Malay Demons
Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register
for British India and its Dependencies : Vol. 11, Jan to Jun 1821,
pg 456 - 457 : Asiatic Journal for May, 1821.
(From the Madras Government Gazette.)
Principle is the spring of action. If a man's principle be wrong, his conduct will, in general, be so too. One of the great principles that forms the character of the Malays is the belief of magic. The word magic I conceive best adapted here, as it embraces all the various modifications of those strange things that are said to take place. The Malays have regular systems of magic, which differ in every country, and are as numerous and various as the magic itself, whose inventive genius produces them; but those of one place cannot make use of that of another, except they be regularly initiated' into it. They believe in a great number of evil spirits whose influence their magic counteracts. These are all known by distinct names, and have all one common head or prince, i.e. Iblis, or the devil. They are as follows : Iblis, Sheatan, Jin, Fari, Dewa, Mambang, Rak-asa, Gargazi, Polang, Hantu, Peenang Galan, and Pontianak.
The magic of the Malays may be divided into two kinds, viz. profane and religious. The latter they pretend to be, certain prayers, taught by the Deity, the recital of which never fails to procure particular favours. I will first give a few examples of their profane magic :-
I. Tuju, to point. - When a man has ill-will against any one, he makes a certain kind of dagger on the principles of the mystery, and recites his prayer over it. If the man whom he wishes to injure lives at a distance, he takes hold of the handle of the dagger and strikes towards that place, as if to stab his antagonist. The man's enemy immediately becomes sick, blood adheres to the point of the dagger, which he sucks, saying, "now I am satisfied.” His enemy then becomes speechless and dies.
II. Tuju Jantong. - (Jantong is the top of a newly opened bunch of plantains, in shape like a heart). A man wishing to revenge, himself on another, seeks a newly opened plantain top, and performs the mystery under it ; then ties the plantain, and having recited a prayer, he burns the point, which communicates to the heart of his adversary, till his sufferings are intolerable. When he has tormented him long enough, he cuts the plantain, and the man's heart falls down into the body, and he dies; the blood coming out of his mouth.
III. Tuju Jindang:- This is a sort of evil spirit, in appearance like the silk worm, which people rear in a new vessel and feed on roasted paddy. When a man wants to hurt another, he performs the mystery and sends the insect away, saying, “ go and eat the heart and entrails of such and such a one." The insect then flies away. When it falls on the body, it is like the touch of a bird flying against a person, but nothing is seen, only the place where it enters, which is generally the back of the hand or between the shoulders, turps blue. The torments which the creature indicts are excruciating :"it eats out all the internal parts of the man, and the body turns all over blue. As soon as the man is dead, the insect returns to its keeper.
IV. Pontianak. - These are the children born of people after death. They appear generally in the shape of birds, sometimes white, sometimes speckled like a magpie, but not so large ; in Java they are quite black. But they can transform themselves, and assume the shape of other animals, and even that of man. This bird is dreaded more than a tyger; in moonlight nights it chases men walking alone, but never women. It kills young children and sucks their blood. One appeared sometime ago in human shape, to a man coming from the market with some fish. The Pontianak formed friendship with the man, and went with him to his house, assisted in cutting up the fish with its long nails or claws, and after the man went to sleep, the Pontianak killed its kind host and went away. They have two servants, an owl, and a species of caterpillar, which they, employ as messengers to bring information of what they see and hear. It is almost impossible to hurt or catch one of them. They are covered with hair, instead of feathers. A man was once fortunate enough to get a hair of one (how I know not), and the Pontianack brought him as much gold as he wished, but to his great mortification, this cunning Pontianak got his hair back, and in an instant all his gold disappeared.
I could add a great number of such bugbears, a belief in which keeps the minds of the people in bondage and terror; but I suppose the reader finds as little entertainment in reading of those as I find in writing of them. I shall now mention a few of the prodigies which are effected by their religious magic (I call it religious magic on their own principles, but it is in reality blasphemy.) If the reader has faith enough to believe them, he will no more doubt of Mahommed's night journey.
