Journal of the Federated Malay States museums - Sabrizain.org

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ig6 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums. [Vol. VII,
I was staying, when the wind came sweeping down from the
hills. They were obviously rather frightened, and one old
woman kept angrily shouting out orders to the storm to stop,
not leaving off until it had almost done so. On that evening,
and on the next morning, I got Katil to tell me a good deal
about his people's ideas with regard to storms of wind.
It appears that the Senoi think that during strong storms
of this kind, the spirits of the old dead (kemoit rah) , and
the^ spirits of those who have died more recently (kemoit pai,
" new ghosts"), are roaming over the earth.
The charms, if they may be called so, which the
Sakai shouted out to compel the storm to cease were as
follows
i. "Sidang\" J a Perak Malay word meaning to "abate."
z.
" Kipassa'blah'." meaning "fan to one side" (Malay).
I was also told that the Behrang Senoi frequently
call out to the buuial-fish (a fish which is capable of
distending its body) to suck up the storm (" '. hap bunlal "),
and that sometimes they cry, " Wok mat ! Wok lemoin!"
In this last I understand the meaning of the individual
words, but I cannot attempt a translation. Wok means
either "shadow" or "spirit," mat means "eyes," while
lemoin is "teeth." As far as I could find out from Katil
the expression is something to do with the belief that
loud laughter will bring on a bad storm. I imagine that
the charm is used for neutralizing the effect of previous
laughter.
During very bad storms indeed the Scnoi assemble
under their houses and burn jadam {extract of aloes ?) and
evil-smelling rubbish to scare away the storm.
Customs and Beliefs with Regard to Food.
Among the Senoi of the Ul'u Behrang (as also among
the Sakai of the Ulu Kinta) it is forbidden to mention
the usual names of certain animals when their flesh is
being eaten. Of the secondary, and almost invariably
descriptive names, I give some examples below, together
with their meanings.
Ordinary Name Applied
English Name. Senoi ' to Animal when
Name. being Eaten,
'
i
i. Deer (Ce'rvus unicolor) .. Rusa ... Leukpos.
2.
.....
Pig-tailed Macaque ...
_ .
Dok"
i.
2.
Leuk sabat.
Leak karuk.
3. Crab-eating Macaque ... Ran ... Leuk ketnpuk
1 In this sense it see-n> to be equivalent to the English slang phrase