94 
FASCICULI MALATENSES 
of pregnancy, at which date the child first ‘ becomes a person ’ ( jadi orang ), 
having previously been ‘ part of its mother’s blood ’ ( saparoh darah hibu). 
Before this date, especially before the third month, the husband 1 of a pregnant 
woman must be careful not to maim any animal, or even to cut down a 
creeper, lest he injure the unborn infant, which has not as yet assumed a 
personality. Hare-lip is believed in Jalor to be caused by the father having 
slit a fish’s mouth to get a hook out, while his child was in this early stage 
of existence. After the sixth month of pregnancy less precaution is necessary, 
and I have heard the question discussed by natives as to whether the mother 
was also liable to the prohibition ; but in the case of a woman, who does not 
habitually kill animals or cut down creepers, it is not a point of more than 
academic interest. Ambil nyawa (to take the life-breath) is a common 
euphemism in Malay for bunoh (to kill). It is used in a deprecatory sense, 
implying an idea that taking life is in itself a crime, for all breathing things 
have naturally a nyawa. I have heard a Malay remark, on returning from 
shooting birds, ‘What a number of nyawa I have taken to-day,’ not in a 
boastful tone, but quite as though he felt repentant of a sin. 
Roh (‘that which goes out of a man when he sleeps’). The word is 
Arabic . 2 It is pretty generally agreed by the Patani Malays, who describe the 
roh as ‘ that which goes out of a man when he sleeps,’ that it is peculiar to 
men {orang), distinguishing them from beasts ( binatang ). It has in some 
ways a more distinct personality, if the phrase be permissible, than the nyawa , 
as is proved by the belief that if a person’s face be painted while he sleeps, his 
roh will not recognize him, and he will sleep on until his face is washed. 
I was told in Patani that boys whose companion falls asleep near the 
mosque — why near the mosque I do not know — will sometimes paint his 
face with clay. When the time of his sleep is fulfilled the roh comes back, 
but when it sees the painted face it says, ‘Surely this is not my body ! ’—I am 
translating my informant’s exact words — and the child does not awake. I was 
also told of a man who was awakened one night by thirst, and, having no 
water in the house, made his way to his neighbour’s water-jar and drank 
deeply from it. Then he went back home, leaving his roh in the water, for the 
roh is apt to leave one who is taking a long drink. Afterwards the neighbour 
happened to put a cover on the jar, and the man fell down as if dead, for his 
roh was shut up in the jar. So his family prepared for the funeral, and his 
body was already in the shroud ; but as he lay waiting burial, the neighbour 
1. Formerly similar ideas were prevalent in the more civilized west coast States (Skeat, Malay Magic , 
pp. 348-350, London, 1900). 
2. Wilkinson, Malay-English Dictionary, part i, p. 347, London, 1901. 
