Note 320 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature (continued 2)

On reaching the stakes, the Pawang (Bilal Umat) suspended the tray from a projecting pole at the seaward end of the fishing-stakes,320 and then seating himself upon one of the timbers almost directly underneath it, scattered handfuls of saffron-stained rice, “washed” rice, and native cigarettes upon the water, just outside the two seaward posts at the end of the stakes, and emptied out the remainder of the parched rice upon the water just inside the “head” of the stakes. Then he recited a charm, stirred the bowl of neutralising rice-paste (tĕpong tawar) with the brush of leaves, and taking the latter out of the bowl, sprinkled, or rather daubed it first upon the two “tide-braces” of the stakes (first upon the left “tide-brace,” and then upon the right), then upon the heads of the two upright posts next to the tide-braces, and then delegated the brush to two assistants. One of these sprinkled the heads of all the (remaining) upright posts in the seaward compartment of the stakes, while the other boarded the big boat belonging to the stakes, and sprinkled the boat and all its gear from stem to stern (commencing on the left side of the bows, and working right down to the stern, and then recommencing on the right and working down to the stern again). Finally, the same assistant returning to the stakes, washed the rice-bowl in the sea just beneath the place where Bilal Umat was sitting, and fastened up the leaf-brush to the left-hand head-post (kayu puchi kiri) at the seaward end of the stakes. To the above account I may add that a number of taboos are still pretty rigorously enforced by the fishing-wizards (Pawang B’lat) upon the coast of Selangor. I was never allowed to take either an umbrella or boots into the fishing-stakes when I visited them—the spirits having, I was told, the strongest possible objection to the use of either.