ever meets him, for his venom is so strong that if he bites the rudder 
of a boat, all the boatmen will die unless they leap into the water immediately.’ 
The superstitions and ancient customs described in this paper are not 
persistent, for what has happened on our own coasts is also happening — more 
slowly, perhaps, but none the less surely— upon those of the remotest parts of 
Malaya. The belief that clergymen are unlucky may no longer prevent 
British fishing-boats from putting to sea, yet it still lives in a furtive but 
tenacious way. Even to-day women baiting the fishing lines in villages 
within twenty miles of Edinburgh talk jestingly of the ‘ long-eared un ’ and 
the ‘ long-tailed un,’ instead of the hare and the rat. At Patani the ‘long- 
tailed un ’ is the monkey, and the rat is the beast that says ‘ chi-chi' 
