Pagan races of the Malay Peninsula - Sabrizain.org

CHAP. IX GENERAL REMARKS 397
in all—there being four narrow panels at the top of
the solid part, and three more narrow panels just
above the teeth, with a central panel of great breadth
between them. By the side of this panel-scheme a
flower should be drawn (preferably an Ixora, that being
the flower selected by Vaughan- Stevens), showing
pistil, stamens, petals, and sepals—the smell of the
flower need not be drawn, but may be understood !
Now we are asked to believe that the first panel (count-
ing from the top of the comb) represents the smell^ of
'"
the flower in question the upper edge ;
panel the pistil and stamens ;
the
of this first
second panel the
" lengthened (or projecting) spike above the green
sepals " ;
^ and the lowest horizontal line, bounding
the eighth or lowest panel, the sepals themselves.'*
The petals (" tapak "), which one would think
would be one of the most obvious parts of a flower in
the eyes of a savage, have no panel assigned to them,
and what other parts of the flower are represented by
the unassigned panels we are not informed, but we
have a shrewd suspicion that the botany text-book
had been unfortunately mislaid before this part of the
investigation was completed. Otherwise we might
have been treated to further ethnological (and perhaj^s
even to botanical) discoveries !
To be just to Vaughan -Stevens, however, the
obvious fact is that as he conducted his investigations
in Malay, he must have been early brought face to
face with the Malay word " bunga," a flower
( = " bakau " in Semang), and as he evidently did not
* The Semang "was" is said to seem that the pistil is what is really
= " smell," but perhaps really means intended, but this has been mentioned
the solid part of the comb {v. p. 426, already under another name.
infra). ^ Sem. "tepi." * Sem. "mos." For the whole
^ Sem. "pawcr." It is by no passage, see pp. 426, 427, iufra,
means clear what this means ; it would especially 427, «. i.