Page:Malay Sketches.pdf/171

, there is still the satisfaction of knowing that everything was done to them which love and skill could devise, and the issue was with God. La-illahá il-Allah, Muhammad Rasul-Allah—“There is but one God, and Muhammad is His Prophet.”

This pious confession of faith has, however, nothing to do with the bĕr-hantu; it comes in afterwards when the seal of death is so evidently on the lips of the sufferer that his friends cease to call on the Devil, and commend the soul of the dying man to God. The bĕr-hantu is, of course, a survival of præ-Islam darkness, and the priests abominate it, or say they do; but they have to be a little careful, because the highest society affects the practice of the Black Art.

To return to the King’s house. In the middle of the floor was spread a puâdal, a small narrow mat, at one end of which was seated a middle aged woman dressed like a men in a short-sleeved jacket, trousers, a sârong, and a scarf fastened tightly round her waist. At the other end of the mat was a large newly lighted candle in a candlestick. Between the woman and the taper were two or three small vessels containing rice coloured with turmeric, patched padi, and perfumed water. An attendant sat near at hand.