Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/317

 Reviews.

305

Malay Magic : being an Introduction to the Folklore AND Popular Religion of the Malay Peninsula. By Walter William Skeat. With a Preface by Charles Otto Blagden. Pp. 685, 28 plates. Macmillan and Co. 1900.

It is natural to expect that the folklore of a people, that has been subjected to the double influence of Brahminism and Buddh- ism since about the third century, and for the last four or five hundred years has adopted the religion of Islam with the civilisa- tion that accompanies it, should be of a somewhat piebald character with distinct marks of stratification. Underlying all this, however, is the native bed-rock of animism which, combined with a belief in sympathetic magic, yields an abundant supply of behefs, ceremonies, magic formulas, and taboos, sufficient to fill a stout volume. The greater gods, for instance, are Hindu divinities in Malay dress, for only the lesser gods and spirits are of native origin. Shiva is known as Batara Guru, and is regarded as the greatest of gods, while Vishnu, Brahma, Kala, and Sri are frequently appealed to. The Malay Drama is largely indebted to India, and many of the plots are derived from the Ramayana and other Indian epics. As the Malay does not seem to possess a speculative mind, in various legends of the creation of the world and the creation of man, Arab influence is clearly shown, as well as in some charms and in marriage and burial customs.

In the Malay Peninsula the theory of the king as the Divine Man, who can slay at pleasure without being guilty of crime, seems to be held in all its fulness. He is credited with all the attributes of inferior gods, and his birth is attended by amazing prodigies. He is usually invulnerable, and gifted with miraculous powers. Yet it would be interesting to trace these beliefs to their origin. They can hardly, I think, be of purely native growth, for other Malay peoples at a more primitive stage of culture either have no kings, or, if they have, credit them with far less power.

It is seldom one finds such a mass of mining-lore as Mr. Skeat has garnered. It makes one wonder whether the miners of the Cassiterides had taboos analogous to those of the Malays. From the Malay point of view, tin-ore is endued with vitality and the power of growth. Its spirit can assume the form of a buffalo and move underground from place to place. Certain words, such as elephant, buffalo, cat, snake, lime (fruit), tin-sand, tin, the use of

VOL. XI. X