Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese Vol II. - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/53

 that a transgression of this pantang regulation would result in the death of the heedless disciple who disregarded it.

In the night following the first day of the treatment, the patients complain of a heavy feeling in the neck, the idea being that the quicksilver has not yet fully dispersed and collects beneath the back of the head when the patient assumes a recumbent attitude. The remedy for this intolerable feeling is the repetition of a rajah or exorcising formula by the instructor.

To give some notion of the energy with which the mercury is rubbed in, we may mention the popular report that Teuku Nèʾ of Meuraʾsa absorbed 10 katis (about 13 lbs.) of quicksilver into his body through the skin.

The "introduction of quicksilver" is, however not the only method employed to produce invulnerability. There are certain objects which have only to be worn on the body to render it proof against wounds.

One class of such objects is known as peugawe. These have the outward appearance of certain living creatures, such as insects, caterpillars, lizards etc., but are in fact composed of iron or some still harder metal, which a knife cannot scratch. They are only to be met with by some lucky chance on the roadside or in the forest.