I. The devil, when tempting Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, pretended that, by reciting a certain prayer which God had taught him, he obtained immortality.
II. Enoch prayed one day that he might see heaven. The angel Gabriel was immediately sent to shew him all the celestial glories. When his wish was gratified, he departed, but presently returned ; Gabriel asking who it was that knocked, Enoch replied, "that he came back for his slippers which he had forgotten." When he got in, he would not be put out again, and the Lord reproved Gabriel for attempting it.
III, Solomon one day prayed to the Lord that he would bestow upon him tokens of favour, and badges of honour and glory, such as no man ever possessed before him, nor would attain to after him. The Lord granted him his request, and gave him a signet, upon the keeping of which this glory depended. When he washed, bathed himself, or attended to any necessary business, he committed this ring* to a concubine of his, named Amina. One day, while the ring was in her custody, the devil, in the shape of Solomon, imposed upon her, and obtained the ring, by virtue of which he got to the throne, and made many alterations in the laws. Solomon all this while wandered about forsaken and unknown, till at the end of forty days the devil flew away and threw the signet in the sea. The ring was swallowed by a fish which was caught and brought to Solomon, who found the ring in its belly. Having thus obtained the signet, he recovered the kingdom ; took the devil, and tying a stone to his neck, threw him into the sea of Tiberius.
SIANU.
Sketches of Imposture, Deception and Credulity.
R.A. Davenport, 1837
Chapter V. - Hindoo and other Oriental Superstitions., pg 72 - 78
The superstitions of the Malays are of a wild, ferocious, and sanguinary character, in unison with that of the Malays themselves. That, filled as they are with ungovernable passions, they should be firm believers in the existence of malignant spirits, cannot be a matter of wonder. Two or three specimens of these demons may not be unamusing.
The spirits called Pontianaks are supposed to be the children of people born after death. The shape which they assume is usually that of a bird; sometimes white, at other times marked like a magpie ; but in Java always entirely black. Hair, not feathers, forms their covering. They have the power of assuming the shapes of animals, and even of man; and often by this means entrap their unsuspecting victims. Each Pontianak has two servants, an owl and a species of caterpillar, which they send on their ungodly errands. A moon-light night is the time which the Pontianak chooses for its mischievous excursions. It then pursues men who are walking alone, and kills young children, and sucks their blood: women, however, it never molests. To hurt or catch them is nearly impossible; but a man is said to have once obtained, by some means or other, a single hair of one of them, his possession of which compelled the spirit to bring him as much gold as he wanted. The cunning fiend contrived to get back the hair, and the gold which he had given to the man immediately disappeared.
Another Malay demon is the Tuju Jindang, which is made subservient to Malay revenge. This miniature fiend takes the form of a silk-worm, is reared in a new vessel, and fed upon roasted paddy. When any one wishes to injure his enemy, he performs the needful mysteries, and says to the creature, "go and eat the heart and entrails of such an one." The insect then flies on its mission. It usually effects an entrance into its victim on the back of the hand, or between the shoulders, and the spot turns blue. Nothing is visible when it first strikes, and the feeling which it causes is merely like the touch of a bird flying against a man. It soon, however, inflicts the fiercest torments on the sufferer, gradually eats out his internal parts, and the body becomes blue all over. Having accomplished its work of mischief, it returns to its keeper, to wait for another task.
