Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

NEGRITOS OF KEDAH
Other!) the contingency never arises. But they also
assured me that they of the jungle were far more
distant and circumspect in their dealings with their
mothers-in-law than was the case with their neigh-
bours the Malays.^
To the foregoing I may add that according to the
Eastern Semang, the ghosts of wicked (or ignorant ?)
tribesmen, on leaving the dead body, fly up to the sky
1 ^'aughan-Stevens s account is as
follows — : The so - called " Kor-loi-
melloi,"' or "Blood-throwing" ceremony,
is now completely forgotten
on the west coast of the Peninsula
[I did not find it so.—W.S.], and
even in Perak, but is quite universal
in the east coast states. In order
to appease the angry deity men and
women (of all ages) are in the habit
of cutting the skin covering the
shins to obtain a few drops of blood.
One cut is usually sufficient, so that
on the whole very little blood is
drawn. The cuts are made diagonally
across the axis of the leg, are from
6 to 10 mm. in length, and are said
to have been formerly made with a
stone knife (?), though now with the
ordinary iron jungle-knife or parang,
which was knocked with a piece of
wood until blood was drawn. The
blood — it need only be a drop — is
either sucked out or dropped directly
into a long bamboo receptacle, and a
quantity of water (sufficient to half
fill the bamboo) is poured in with it.
The Semang then turns in the direction
of the setting sun, and doling out
the liquid with a special bamboo
spatula, throws it straight up into the
air, calling out with a loud voice,
" Blood, I throw towards the sun ;
I draw blood, curdled blood ; I throw
blood towards the sun," or words to
that effect, the invocation being
repeated each time that the liquid is
thrown, up until all is finished.
When the storm is very severe the
bamboo may be refilled with blood and
water and a fresh ceremony take place.
The bamboo vessel used for the pur-
pose is, as a rule, fresh and roughly
cut, and was usually not decorated
doubtless owing to the fact that there
would be no time to do so during a
sudden tropical storm, the vessel being
cut for the purpose on each occasion,
and thrown away after use.
Kari himself makes no use of the
blood thus sacrificed, but is pacified
by this sign of his children's repentance
and ceases to hurl thunderbolts, and
to continue his complaints of their
misdeeds to their creator Pie, at least
until they again give him occasion to
do so.
Pie, however, employs the blood of
the Semang in order to create certain
red jungle fruits which serve as food
for man, such as, for instance, the
well-known " rambutan " {Nepheliian
lappaiim).
The Puttos themselves did not cut
themselves, but instead of doing so
threw their secret remedies (which
they preserved in bamboo cases), into
the air. From these Pie created
certain white jungle fruits.
When the periodical wind or monsoon
brings no rain, very few fruits
appear, and the Semang then say
that this is because they had not
thrown up enough blood, since the
frequency of the blood - throwing has
an influence on the quantity of rain.
[From this it would appear that the
ceremony may after all perhaps be
mainly a rain-making ceremony.
W.S.] — Vaughan - Stevens, iii. 107-
109. Cp. Newbold, ii. 386, 396
and /. R. A. S., S. B., No. 4, p. 48,
where women only are stated to draw
blood.