FASCICULI MALATENSES 
103 
important part of the magic in which every master-huntsman must be versed, 
but the method of casting it out from a mammal is different from that necessary 
in the case of a bird, or, again, of a reptile ; and for this reason it is unusual 
to find men who make a profession of hunting both jungle fowl and deer, the 
two commonest objects of the chase — not that it would be impossible for 
anyone to do so, but it would necessitate him learning two different kinds of 
magic, an intellectual task that is not often undertaken. The bad i of monkeys 
may be neglected, for twenty ‘ tail ’ would not affect a strong man ; and that 
of a wild pig may be driven forth by burning the body with fire, but to get 
rid of that of a deer necessitates the use of incantations, in which the spirit, 
after it has been duly terrorized, is bidden to go forth to the place of its origin, 
namely, the Great Mango Tree, Paum Tau Seh Pau Janing , that grows at the 
‘ Navel of the Sea ’ (Pusat Laut), whence the currents of the ocean arise : for all 
life is believed by the Patani Malays to have come out of the waters. The dead 
animal, or the animal about to be slain, is usually stroked from the tail to 
the head with a branch of a tree while the incantation is being recited, but very 
old medicine-men, whose soul is strong, can draw out the badi by placing one 
of their big toes, a frequent point of entry for spirits, into the animal’s nostril. 
If the badi is thus extracted, the meat tastes better, but only a brave man may 
undertake this method, for he draws the badi into his own body. If the badi 
is not extracted from a deer, the flesh stinks and creeps, and the hair stands on 
end. If an animal is to be kept alive in captivity, its badi must not be cast 
out when it is captured, or it will pine and die. 
The elephant, the rhinoceros, and the tapir have no badi, but their kuang 
is said to be its exact equivalent. The word is probably Siamese, and may 
have been applied first to the elephant, and then transferred also to the animals 
most closely allied, for many of the words in the so-called ‘ elephant language ’ 
are of Siamese origin , 1 and in the States of Jalor and Legeh the Raja’s 
‘ elephant doctor,’ who is the head of all the elephant mahouts in his state, 
is officially called ’Toh ’Ku Chang, chang being the Siamese for elephant. No 
mahout dares to approach his elephant while it is sleeping, lest he should be 
affected by its kuang , but calls out to awake it before he comes near. A 
peculiar form of skin disease, which causes the body to become white in 
patches, and which is believed in Singapore I. 2, to be caused by eating a certain 
fish, is said in the Patani States to be due to the kuang of a tapir, near the 
dead body of which the sufferer must have unwittingly passed. Probably the 
superstition originated in the streaked and spotted skin of the young tapir. 
I. Dennys, loc. cit ., pp. 115, 116. 
2. Report of the Rajfles Museum and Library , Singapore, 1901. 
