284 
THE BINUA OF JOHOIlE. 
in an hour the time at which a particular place will be reached, 
and describe with considerable accuracy the distance of one place 
along' the route from another. Distances exceeding a fraction of 
a day are reckoned by nights, as in some of the Polynesian is¬ 
lands.* Like the northern tribes they have a great dread of the sea, a 
feeling arising from exaggerated ideas respecting waves, sea sickness 
and pirates. They have another natural fear carried to excess—that 
of small pox. The explanation they give of this is that in former 
times their tribe was visited and greatly thinned by it, and that a vow 
was then made that they.and their descendants in all time to come 
should flee from its presence whenever and whereever it appeared. 
If it should again break out they would abandon the victim and the 
locality. 
The Binua of the Lingiu and Sayong are said to close their rivers 
by felling trees when they hear that this disease prevails at Johore 
Lama, or elsewhere in the country. Vaccination would prove a 
great boon. 
The Mintira have not, like the Binua, acquired any of the Malay¬ 
an ideas respecting the form of the earth, motion of the sun &c. The 
dark spots in the moon they believe to be a tree, beneath which sits 
a lunar enemy of man, who is constantly knotting strings together to 
make nooses to catch us, which he would succeed in doing did not 
some pitying mice as diligently employ themselves in biting through 
the string. They do not know how or whence the wind comes, but 
believe that their incantations cause tempests to subside. They do 
not with the Malays, Chinese &e., believe that eclipses are caused by 
a naga endeavouring to swallow the sun or moon, but, like some of 
the Polynesians, that an evil spirit is devouring or destroying it. 
Many of them however have a different notion. They believe the 
sky to be a great pot suspended over the earth by a string. The earth 
around its foot or edge (kaki langit) is constantly sending up sprouts 
which would join the sky and entirely close it in over us if an old 
man did not cut and eat them. Should the string break, every thing 
on the surface of the globe would be crushed. The sun is a woman 
who is tied by a string which her lord is always pulling. The moon 
is also a woman named Kundui who is married to Moyang Bir- 
idng, the maker of the nooses for men. The stars are the children 
of the moon. The sun had formerly as many. Fearing however 
that mankind could not support so much brightness and heat they 
agreed each to devour her children. The moon however instead of 
* Ellis Researches, vol. I. p. 388, 
