THE ACHEHNESE - Acehbooks.org

Invisible It sometimes also happens (just as in Java) that the clairvoyante
10 female ° invokes the help of an invisible being (ureueng adard). After the burning
"seers". 0f jncense, which she inhales or over which she waves her hands,
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muttering the while, the familiar spirit enters into her. Then she appears
to lose her senses; trembling and with changed voice she utters some
incoherent sentences, which she afterwards interprets on coming to
herself again.
The tiong The mina, a well-known talking bird, called tiong by the Achehnese,
n(j o c p p J*
is regarded as endowed with this gift of second sight, but a human
"seer" male or female, is indispensable for the interpretation of its
utterances. Such clairvoyantes are supposed to understand the speech
of the bird, and translate into oracular and equivocal Achehnese the
incomprehensible chatter of the mina.
In cases of theft the ureueng keumalbn usually declares whether the
thief is great or small of stature, light or dark of complexion, and
whether he has straight or wavy hair '), so that the questioner has at
least the consolation of knowing that the stolen article is not hopelessly
lost, and that he may recover it by anxious search.
For sick persons the results of the clairvoyance consist as a rule in
a recipe in which the leaves of plants take the foremost place, or else
it is divined that drums (geundrang) or tambourines should be played
for the benefit of the sick child or that a many-hued garment (the ija
planggi) should be given it to wear 2 ).
Lucky marks. Another kind of divination consists in the examination of the lines
on the palm of the hand (kalbn urat jarb'e) as a means of telling
peoples' fortunes. A further method of predicting the future is from
the shape and position of the spiral twists of the hair, called pusa (in
Java user-user an). From this is deduced the quality of the animal in
the case of cattle, goats, sheep and horses, and their future destiny in
the case of human beings. Two symmetrical pusas placed opposite one
another are lucky signs. A certain peculiar spiral called pusa rimu'eng
is a token that its possessor will be torn by a tiger.
The spirals found in the very fine lines of the skin are also called
i) The kampong-folk of Batavia, who are much harassed by thefts, also frequently have
recourse to such orang mcliatin; the writer has even himself known a case in which certain
police officers of the capital of Java did not disdain thus to facilitate the fulfilment of
their duty.
2) See Vol. I pp. 390 et seq.