3. VEGETATION CHARMS

The Vegetation Spirit of the Malays "follows in some vague and partial way," to use Professor Tylor's words, from the analogy of the Animal Spirit. It is difficult to say, without a more searching inquiry than I have yet had the opportunity of making, whether Malay magicians would maintain that all trees had souls (semangat) or not. All that we can be certain of at present is that a good many trees are certainly supposed by them to have souls, such, for instance, as the Durian, the Cocoa-nut palm, and the trees which produce Eagle-wood (gharu), Gutta Percha, Camphor, and a good many others. What can be more significant than the words and actions of the men who in former days would try and frighten the Durian groves into bearing; or of the toddy-collector who addresses the soul of the Cocoa-nut palm in such words as, "Thus I bend your neck, and roll up your hair; and here is my ivory toddy-knife to help the washing of your face"; [344] or of the collectors of jungle produce who traffic in Eagle-wood, Camphor, and Gutta (the spirits of the first two of which trees are considered extremely powerful and dangerous) or, above all, of the reapers who carry the "Rice-soul" home at harvest time? A special point in connection with the Malay conception of the vegetation soul perhaps requires particular attention, viz. the fact that apparently dead and even seasoned timber may yet retain the soul which animated it during its lifetime. Thus, the instructions for the performance of the rites to be used at the launching of a boat (which will be found below under the heading "The Sea, Rivers, and Streams") [345] involve an invocation to the timbers of the boat, which would therefore seem to be conceived as capable, to some extent, of receiving impressions and communications made in accordance with the appropriate forms and ceremonies. So, too, a boat with a large knot in the centre of the bottom is considered good for catching fish, and in strict conformity with this idea is the belief that the natural excrescences (or knobs) and deformities of trees are mere external evidences of an indwelling spirit. So, too, the fruit of the cocoa-nut palm, when the shell lacks the three "eyes" to which we are accustomed, is believed to serve in warfare as a most valuable protection (pelias) against the bullets of the enemy, and the same may be said in a minor degree of the joints of "solid" bamboo (buluh tumpat) which are occasionally found, whilst to a slightly different category belong the comparatively numerous examples of "Tabasheer" (mineral concretions in the wood of certain trees), which are so highly valued by the Malays for talismanic purposes. Such trees as the Mali mali, Rotan jer'nang (Dragon's-blood rattan), Buluh kasap (rough bamboo), etc., are all said to supply instances of the concretions referred to, but the most famous of them all is without doubt the so-called "cocoa-nut pearl," of which I quote the following account from Dr. Denys's Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya. Cocoa-nut Pearls The following remarks concerning these peculiar accretions are extracted from Nature:-- "During my recent travels," Dr. Sidney Hickson writes to a scientific contemporary, "I was frequently asked by the Dutch planters and others if I had ever seen 'a cocoa-nut stone.' These stones are said to be rarely found (1 in 2000 or more) in the perisperm of the cocoa-nut, and when found are kept by the natives as a charm against disease and evil spirits. This story of the cocoa-nut stone was so constantly told me, and in every case without any variation in its details, that I made every effort before leaving to obtain some specimens, and eventually succeeded in obtaining two. "One of these is nearly a perfect sphere, 14 mm. in diameter, and the other, rather smaller in size, is irregularly pear-shaped. In both specimens the surface is worn nearly smooth by friction. The spherical one I have had cut into two halves, but I can find no concentric or other markings on the polished cut surfaces. "Dr. Kimmins has kindly submitted one-half to a careful chemical analysis, and finds that it consists of pure carbonate of lime without any trace of other salts or vegetable tissue. "I should be very glad if any of your readers could inform me if there are any of these stones in any of the museums, or if there is any evidence beyond mere hearsay of their existence in the perisperm of the cocoa-nut." [346] On this letter Mr. Thiselton Dyer makes the following remarks:--"Dr. Hickson's account of the calcareous concretions occasionally found in the central hollow (filled with fluid--the so-called 'milk') of the endosperm of the seed of the cocoa-nut is extremely interesting. It appears to me a phenomenon of the same order as tabasheer, to which I recently drew attention in Nature. "The circumstances of the occurrence of these stones or 'pearls' are in many respects parallel to those which attend the formation of tabasheer. In both cases mineral matter in palpable masses is withdrawn from solution in considerable volumes of fluid contained