Two fiends of a similar nature are described by a writer in the Indo-Chinese Gleaner; they are denominated the Polong and the Panangalam. With respect to the Polong, the Malays say that it is conveyed down from parents to children. According to their own laws it is death to keep one. It is believed to be invisible, and is kept in a small earthen bottle with a neck, and a hole large enough to admit a finger. Human blood is its food. About once or twice a-week, on the night of either Monday or Friday, the keeper cuts the tip of his finger, puts it into the vessel, and lets the Polong suck his fill. It is rather dangerous to neglect doing this; for, in such a case, the Polong issues from his concealment, and indemnifies himself for his fast by sucking the body till the skin becomes black and blue all over. The fiend is generally kept by females, seldom by males. Women have, indeed, a strong temptation to harbour him; for he has the valuable property of making his possessor, even though she be ugliness itself, seem surprisingly beautiful in the eyes of all who behold her.
When the keeper of the Polong, or his friend, or the person who bribes him, is desirous of tormenting an enemy, the spirit is let loose upon the object. "The marks of possession are many. As soon as the Polong enters the man, he first falls down screaming, unconscious to himself and to everything about him; sometimes he becomes speechless and like a dead man; sometimes there is no appearance of ailment, but his conversation is incoherent; sometimes he falls to beating all about him. Sometimes, as soon as he enters into any one, the person possessed dies. The Polong always adheres exactly to his orders, and inflicts that punishment which is commanded him. Sometimes, though but seldom, it proves infectious, viz., in the following way, when the possessed falls down in a fit, and another asks him saying, 'What! what is the matter? what, have you got a Polong?' The person asking is affected, falls down insensible, and remains in the same state with the other till the Polong is expelled. A person seriously assured the writer that he had seen men and women, to the number of twenty, thus affected at the same time.
"The people are so well acquainted with the power of this Polong, that as soon as they see any one suffering they send immediately for the physician, an adept in the occult sciences, who with an air of importance and learning, administers some medicine, or more frequently makes use of a charm. He draws a fantastical figure, which, as he pretends, is that of the demon, upon the inside of a white bason, pours water into it, and gives the sufferer to drink. Then he takes hold of the thumb (for fear the Polong should make his escape, that being the door by which he enters the body), and interrogates the man in the following manner. 'Why do you torment him?' Then the Polong, speaking through the man, replies, 'My father (for so he calls his keeper) has a grudge against him,' &c.-'Who is your father?' 'What has he told you to do?'- To eat heart and entrails' (this is a general term for torment). Sometimes the evil spirit braves all means, and refuses to speak; sometimes he tells lies, and confesses another name. When the soothsayer has prevailed against the evil spirit, and has heard his confession, he then tries to detect him (though a spirit, he has yet dimensions and shape); he feels the body all over, for he lurks between skin and flesh. Sometimes he finds him in an arm, sometimes behind the ear. Now for his expulsion. The soothsayer first exacts an oath of him that he has spoken nothing but truth, and also that he will never come again. Sometimes the physician has such power that he sends him back to torment his own keeper."
The Penangalam is an anomalous being, corporeal in its texture, yet possessed of supernatural powers. The literal meaning of its name is, "that which is pulled out." It is supposed to consist of a human head, neck, and intestines, joined to the trunk and limbs of a human body, which it can detach itself from, and return to, at pleasure. It is always in women that this demon dwells, and she by whom it is inhabited is supposed to be a friend of the devil, a witch, and by no means gifted with a love of chastity. The delight of the spirit is, when unobserved, to leave the trunk and legs behind, roam through the air, prey upon all manner of garbage, which is its favourite food, and suck the blood of those who have given it offence.
Among the superstitious practices by which the Malays strive to destroy their enemies are the Tuju, and the Tuju Jantong. The first of these words signifies "to point," and refers to the mode which is employed to perpetrate the mischief. The perpetrator makes, with certain mysterious ceremonies, a kind of dagger, and recites over it a prayer. He then takes hold of the handle of the dagger, and thrusts towards the place where his enemy lives, as though he were stabbing an antagonist. As soon as this is done his enemy becomes sick, and blood appears on the point of the dagger, which he sucks, exclaiming, "Now I am satisfied.” The victim is finally rendered speechless and dies.
