1. Sapĕnoh. 2. Sapanggil. 3. Jĕnjuang (or lĕnjuang) merah (the Red Dracæna). 4. Gandarusa. 5. Pulut-pulut. 6. Sĕlaguri. 7. Sambau dara (a kind of grass).
But the most interesting object was a small oval-shaped basket bound with the ribu-ribu creeper, and about fourteen inches long, which was standing just in front of the three rice-baskets and close to the Pawang, and which, as I afterwards found out, was intended to serve as the cradle of the Rice-soul (or “Rice-baby”). I examined it, however, and found that as yet it only contained the following objects:—
- 1. A strip of white cloth (folded up and lying at the bottom of the basket).
- 2. Some parti-coloured thread (bĕnang panchawarna or pancharona).
- 3. A hen’s egg.
- 4. One of the hard jungle-nuts (candle-nuts) already referred to.
- 5. A cockle shell (k’rang).
- 6. A long iron nail.
- 7. Five cubits of red cloth by means of which the soul-basket was to be slung round the neck of its bearer. (The correcter custom would require an expensive cloth of the kind called jong sarat, or the “Loaded Junk,” according to my informant the Pawang.)
Three new Malay skirts or sarongs were added, (one to each basket), and everything being ready, the various receptacles described above were entrusted to five female bearers (Pĕnjawat), who descended from the house, with the Pawang at their head, and set out for the rice-field. Before they had gone many yards they were joined by the owner of the field, who walked in front of them bearing what was called the junjongan padi. This was the stem and leaves of a dark red kind of sugar-cane, which was used in substitution for the black or “raven” variety (tĕbu gagak) which, the Pawang explained, would have been used in preference if it had been obtainable. Meanwhile the procession passed on, and the Pawang repeated as we went the following prayer to the spirits:—
“In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate,
Peace be with thee, O Prophet ’Tap, in whose charge is the Earth,
I know the origin of the Rice, S’ri Gading, Gĕmala Gading,
That (dwelleth at) the end of the clearing, and that (dwelleth at) the beginning (top) of the clearing;
That is scattered broadcast, that is cast headlong,
That is over-run (!) by the ants called Silambada.