Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 13, 1902.djvu/161

Rh called arrow-sending, or rather, arrow-pointing, was formerly in vogue among Malay magicians.

The next three sendings are taken from an old but valuable authority on the Peninsula named Begbie. One form of sending it is called Tuju Jantong, or the "heart-sending"; jantong being the Malay name both for the human heart and also for the cordiform top of the newly-opened bunch of bananas. The person who employs this form of withcraftwitchcraft [sic] has to search for one of these cordiform tops and perform a magic rite under it. He next has to tie the banana-top, and having recited a prayer over it, burns the point which communicates with the heart of his adversary, inflicting excruciating agony. When he is tired of tormenting him he cuts the jantong, and the man's heart simultaneously drops from its proper situation, blood issuing from the mouth of the expiring sufferer.

In the remaining instances the sendings apparently consist of insects. The Tuju Jindang is a kind of sending in which the sorcerer employs an evil spirit in form of a caterpillar, which is carefully reared in a new vessel and fed upon roasted padi. It partakes of the appearance of the silkworm. Its keeper directs it to attack the enemy, saying: "Go and devour the heart and entrails of so-and-so," or words to that effect, whereupon it departs and flies against the ill-fated individual, entering generally either at the back of the hand or between the shoulders. At the moment of contact a sensation is produced as if a bird had flown against one's body, but it is invisible, and the only sign of its presence is the livid hue of the spot where it has entered. On entering, it forthwith performs its mission, inflicting intolerable torment. The body gradually becomes blue, and the victim expires.

One of the spirits most dreaded by the Malays is the Polong, whose shape is described as resembling nothing in