in tolerably large cavities in living plants; and in both instances they are monocotyledons. "In the case of the cocoa-nut pearls the material is calcium carbonate, and this is well known to concrete in a peculiar manner from solutions in which organic matter is also present. "In my note on tabasheer I referred to the reported occurrence of mineral concretions in the wood of various tropical dicotyledonous trees. Tabasheer is too well known to be pooh-poohed; but some of my scientific friends express a polite incredulity as to the other cases. I learn, however, from Prof. Judd, F.R.S., that he has obtained a specimen of apatite found in cutting up a mass of teak-wood. The occurrence of this mineral under these circumstances has long been recorded; but I have never had the good fortune to see a specimen." [347] The Durian The Durian tree (for an account of whose famous fruit the classical description in Wallace's Malay Archipelago may be referred to) is a semi-wild fruit-tree, whose stem frequently rises to the height of some eighty or ninety feet before the branches are met with. It is generally planted in groves, which are often to be found in the jungle when all other traces of former human habitation have completely disappeared, though even then its fruit, if tradition says true, is as keenly fought over by the denizens of the forest (monkeys, bears, and tigers) as ever it was by their temporary dispossessors. Interspersed among the Durian trees will be found numerous varieties of orchard trees of a less imperial height, amongst which may be named the Rambutan, [348] Rambei, [349] Lansat, [350] Duku, [351] Mangostin, [352] and many others. A small grove of these trees, which was claimed by the late Sultan `Abdul Samad of Selangor, grew within about a mile of my bungalow at Jugra, and I was informed that in years gone by a curious ceremony (called Menyemah durian) was practised in order to make the trees more productive. On a specially selected day, it was said, the village would assemble at this grove, and (no doubt with the usual accompaniment of the burning of incense and scattering of rice) the most barren of the Durian trees would be singled out from the rest. One of the local Pawangs would then take a hatchet (beliong) and deliver several shrewd blows upon the trunk of the tree, saying:-- "Will you now bear fruit or not? If you do not I shall fell you." [353] To this the tree (through the mouth of a man who had been stationed for the purpose in a Mangostin tree hard by) was supposed to make answer:-- "Yes, I will now bear fruit; I beg you not to fell me." [354] I may add that it was a common practice in the fruit season for the boys who were watching for the fruit to fall (for which purpose they were usually stationed in small palm-thatch shelters) to send echoing through the grove a musical note, which they produced by blowing into a bamboo instrument called tuang-tuang. I cannot, however, say whether this custom now has any ceremonial significance or not, though it seems not at all unlikely that it once had. [355] The Malacca Cane No less distinct are the animistic ideas of the Malays relating to various species of the Malacca-cane plant. Mr. Wray of the Perak Museum writes as follows:-- "A Malacca-cane with a joint as long as the height of the owner will protect him from harm by snakes and animals, and will give him luck in all things. What is called a samambu bangku [356] or baku, possesses the power of killing any one even when the person is only slightly hurt by a blow dealt with it. These are canes that have died down and have begun to shoot again from near the root. They are very rare, one of eighteen inches in length is valued at six or seven dollars, and one long enough to make a walking stick of, at thirty to fifty dollars. At night the rotan samambu plant is said to make a loud noise, and, according to the Malays, it says, 'Bulam sampei, bulam sampei,' [357] meaning that it has not yet reached its full growth. They are often to be heard in the jungle at night, but the most diligent search will not reveal their whereabouts. The rotan manoh [358] is also said to give out sounds at night. The sounds are loud and musical, but the alleged will-o'-the-wisp character of the rattans which are supposed to produce them seems to point to some night-bird, tree-frog, or lizard as being the real cause of the weird notes, though it is just possible that the wind might make the rattan leaves vibrate in such a way as to cause the sounds." [359] In Selangor it is the stick-insect (keranting) which is believed to be the embodiment of the "Malacca-cane spirit" (Hantu Samambu), by which last name it is most commonly called. These stick-insects are believed by the Selangor Malays to produce the sounds to which Mr. Wray refers, and in order to account for their peculiar character a story is told, the main features of which are as follows:-- Once upon a time a married couple fell out, and the husband surreptitiously introduced stones into the cooking-pot in place of the yams which his wife was cooking. Then he went off to climb