FASCICULI MALATENSES 
27 
woman, also a spirit, had accosted the two who had remained without, and 
one of them had attempted to embrace her. She had bitten his shoulder, 
causing him an agony of pain. But ’Teh Ni, foreseeing some such occurrence, 
had given the headman a magic ball, which he rubbed on his companion’s 
shoulder, producing instant relief. The three men returned to Kota Bharu, 
which they reached in three days. Their leader, however, after many years, 
became possessed of a strong desire to revisit the beautiful land of Lakawn 
Suka, and, setting out to seek it in the woods, never returned again. 
So great was ’Toh Ni that everything he owned or handled became 
sacred. One day, on a journey, he threw away an old bamboo cylinder which 
had contained blacham —a malodorous conserve of fish, prawns and salt of 
which Malays are fond. Dead as the bamboo was to all appearance, it 
sprouted and grew, producing in the course of time a large thicket, which is 
distinguished from other bamboos by the peculiar shape and size of the 
leaves, and, above all, by the fact that the stems are covered with a white 
efflorescence like that of salt. It is situated in Rhaman, on the left bank of 
the Patani River, some miles above Bendang Stah. When I passed it on my 
way to Patani from Upper Perak, my raftsmen, some of whom were Malays 
and some Siamese, tried to persuade my Siamese servant, who came from 
Bangkok, to pluck a twig, saying that the Datob would not hurt a Bangkok 
man ; but one of them told me that his own brother, having attempted to 
steal a small branch, immediately fell down dead, with blood spurting out all 
over his body. Even a leaf would have been a most powerful luck charm. 
’Toh Ni’s elephants also became sacred, especially a large female, on 
which he generally rode. After his apparent death he appeared in a dream to 
his successor, and told him that this elephant was about to bring forth a male 
foal, which should also be sacred and should be known by the semi-royal 
title of ni. The younger elephant, now in its prime, is still regarded with 
the greatest reverence ; persons who chance to meet it—it wanders freely 
about the district—do obeisance to it, as I have myself seen, believing that it 
will bring about some injury to those who are rude to it; and it is even 
reputed to collect aLl the other elephants in Rhaman occasionally and to take 
them on a pilgrimage to the shrine of ’Toh Panjang, which is several days’ 
journey distant from the nearest point in ’Toh Ni’s country. 1 was told that 
many persons had seen the pious procession, and that the elephants which 
composed it would do no harm to those who were polite to them, but would 
eat up all the growing rice or destroy the fruit trees of anyone who did not 
greet them with the salutation of an inferior to superiors. 
