Note 76 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature (continued 2)

“The Malays believe that the power to inform a spirit, a wild beast, or any natural object, such as iron rust, of the source from which it originates (usul asal ka-jadi-an-nya), renders it powerless.” H. Clifford in No. 3 of the Publications of the R.A.S., S.B., Hikayat Raja Budiman, pt. ii. p. 8. This belief is found among all tribes of Malays in the Peninsula. Possibly the idea was that knowledge of another person’s ancestry implied common tribal origin. For the explanation of “Badi,” vide Chap. IV. p. 94, supra, and Chap. VI. p. 427, infra. ↑