Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 11, 1900.djvu/320

 3o8 Reviews.

virgin jungle, return to your caverns and hill-locked basins, to the stream that has no headwaters, to the pond that was never dug, &c." If a spirit or creature will not obey a civil request, it is of course threatened : " If ye retire not from hence, as you stride your leg will break, as you stretch your hand out your hand shall be crippled .... moreover your tongue shall be split by a bamboo splinter, &c." " If you (wild pigeons) descend not, the Bear-cat shall devour you, if you come not, wild beasts shall devour you .... if you fly upwards, you shall be swooped upon by kites and eagles, &c." "Y\iQ, pawang often asserts that it is not he that does a particular act, but someone else. He does this either to remove the blame from his own shoulders, or to give greater force to his words, being but the mouthpiece of a greater person. For example : " It is not I who spear you (a deer), it is Pawang Sidi who spears you ; " " It is not I who cast out these mischiefs, it is the Junior Dogboy who casts them out ; " " It is not I that make this peace- offering, it is old Togok the Wizard who makes it, it is the Elder Wizard who makes it." The Finnish wizard is also familiar with this fiction. In fishing, fowling, and mining charms, certain words are tabooed as offensive to the particular fish, bird, or metal. Thus the hut of the fowler is the " Magic Prince," the nooses are "Solomon's necklaces;" tin-ore is addressed as "Rice Grains," "Spinach-seed," "Tobacco-seed," "Millet, &c. ;" a fish must be termed " Tree-leaves " or " Jetsam." It is not improbable that the Ken?iings of Scandinavian poetry, especially those relating to the sea and ships, and the figurative expressions in Finnish magic poetry have a similar root. With the gradual decay of the idea which gave birth to them, they would be applied to other objects by analogy, and so increase in numbers till they came to be regarded as mere poetical embellishments with unlimited power of multi- plication.

In the limits of a short notice it is not possible to do justice to the ample folklore material collected by Mr. Skeat or even to indi- cate its contents with appropriate fulness. Suffice to say that the Malay in various conditions of life is followed from birth to the grave. And if a few matters are passed over, such as the ancient organisation of the clan and the tribe, it is probably because the Malays of the Peninsula have outlived that stage, owing to their higher civilisation. A considerable number of illustrations ma- terially enhance the value of the book.

John Abercromby.