Note 176 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature

Before setting out to search for gharu, the gharu-wizard burns incense and repeats these words, “O Grandsire Duita, Divinity of Eagle-wood, if you are far, be so good as to say so; if you are near, be so good as to say so,” and then sets out on his quest. On finding a karas-tree he chops the bark of the trunk lightly with his cutlass, and then puts his ear to the trunk to listen. If he hears a kind of low singing, or rather whispering noise (bunyi ting ting) in the tree, he takes this as a signification that the tree contains gharu (isi),176 and after marking the bark with a cross (silang ampat) he collects wood to build a temporary shelter (pondong) for himself, and when about to plant the first post repeats the following charm:—