for a cocoa-nut, and as he climbed, he mocked her by calling out "Masak belum? Masak belum?" ("Are they cooked yet? Are they cooked yet?"). What she did by way of retaliation is not clear, but as he climbed and mocked her, she is said to have retorted, "Panjat belum? Panjat belum?" ("Have you climbed it yet? Have you climbed it yet?"), a reply which clearly shows that her woman's wit had been at work, and that she was not going to allow her husband to get the better of her. [360] However this may be, a deadlock ensued, the result of which was that both parties were transformed into stick-insects, but were yet condemned to mock each other as they had done during the period of their human existence. I have often from my boat, during dark nights on the Langat river, listened to the weird note which my Malays invariably ascribed to these insects, and which is not inaptly represented by one of the Malay names for them, viz. "belum-belam." I have not yet, however, succeeded in identifying the real producer of the note, of which all I can say at present is, that although it may not be itself discoverable, the Malays look upon it as a certain guide to the localities where the Malacca-canes grow. The Tualang or Sialang Tree So too of the Tualang-tree Mr. Wray writes:-- "One of the largest and stateliest of the forest trees in Perak is that known as Toallong, or Toh Allong; [361] it has a very poisonous sap, which produces great irritation when it comes in contact with the skin. Two Chinamen who had felled one of these trees in ignorance, had their faces so swelled and inflamed that they could not see out of their eyes, and had to be led about for some days before they recovered from the effects of the poison. Their arms, breasts, and faces were affected, and they presented the appearance of having a very bad attack of erysipelas. These trees are supposed to be the abiding-places of hantu, or spirits, when they have large hollow projections from the trunk, called rumah hantu, or spirit houses. These projections are formed when a branch gets broken off near the trunk, and are quite characteristic of the tree. There are sometimes three or four of them on a large tree, and the Malays have a great objection to cutting down any that are so disfigured, the belief being that if a man fells one he will die within the year. As a rule these trees are left standing when clearings are made, and they are a source of trouble and expense to planters and others, who object to their being left uncut. "The following series of events actually happened:--A Malay named Panda Tambong undertook, against the advice of his friends, to fell one of the Toh Allong trees, and he almost immediately afterwards was taken ill with fever, and died in a few weeks' time. Shortly after this some men were sitting plaiting ataps [362] under the shade of another of these ill-omened trees, when, without any warning, a large branch fell down, breaking the arm of one man, and more or less injuring two others. There was not a breath of wind at the time, or anything else likely to determine the fall of the branch. After this it was decided to have the tree felled, as there were coolie houses nearly under it. There was great difficulty in getting any one to fell it. Eventually a Penang Malay undertook the job, but stipulated that a Pawang, or sorcerer, should be employed to drive away the demons first. The Pawang hung pieces of white and red cloth on sticks round the tree, burnt incense in the little contrivances made of the split leaf-stalks of the bertam palm, used by the Malays for that purpose, cut off the heads of two white fowls, sprinkled the blood over the trunk, and in the midst of many incantations the tree was felled without any mishap; but, strange to say, the Pawang, who was a haji [363] and a slave-debtor of the Toh Puan Halimah, died about nine months afterwards." [364] There appears to be very little reason to doubt that the word Tualang ('Toh Alang or Sialang) is the name not of a particular species of tree, but rather the generic name of all trees in which wild bees have built their nests, so that in reality it simply means a "Bee-Tree." I have not yet succeeded in obtaining any of the Malay charms used by the collectors of these bees' nests, except such as are used by Sakais under Malay influence on the Selangor coast, the Sakais being most usually the collectors. Some of these latter, however, were pure Malay charms, and may perhaps be considered, in the absence of charms collected from Malays, as evidence of at least secondary importance. One of these charms commences as follows:-- "Here is the Peeling-knife, the knife with the long handle, Stuck into the buttress of a Pulai-Tree." [365] And another, which is almost word for word the same, as follows:-- "Here is the Peeling-knife, the knife with the long handle, With which to stab (lit. peck at) the buttress of the Pulai-Tree." [366] It will be noticed that both refer to the Pulai-tree by name, and not to the Tualang. The footnote which I here quote with reference to the customs of Siak is, almost word for