Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. VI SAVAGE MALAYS OF SELANGOR 317
hanging " sprouts " with his knife. ^ In those days we
were taller than we are now, and slept in caves of the
rocks. The country then was a plain and was called
; '" Padang Masah it had no grass or trees growing on
it, as no rain fell there and it contained no rivers.
In this country there lived besides the Head or
'Prophet' of our own Religion (Nabi Melaikat), the
' prophets ' (Nabi) respectively of the White Man,
the Chinese, the Indian, and the Malay, but this
was a very long time before Mohammed, and even
before the founding of Mecca. In the sky there
were then to be seen no less than seven suns,
seven moons, seven stars, and seven rainbows, but
the seven rainbows were only the seven snake-souls
of the serpent called Naga Melaikat. This snake
lies there with his head reaching to the gate of
Heaven. There too were seven birds of the kind
called Roc (' geruda '), and a solitary elephant of
immense size. This latter, however, was not really
alive, but only an elephant-soul.
" The plain itself did not resemble earth, but shone
like silver.^ The *
prophets
'
of the different races
could, in those days, still understand something of each
other's language, and they all
' The prophets ' who
' called the earth
of the White Man, the Malay, and the Jakun ;
menia.'
got on best together were those
the
White Man's 'prophet' (Nabi Isa) was the elder
brother of the ' prophet ' of the Jakun (Nabi Melaikat)
and protected him accordingly as his younger brother.
The Malays were sea-folk and came overseas from
Rum and Stambul, Sham {i.e. Syria), and Mecca
^ Cp. the Mantra tradition given 10 Mohammedan tradition, is the new
below, p. 319, which shows it to be a earth that is to be after the day
" Last -Day beHef." of judgment.
' Padang Masah. This, according •^ ? One of the salt plains of Central Asia.