“Jungle-chief of the World is the name of the Old Man of the Sea.”
There can, however, be little doubt that this “Old Man of the Sea” is a mere synonym for Batara Guru.
A set of expressions to which special reference should perhaps be made consists of the titles used by the wild jungle tribes (Sakais), the use of which is important as confirming the principle that the “Autochthones” are more influential with the spirits residing in their land than any later arrivals can be, whatever skill the latter may have acquired in the magic arts of the country from whence they came.
“Abdullah bin Abdul Kadir, Munshi, in his Autobiography, has an interesting passage on the beliefs of the Malays on the subject of spirits and demons, beliefs which are much more deeply-rooted than is generally supposed. He does not, however, differentiate between national customs and beliefs, and those which have come in with the Muhammadan religion. And indeed it is not easy to do so. Here, everything is classed under the generic term sheitan, which is Arabic, and we find the rakshasa of Hindu romances and the jin and ʿefrit of the Arabian Nights in the company of a lot of Indo-Chinese spirits and goblins, who have not come from the West like the others:—
“I explained to Mr. M. clearly the names of all the sheitan believed in by Chinese and Malays; all ignorance and folly which have come down from their ancestors in former times, and exist up to the present day, much more than I could relate or explain. I merely enumerated the varieties, such as hantu, sheitan,[24] polong,[25] pontianak, penanggalan,[26] jin,[27] pelisit,[28] mambang,[29] hantu pemburu,[30] hantu rimba, jadi-jadian,[31] hantu bengkus,[32] bota, gargasi, raksaksa,[33] nenek kabayan,[34] himbasan,[35] sawan,[36] hantu mati di-bunoh,[37] bajang,[38] katagoran, sempak-kan, puput-kan,[39] ʿefrit,[40] jemalang,[41] terkena,[42] ubat guna.[43] Besides all these there are ever so many ilmu-ilmu (branches of secret knowledge), all of which I could not remember, such as gagak,[44] penundok,[45] pengasih,[46] kebal,[47] kasaktian,[48] tuju,[49] ʿalimun,[50] pendĕras,[51] perahuh,[52] chucha,[53] pelali,[54] perangsang,[55] and a quantity of others. All these are firmly believed in by the people. Some of these arts have their professors (guru) from whom instruction may be got. Others have their doctors, who can say this is such and such a disease, and this is the remedy for it, and besides these there are all those arts which are able to cause evil to man. When Mr. M. heard all this he was astonished and wondered, and said, ‘Do you know the stories of all these?’ I replied, ‘If I were to explain all about them it would fill a large book, and the contents of the book would be all ignorance and nonsense without any worth, and sensible persons would not like to listen to it, they would merely laugh at it.’”[56]
To the foregoing the following list of spirits and ghosts may be added.
The Hantu Kubor (Grave Demons) are the spirits of the dead, who are believed to prey upon the living whenever they get an opportunity. With them may be classed the “Hantu orang mati di-bunoh,” or “spirits of murdered men.”
“The Hantu Ribut is the storm-fiend that howls in the blast and revels in the whirlwind.”[57]
The Hantu Ayer and Hantu Laut are Water and Sea-spirits, and the Hantu Bandan is the Spirit of the Waterfall, which “may often be seen lying prone on the water, with head like an inverted copper (kawah),” where the water rushes down the fall between the rocks.
The Hantu Longgak[58] is continually looking up in the air. Those who are attacked by him foam at the mouth.