[206] Newbold, op. cit. vol. ii. pp. 202–208. Vide Chap. II. p. 33, supra. [↑]
[207] Swettenham, Malay Sketches, pp. 207, 208. [↑]
[208] Yet the act of sneezing is considered so fraught with the risk of the soul’s escaping, that not unfrequently after a severer sneeze than usual, a Malay will attempt to call his soul back by ejaculating “Cluck! Soul!” (kur, sĕmangat!) as if he were calling a chicken, and the regular use of the phrase “Al-hamdu li’llah” (Praised be God), after sneezing suggests that he may be relieved to find his soul still in his own possession. [↑]
[209] See J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 19, 20. [↑]
[210] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, pp. 26–28. In Selangor “Kursĕmangat, tuboh budak ini,” “My soul! the body of the boy,” or some such phrase is occasionally used. [↑]
[211] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 7, p. 27. [↑]
[212] Examples are:—(1) the burning of incense ... (vide Medicine, pp. 410 seqq. and elsewhere, passim); (2) the inspection of the water in the “Three Jars” ceremony, ibid.; (3) the scattering of parched rice, ibid.; (4) the application of the “Rice-Paste” (tĕpong-tawar) ceremony (vide Marriage, Fishing, etc.); (5) the sound of water struck by a canoe paddle (vide Crocodile-catching); (6) the manner of falling of the filed-off portion of a tooth (vide Adolescence); (7) the whisper of the sap in the bark of a gharu-tree, when the latter is struck by a cutlass (vide Vegetation Charms), and a host of others. [↑]
[213] My informant did not make it plain whether the same charm was repeated on each of these three occasions, or whether a different charm was used in each case. Probably the latter would be the more correct course. [↑]