The other superstition takes its name from the heart-shaped top of a newly opened branch of plantains, which bears the name of Jantong. He who seeks for revenge looks for a newly opened plantain top, performs under it the appropriate mystery, ties the plantain, recites a prayer, and burns the point. The fire which consumes the plantain acts magically on the heart of the adversary, who consequently undergoes intolerable torture. When the avenger has satiated his revenge by keeping his foe a sufficient time in agony, he cuts the plantain, the heart of the devoted object falls down into his body, and he dies, with the blood gushing from his mouth.
Men who imagine themselves to be exposed to such attacks naturally endeavour to ward them off by counter-charms. Among these charms is one called the Panaw, which is implicitly confided in by the Malayan Mahometans. Panaw is the name given to light coloured blotches on the skin of the orientals; and the charm in question, which is in the form of a roll, and on paper, pretends to contain a representation of such blotches on the body of Mahomet. They may be had of all prices, from one to twenty dollars, according to the portion of good fortune which they ensure to the purchasers.
About ten years ago, a Panaw was found on the body of a Malay, who had attempted to murder two persons. It was about four yards long, and two inches and a half broad, and was enclosed in a cloth case, to tie upon some part of the body. It contained many painted squares, representing the blotches of Mahomet, and was surmounted with rude figures of the temple of Mecca, the double-bladed sword of Ali, and other similar emblems of Islamism. Alternately with the painted squares were inscribed eighteen written paragraphs, promising to the wearer blessings of every kind in the utmost profusion. The cost of this scroll was eight dollars, and certainly never were the most important benefits sold at a cheaper rate. Of these benefits, a small specimen will perhaps be enough to satisfy the reader. "This," says the scroll, "is a Panaw of the superiority of the Apostle of God, peace be upon him! whoever looks at this Panaw of his superiority morning and evening, verily he will be beloved by all men, both high and low, and will be for ever happy, and his enemies will not be suffered to injure him; and God will finally take him to heaven without account. God is omniscient."
The man on whom this curious roll was found was a Malay merchant, Malim Dubalong by name, who had gained the appellation of Malim by his strict observance of all devotional exercises. Being accused of having robbed his guest to the amount of a thousand rupees, he was ordered to find bail. He was allowed to go home it being discovered that he was preparing to abscond, he was again ordered to be brought before the magistrate. Determined to take vengeance, he wrapped his naked kris or dagger in a handkerchief, concealed his kurumbi, a semicircular knife, under his head dress, went to the river to wash, pray, and recite his incantations, and then bound his roll of charms upon his arm. As this roll promised that, if the bearer looked at it night and morning, none of his enemies would be permitted to injure him," he probably flattered himself that he would be able to accomplish his purpose without danger. He was, however, mistaken. As he was descending the stairs, at the magistrate's house, he suddenly fell on his accuser, and gave him, as he thought, a mortal stab with his kris. He then rushed up stairs again, and furiously assailed the magistrate. A severe struggle ensued, the assassin and the magistrate grappled each other, and, thus twined together, they rolled down stairs. Malim was immediately killed by the servants, whom the noise of the scuffle had brought to the spot; the magistrate escaped with only a few flesh wounds.
