Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

52 MATURITY CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS part hi
not yet fully identified. When rubbed to a pulp and smeared on the body,
especially the breast, it is believed to give a man the power to overcome a
tiger.
The fresh leaf with its peculiar markings gives an exact replica of the facepaint
of a Besisi magician. The veining on the upper side of the leaf is of
such a pale yellowish-green that it almost has the effect of white, and thus forms
a sharp contrast to the very dark greenish-gold stripes of the leaf.
No one leaf is marked exactly like another. The patterns are manifold ; in
some cases stripes traverse the entire leaf. In a good light the ground colour of
the leaf appears, as has been said, of a greenish-gold, but on the under side of
the leaf the corresponding parts appear a dark reddish-brown ; held up to the
light the green of the upper side merges into the reddish-brown.
The under side of the leaf is very soft and smooth, but the upper side is
plentifully covered with very fine hairs.
The dark reddish-brown lines which glimmer through from the under side
correspond in fact to the red and black of the face-paint designed for the tiger
in conjuration ceremonies, and at the same time to the recognised face-paint
of the Besisi.
These stripes are said to correspond to the stripes on the skin of the tiger,
the red colour not being distinguished from yellow.'
Mantra.—There is very little information on the
subject of maturity customs available with regard to
the Mantra of Malacca, Logan, however, records
the fact that the teeth of the bride and bridegroom
were filed with a stone before the day of marriage.^
Montano states that the Mantra (Sakai) usually
file the lower edge of the upper canine teeth, but
does not connect it with any ceremony.'^
Jakun of Johop.—D. F. A. Hervey, in writing of
the Jakun on the Madek, says that one chief
characteristic which distinguished the Madek tribe
from other Jakun tribes was the absence of any
rite resembling circumcision ; whilst the Sembrong
tribe practised incision, but did not circumcise.* The
Madek people, however, relate that they used once
to observe the custom, but it was given up owing to
certain untoward circumstances, which befell the tribe
two or three hundred years ago, as follows : on
one
occasion when the rite was observed, several of the
' Z.f.E. xxvi. 156. * A. D. Machado tells me that in-
2 Logan in J. I. A. vol. i. p. 323*. cision is still practised among the Jakun
2 Rev. iV Ethn. i. 44. of Ulu Batu Pahat, in Johor.