Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/421

 a slaver composed of the same ingredients which in Java serve as a protection against the evil influences which threaten the infant: sirih, turmeric (kunyèt), sweet-flag (jeureungèë, Jav. dringo), cheukō (Jav. kěnchur, Mal. chěkur) and brown onions. Sometimes a chewed pap of the same articles is laid on the spot above the child's forehead (mbōt-mbōt). After the whole body has thus been overspread, the infant is dressed in a sort of swadding-cloth (ija teumpèë) and over this are thickly wound strips of cloth till he is closely packed (geudōng).

The indispositions most dreaded for the child are beuténg and sakét dròë. The former is a swelling of the abdomen which is especially common in the first two months and is generally fatal. As a measure of prevention chewed turmeric (kunyèt) or ashes from the cooking-place (abèë dapu) are laid on the navel "that no wind may enter in" as they say. The sakét dròë (sakit diri) appears to derive its name from the idea that every child brings into the world in himself (dròë) the tendency to this disease; it is supposed to depend entirely on the supernatural powers whether the malady will be developed or suppressed.

A European physician would probably divide into several distinct ailments what the Achehnese understand by this single appellation. Fever is said to be often the first symptom of the sakét dròë, but at a later period the hands are clenched and the eyes staring, while the patient moans continually. Hinggu or asa foetida roasted and applied to the forehead and chin is believed to act as a preventive. Remedies are seldom employed for this disease; the tangkay or incantation is alone of avail. It is thought indispensable that a child suffering from this ailment should always be laid on its stomach and it is sometimes placed in this position on a manure-heap, in the hope that this treatment may be of some service !

The sakét dròë is especially feared during the first year of the child's existence, and during this period children are kept carefully indoors