It has been observed by the author (pp. 71, 153, 163) that kramat animals generally have some physical peculiarity, such as a shrunken foot or stunted tusk; it may be added that they are sometimes white (i.e. albino individuals of a species which is not usually white), and thus marked out from their fellows by the characteristic sacred colour. I remember reading in the local Straits newspaper some years ago that a white mouse-deer, which was caught somewhere in the Negri Sembilan, was regarded by the Malays as kramat: very soon after its capture, I believe on the same evening, it escaped from its cage overnight, a fact which no doubt further corroborated the natives in their belief as to its sacred character. I have little doubt that it was purposely released by some superstitious Malay, who thought that no good would come of keeping a sacred animal in captivity.
[1] J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 14, p. 313. [↑]
LIST OF CHIEF AUTHORITIES QUOTED
Clifford, Hugh. [In Court and Kampong]. London, 1897.
Studies in Brown Humanity. London, 1898.
Clifford, Hugh, and Swettenham, Frank A. A Dictionary of the Malay Language, parts i.–iii. letters A–Ch. Taiping, Perak, 1894–1897.
Crawfurd, John. History of the Indian Archipelago, 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1820.