Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. VI NEGRITOS OF KEDAH 233
belongs (as do so many charms in Malay and most
other languages) to a more archaic dialect.
A tentative version runs as follows :
Look, look, comrade !
As this oil drips,
Alone by yourself
Approach towards me,
(And) yearn towards me
(As this) oil spreads upwards.
Sendings or " Pointings
The following information concerning the bamboo
sendings or rather "pointings" (" tuju ") used by
the B'lians of their tribe was furnished me by the
Semang themselves.
The ordinary "tuju" is a mere slip or sliver of
bamboo about two inches long. This is laid upon the
right palm, and commanded to go and kill its intended
victim. It thereupon flies through the air, and on
reaching its victim pierces him to the heart. ^ The
" tuju " with the nick in it was (they told me) far the
more deadly than the one without, as on reaching its
victim it would " twist itself round his heart-strings."
One form of the ceremony is as follows :—Wax
from a deserted bees'-comb is taken and fashioned
roughly into a taper. This taper is lighted, and a
little incense burnt. The sliver (" tuju ") is then
commanded to proceed directly, turning neither to the
right hand nor to the left until it reaches its destined
victim.
When I asked some members of the tribes at how
^ The nicked " tuju " may very arrows of the combatants are repre-
probably, I am inclined to believe, sented as a kind of small serpents or
represent a degenerated bamboo arrow, dragons which did not require to be
the nick still carrying on the tradition shot with the bow, but flew of their
of the barbs. It must be remembered own accord to the mark, directed
that in the version of the Ramayana, as merely by the magic power, or will,
modified by Malay shadow-players, the of those who owned them.