[68] J.R.A.S., S.B. No. 9, pp. 85, 86. This is an extract from the Marong Mahawangsa, the legendary history of Kedah, a State bordering on Lower Siam. The name Podisat (i.e. Bodhisattva) indicates Indo-Chinese Buddhist influence. It does not seem to occur elsewhere in Malay literature, though Buddhism flourished in Sumatra in the seventh century A.D. [↑]
[69] Of the rhinoceros not many superstitions are yet known. The rhinoceros horn, however (called chula), is believed to be a powerful aphrodisiac, and there is supposed to be a species of “fiery” rhinoceros (badak api) which is excessively dangerous if attacked. This latter is probably a mere fable, vide Cliff., In Court and Kampong, p. 33. [↑]
[70] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 23, 24. [↑]
[71] Young shoots of bamboo are eaten by Malays with curry. [↑]
[72] The skull of this elephant, riddled with bullets, was sent to the Government Museum at Kuala Lumpor, in Selangor. It had, so far as I remember, one stunted tusk. The present State surgeon (Dr. A. E. O. Travers) can speak to the facts. [↑]
[73] Sel. Journ. vol. iii. No. 6, p. 95 (quoted from Perak Museum Notes by Mr. L. Wray). [↑]
[74] Sel. Journ. vol. i. No. 6, p. 83, where this note is given. Probably “armadillo” is a mistake for “pangolin.” [↑]
[75] These leaves are such as are used by the medicine-man for his leaf-brush, i.e. leaves of the pulut-pulut, sĕlaguri, gandarusa, and the red dracæna (lĕnjuang merah). [↑]
[76] “The Malays believe that the power to inform a spirit, a wild beast, or any natural object, such as iron rust, of the source from which it originates (usul asal ka-jadi-an-nya), renders it powerless.” H. Clifford in No. 3 of the Publications of the R.A.S., S.B., Hikayat Raja Budiman, pt. ii. p. 8. This belief is found among all tribes of Malays in the Peninsula. Possibly the idea was that knowledge of another person’s ancestry implied common tribal origin. For the explanation of “Badi,” vide Chap. IV. p. 94, supra, and Chap. VI. p. 427, infra. [↑]
[77] “Rhinoceros” should be substituted for “elephant” passim, if it was the object of the hunter’s pursuit. This particular line should probably come at the end of the charm instead of the middle. [↑]