Galignani's Repertory or Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belle Lettres,
Volume 10, 1820, Pg 61 - 63
In the eighth number of the Indo-Chinese Gleaner is a communication from a correspondent, who, after premising that the belief in witchcraft, evil spirits, charms, etc. prevails to an almost incredible extent among the Malays, and that their imaginary evil spirits, which are numerous, have all of them names either arbitrary or descriptive of their qualities, goes on to give an account of a species of these evil spirits vulgarly called Polong, a word, however, which the writer had not met with in any of their books, nor seen in any dictionary of their language. From this account it seems that the history of the Polong is very little known. They (the Malays) say that it is conveyed down from parents to children. According to their own laws it is death to keep one, therefore we cannot expect to know any thing more about it than from its influence. It is, as it seems, invisible, and is kept in a small earthen bottle with a neck, and a hole sufficient to admit a finger. He feeds upon human blood. The keeper cuts the tip of his fore-finger about once or twice a week, either Friday or Monday night, till blood comes out, and he then puts it into the vessel, when the Polong sucks his fill. If the keeper neglects to feed him regularly, he comes out of his hole, and sucks the whole body to such a degree that the skin becomes all over black and blue. The Polong is very seldom kept by males, most generally by females. The woman, however ugly naturally, yet through keeping the Polong possesses surprising charms in her countenance to every beholder. If the person who keeps the Polong has a grudge against any one, or if asked for, or hired by another, he is let loose upon the man whom they wish to injure. The marks of possession are many. As soon as the Polong enters the man, he first falls down screaming, unconscious to himself and to every thing about him; sometimes he becomes speechless and like a dead mau; sometimes there is no appearance of ailment, but his conversation is incoherent; sometimes he falls to beating all about him. Sometimes, as soon as he enters into any one, the person possessed dies. The Polong always adheres exactly to his orders, and inflicts that punishment which is commanded him. Sometimes, though but seldom, it proves infectious, viz. in the following way, when the possessed falls down in a fit, and another asks him, saying, “ What! what is the matter! What! have you got a Polong?” The person asking is affected, falls down insensible, and remains in the same state with the other till the Polong is expelled. A person seriously assured the writer that he had seen men and women, to the number of twenty, thus affected at the same time. The people are so well acquainted with the power of this Polong, that as soon as they see any one suffering they send immediately for the physician, an adept in the occult sciences, who, with an air of importance and learning, administers some medicine, or more frequently makes use of a charm. He draws a fantastical figure, which, as he pretends, is that of the demon, and a print of which is given in the Gleaner, upon the inside of a white basin, pours water upon it, and gives the sufferer to drink. Then he takes hold of the end of the thumb (for fear the Polong should make his escape, that being the door by which he enters the body), and interrogates the man in the following manner: “Why do you torment him?" Then the Polong, speaking through the man, replies, “My father (for so he calls his keeper) has a grudge against him," etc. "Who is your father?" "- -.” “What has he told you to do?” “To eat heart and entrails," (general term for torment). Sometimes this evil spirit braves all means and refuses to speak. Sometimes he tells lies and confesses another name. When this soothsayer has prevailed against the evil spirit, and has heard his confession, he then tries to detect him (though a spirit yet he has dimensions and shape); he feels the body all over, for he lurks between skin and flesh. Sometimes he finds him in an arm, sometimes behind the ear, to the touch as large as the above. Now for his expulsion. The soothsayer first exacts an oath of him that he has spoken nothing but truth, and also that he will never come again. Sometimes the physician has such power that he sends him back to torment his own keeper.
In the ninth number of the same miscellany is an account, by the same writer, of another imaginary being, called by the Malays the Penangalan, a derivative from a Malay word signifying to “pull out," and which means “that which is pulled out." From this account it appears that the Penangalan is not properly either witch or evil spirit. It is described as a human head, neck, and intestines adjusted to, and, as it were, inhabiting the trunk and limbs of a human body, but endowed with the power of extricating itself from this body (which is always that of a woman), and of returning to it again at its own pleasure. It delights, when unobserved, to make excursions through the air from the body it usually resides in, for the purpose of preying upon all manner of garbage, which, it seems, is its favourite food, and of avenging itself upon those who may have given it offence by sucking their blood. The person (whatever one may call her) who is made up of these separable parts - of Penangalan, that is - and the body it usually inhabits, believes, it appears, in Satan, and, as might be presumed, practices witchcraft. She, moreover, lives in filthiness, going astray. Some further particulars of this curious composite being, together with a Malay story illustrative of its habits, are given by the writer. With these we will not offend the delicacy or try the patience of our readers; though they can hardly, perhaps, be considered as one whit more disgusting, or one whit more tedious, than those horrors of various kinds, those stupid and loathsome exhibitions of vampires, etc. which have been pretty generally and pretty warmly admired in our popular poems, plays, and novels. The Editor of the Gleaner makes a very sufficient apology for the introduction of them into his miscellany, in the observations upon his correspondent's communication which are given belew. In addition to his correspondent's remark, “that the unenlightened mind easily receives an impression from whatever is proposed to it" (meaning, it is presumed, easily believes whatever is proposed to it), it may be observed, that the belief of the unenlightened mind is never so readily yielded to imposture; never has the tyrannous imagination of uninstructed man so absolutely the better of his reason, as when the absurdity attempted to be imposed upon him is associated with images of terror.
