I may add, on the authority of Mr. H. Conway Belfield, lately Acting-Resident of Selangor, that a curious periphrastic expression is sometimes used by Perak women in talking of their husbands, whom they call rumah tangga, which literally means “House and House-ladder,” and which is tantamount to saying, “My household,” instead of “My husband.” [↑]
[76] I remember Mr. C. H. A. Turney (then Senior District Officer at Klang) telling me of a great disturbance that arose at Klang because too many of these big pillows were being used at a Malay wedding. Order was only restored by the intervention of the police. [↑]
[77] A hasta is the length of the forearm from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, or about eighteen inches. [↑]
[78] There is, I believe, a special ceremony connected with the opening of this curtain which is performed by the bridegroom after the wedding ceremony, special cakes, called “curtain-openers” (kueh pĕmbuka k’lambu), being eaten. [↑]
[79] C. and S. give—“Bun (Dutch), a large tin or copper box for tobacco or sirih leaves—Van der Tuuk.” “Bun” is given as a “trunk” in a Dutch Dictionary. [↑]
[80] This is called main zikir—or, more commonly, jikir—maulud if it is unaccompanied, and zikir bĕrdah if accompanied by musical instruments. [↑]
[81] Tĕpong tawar, or “Neutralising Paste,” is believed to avert ill-luck (mĕmbuang sial); for further details vide Chap. III. pp. 77–81, supra. [↑]
[82] Not at a Raja’s wedding. [↑]
[83] This ceremony is also called mĕnyĕlang or bĕrlĕbat. [↑]
[84] One of these fillets, which was purchased by the writer, had for its pattern two dragons (naga), which looked different ways, and a couple of butterflies as pendants at each end. The substitute used by poor people is frequently manufactured from the leaf of the thatch-palm (nipah). [↑]