BIRTH. 
323* 
the same plate, a custom which is common to most of the Hindu- 
Chinese and Malayan races. The bridegroom remains for the night. 
The teeth of the bride and bridegroom are filed with a stone be¬ 
fore the day of marriage. 
BIRTH. 
(Vide ante p. 270.) When the mother is in labour, a cup of wa¬ 
ter is charmed and administered to her. The juice of the daun pa- 
manto and daun pamadam is given to the child, while this prayer is re¬ 
peated : “ KurmGimdi tapandang s6itan binto ranggam ankau sa- 
sna padam pddam kau suda trang nan suda ditingo pandangan ku 
ada mengikut tuhan pamanto minta padamkan fiku sekali sudd tabali 
minta padamkan sekali nan suda.” A name is given to the child at 
the moment the umbilical cord is cut, and this is retained until mar¬ 
riage, when a surname or cognomen (gilar) is bestowed, which is 
used ever afterwards in lieu of the name. These customs, however, 
are not inflexible. The birth name is sometimes superseded before 
marriage, when misfortunes happen to the child, under the impres¬ 
sion that It is unlucky ; and the gilar of the parents frequently gives 
place to the name of the eldest child with the prefix pa (father) 
ma (mother). The latter is considered a peculiarly pleasing mode 
of address, parental being no doubt found, in many cases, to be strong¬ 
er than personal vanity.' A similar custom prevails amongst the 
Malays of Naning, Rambau, and the other states of the interior, 
and has probably been imported from Sumatra, from whence this 
portion of the Peninsula was directly colonized. The importance of 
proper names, in assisting to carry us back to remote times in a peo¬ 
ples history, is well known to the antiquary in Europe. Amongst 
those aboriginal tribes of the Peninsula whose native language lias 
nearly disappeared before the modern Malay, the enquirer often finds 
in the names of places and men the principal monuments of antiquity. 
It is probable that these names are really words of a language once spo¬ 
ken, although the signification of most of them has been lost. The 
examples subjoined, which may be received as fair samples, (for they 
were the names of all the relatives and acquaintances of my inform 
