326 f TRADITIONAL TRACES OF ORIGIN <&C. 
culiar and positive faith in another world. The smangat, i. e. the! 
soul (or insubstantial but sensible body which the spirit permeates, 
and which, according to some of my informants, was preyed on by the 
Hantus) at death leaves the gross or earthly body* and is carried by 
B a yang Lassa on the wind to Ngangnari or Pulo Bua (Fruit 
Island*) which lies far away where the sun sets. There the sm&ng- 
ats of all the dead live together in harmony and constant enjoyment, 
for the great island is full of trees, and there are none that do not 
bear pleasant fruits. They marry and have children as in this world, 
but pain, disease and death are unknown. The smangats of men who 
have died a bloody death do not go to Pulo Bua, but to Tana Mera 
(Red Land) which is a desolate and barren place. Its smangats 
repair to Pulo Bua to procure food/j' 
TRADITIONAL TRACES OF ORIGIN &c. 
The Mintira do not appear to have any more precise traditions 
respecting their origin than the Besisi and other tribes. They all 
believe that they are the original occupants of the country. “ You 
know” said a Besisi to me (S that this is the Pulo Besar or Great Is- 
f 
land which belongs to us, and not to the Malays, who have intruded 
into our country.” The Mintira have the same notion, and those 
who lately visited me added, when conversing on this subject, that the 
Pulo Besar is so great that in former ages their ancestors were em¬ 
ployed for many generations in endeavouring to circumambulate it, 
but each new generation meeting a new country, the last of their no¬ 
madic forefathers settled where the race now lives. They were not 
in continual motion, but each generation, after advancing a consider¬ 
able distance, rested, and the succeeding one, when grown up, resum¬ 
ed the journey. The Mintira have the following tradition respecting 
the origin of their Batins. The first of all Batins and rulers was 
Batin Changei Bisi, whose nails, as his name imports, were of iron. 
He lived at Gunong Penyarong in Menangkabau. By him a Raja 
was placed over Menangkabau, a Bindahara over P&hang, and, at a 
, t 
* This will remind the reader of Bolotoo. 
f The Slain not the Slayer, is excluded from Ngang,nurt. They have no 
belief in future rewards and punishments. 