“Our correspondent's idea that the unenlightened, mind easily receives an impression from 'whatever is proposed to it,' could not have a stronger confirmation than the fact, that conceptions savouring of such inconceivable degeneracy are entertained by creatures retaining a single claim to the human shape and to the character of man. Whatever degree of scepticism may have been entertained by thoughtful men on the subject of witchcraft and magic in general, we certainly think there is not much danger of any one's credulity being strengthened by this relation. The nature of our work requires that we should keep nothing back which tends to illustrate the intellectual and moral character of the Indo-Chinese nations, however humbling to human nature the illustration may be: otherwise we should have made an apology, to our fair readers especially, for inserting a piece which may be considered offensive to delicacy. The lower the human intellect is sunk in ignorance, and the more coarse and degrading its imaginations are so much the more pressing is the call on the well-wishers of our species to extend the boon of knowledge, religion, and civilization to those who possess them not, to those whose very minds seem identified with the ‘dunghill,' cast in the mould of the personal filthiness in which their days are passed, and extinguished by those habits of dormant indolence in which the Malays are known to waste their life.”
Quedah; or, Stray leaves
from a Journal in Malayan Waters, 1857, Captain Sherard Osborn R.N., C.B.
CHAP. XVIII. pg 240 - 246
Sailors of every part of the world have a strong spice of the romantic and superstitious in their composition, and the Malays are decidedly no exception to the rule. Indeed, the wild and enterprising life the majority of them lead, and the many curious phenomena peculiar to the seas and islands of their beautiful archipelago, could never be accounted for by an uneducated but observant and highly imaginative race, by any other than supernatural agency. Often, during the evenings of the blockade, had Jamboo recounted to me strange tales of Malayian history: in all of them fiction and myth were deliciously blended with truth, and facts could be easily appealed to in corroboration of all he recounted. The natural and supernatural, the miracles of the Romish church, Hindoo mythology, and Mahometan fables were rolled one into the other, making tales of thrilling
interest, which I cared not to unravel even had I been able to do so.
There were proofs by the thousand amongst these poor fellows of that connection with the world of spirits which it seems to be the desire of man in every stage of civilisation to assure himself of; and I must say, I half began to believe in their assertions upon that head; their faith was so earnest and child like, that it worked strongly upon even my own tutored convictions to the contrary. Children never clustered round a winter fire at home with more intense credulity and anxious sympathy, than did my poor Malays to listen to some woful legend, derived from the blood-stained annals of the Portuguese or Dutch rule in Malayia and its islands. As an instance of their childlike belief in spirits, and of the strange way in which such an idea is supported by optical delusions common to these latitudes, I may here recount an event which no more than amused me at the time, although the strange way in which Jamboo and his men swore to having this day seen an "Untoo" brought it back forcibly to my mind.