word, equally true of the Bee-Trees in Selangor. [367] Other haunted trees (pokok berhantu) are the Jawi-jawi, the Jelotong, and Berombong, of which the following tradition will perhaps suffice:-- "All trees," according to Malay tradition, "were planted by 'the Prophet Elias,' [368] and are in the 'Prophet Noah's' charge. In the days of King Solomon, trees could speak as well as birds and animals, and several of the trees now to be seen in the forest are really metamorphosed human beings. Such are the 'Jelotong' and the 'Berombong,' which in the days of King Solomon were bosom friends, until there broke out between them an unfortunate quarrel, which terminated in 'Si Jelotong's' lacing the skin of 'Si Berombong' all over with stabs from his dagger, the effect of which stabs remains visible to this day. Si Berombong, on the other hand, cursed Si Jelotong with his dying breath, praying that he might be turned into a tree without any buttresses to support his trunk, a prayer which was, of course, duly fulfilled. Thus originated the lack of buttresses at the base of the former tree, and the laced and slashed bark of the latter." The Lime-Tree Yet another tree whose spirit is the object, as it were, of a special cult, [369] is the lime-tree, which is revered and looked up to almost as their chief patron by the theatrical players (orang ma'yong) of Penang. The invocations addressed to this spirit show that, as in most branches of magic, every part of the tree had its appropriate "alias." Thus the root was called the "Seated Prince," the trunk the "Standing Prince," the bark the "Prince Stretching Himself," the boughs the "Stabbing Prince," the leaves the "Beckoning Prince," the fruit the "Prince loosing an arrow." The Eagle-wood Tree The following account of Eagle-wood and of the tree which produces it is quoted from the Journal of the Straits Asiatic Society:-- "In Crawfurd's Dictionary of the Malay Archipelago [370] I find the following:--'Agila, the Eagle-wood of commerce.--Its name in Malay and Javanese is kalambak or kalambah, but it is also known in these languages by that of gharu or kayu gharu, gharu-wood, a corruption of the Sanskrit agahru.... There can be no doubt but that the perfumed wood is the result of disease in the tree that yields it, produced by the thickening of the sap into a gum or resin.' "This 'Eagle-wood of commerce,' under its more familiar name gharu, is one of the rarest and most valuable products of our Malayan jungles, and the following notes may be of interest. They are the result of inquiries amongst the Malays and Pawangs in Ulu Muar and Johol, and I am indebted to Mr. L. J. Cazalas for much assistance in obtaining the information contained in them. "The gharu-tree is a tall forest tree, sometimes reaching the size of fifteen feet in diameter. The bark is of a silvery gray colour, and the foliage close and dense, of a dark hue. The Malay name for the tree is "tabak," and no other may be used by the Pawang when in search of the kayu gharu. [371] Gharu, the diseased heart-wood of the tabak, is found in trees of all sizes, even in trees of one foot in diameter, thus showing that the disease attacks the tree at an early stage. "The gharu is found in pockets, and may sometimes be discovered by the veins which run to these pockets. In other trees the veins are absent, which renders the process of searching more difficult. The tree is generally cut down and left to rot, which exposes the gharu in about six months. "'Pockets' are found to contain as much as 104 catties; a single tree has been known to yield 400 catties. [372] Gharu is seldom found in the sap-wood, generally in the heart-wood or teras. "Many tabak-trees do not contain gharu at all. To select the right trees is the special province of the Pawang or wise man. The tabak-trees are under the care of certain hantu or wood-spirits, and it would be hopeless for the uninitiated to attempt to find gharu; even the Pawang has to be very careful. "The following is the process as far as I have been able to ascertain it:-- "On the outskirts of the forest the Pawang must burn incense, and repeat the following charm or formula:-- "Homali hamali [373] matilok (mandillah ?) serta kalam mandiyat serta teboh. Turun suhaya [374] trima suka turun kadim serta aku kabul kata gharu mustajak [375] kata Allah Berkat la ilaha il'allah. Hei Putri Belingkah, [376] Putri Berjuntei, Putri Menginjan [377] aku meminta isi tabak. Ta'boleh di surohkan, ta'boleh lindong kapada aku kalau di-suroh di-lindong-kan biar durâka kapada tuhan." "There is no "pantang gharu" except that the words "isi" and "tabak" must be used instead of "tras" and "gharu." [378] "He then proceeds to search for a likely tree, and upon finding one he again burns incense and repeats the spell as above. The tree having been cut down, the next thing is to separate the gharu from the sap-wood. The best way is to let the tree rot, but the Pawang is often "hard-up," and does not mind wasting some of the gharu in his hurry to realise. "The following are said to be the tests for finding gharu in a standing tree:--