Just after the blockade commenced, in December of the previous year, my gun-boat was lying one night close to the southern point of Quedah river. The mist fell for awhile like small rain upon us, but afterwards, at about ten o'clock, changed into fine weather, with heavy murky clouds overhead, through the intervals of which we had momentary gleams of light from a young moon. The air was cold and damp, and I naturally sought shelter under my tent-shaped mat, although until midnight I considered myself responsible for a vigilant look-out being kept. About eleven o'clock, my attention was called to the look-out man, who, seated upon the bow-gun, was spitting violently, and uttering some expressions as if in reproof or defiance, and continued to do so very frequently. Ignorant at that time of the character of my crew, such a peculiar proceeding made me restless. Presently I saw another man go up to him ; he pointed in the direction of the jungle, and both repeated the conduct which had attracted my attention : the second man then walked below, as if glad to get off deck. Fairly puzzled, I walked forward. The look-out man had got his back turned to the jungle, but was every now and then casting glances over his shoulder in a very furtive manner, and muttering sentences in which Allah was invoked very earnestly. He seemed glad to see me, and jumped up to salute me.
"Anything new ?" I asked. "Prahus ?"
"Teda, Touhan ; No, sir !" was the answer ; and then seeing me looking towards the jungle, he made signs with his head that it was better to look elsewhere.
I immediately called Jamboo, the interpreter, and desired him to ask what the Malay saw in the jungle.
Jamboo, as usual, sat down, black-fellow fashion, on his hams, and, half asleep, drawled out my question, and then coolly said - "He says he saw a spirit, sir."
"Nonsense !" I replied. "Ask him how ? or where ? It may be some Malay scouts."
Again Jamboo made an effort, and the oracle informed me, that the man had distinctly seen an Untoo, or spirit, moving about among the trees close to the water's edge : he assured me he had seen it ever since the mist cleared off, and that he had been praying and expectorating, to prevent it approaching the gun-boat, as it was a very bad sort of spirit, very dangerous, and robed in a long dress.
I expostulated with Jamboo for repeating such a nonsensical tale, and said, "Explain to the man it is impossible; and that, if anything, it must be an animal, or a man."
Jamboo, however, assured me, very earnestly, that Malays often saw "Untoos;" that they were some of them dangerous, some harmless ; and that if I looked, the Malay said, I could see it as well as himself.
I accordingly sat down by the man, and looked intently in the same direction. We were about one hundred and fifty yards off the jungle; the water was just up to its edge ; among the roots of trees, and for a few yards in, there were small ridges of white shingle and broken shells, which receded into darkness, or shone out in distinct relief as the moonlight struck upon them.
When these patches of white shone out, I pointed immediately, and asked if that was what he saw.
"No, no!" said the Malay ; and Jamboo added, "He says he will tell you when he sees it."
Suddenly he touched me, and pointing earnestly, exclaimed, "Look! look!"
I did so, and an odd tremor, I am not ashamed to say, ran through my frame, as I caught sight of what looked like the figure of a female with drapery thrown around her, as worn by Hindoo women : it moved out from the shade of the forest, and halted at one of the hillocks of white sand, not more than 300 yards distant. I rubbed my eyes ! whilst the interpreter called on a Romish saint, and the Malay spat vigorously, as if an unclean animal had crossed his path. Again I looked, and again I saw the same form : it had passed a dark patch, and was slowly crossing another opening in the forest.
Feeling the folly of yielding to the impression of reality which the illusion was certainly creating on my mind, I walked away, and kept the Malay employed in different ways until midnight : he, however, every now and then spat vehemently, and cursed all evil spirits with true Mahometan fervour.
In the middle-watch the "Untoo" was again seen, but as it did not board us, - as Jadee assured me "Untoos" of a wicked description had been known to do, - I conjectured it was some good fairy, and at any rate we were not again troubled with an Untoo until it appeared to the fishing party in the Setouè river.
These spectral illusions are not peculiar to the jungles of Malayia; there is no part of the world where they do not exist in some form or other; and I, for my part, am not desirous of robbing them of their mystery : there is a poetry, a romance, about them which invests with awe or interest some wild spot or lonely scene that otherwise would be unheeded.