Note 177 — Chapter V · Magic Rites connected with the Several Departments of Nature

The most important point about eagle-wood, however, from the animistic point of view, is the Pawang’s use of the gharu mĕrupa, a strangely shaped piece of eagle-wood which possesses a natural resemblance to some animal or bird. It is believed to contain the soul of the tree, and therefore is always, when possible, carried by the collectors of eagle-wood in the belief that it will aid them in their search. I myself once owned one of these gharu mĕrupa, which possessed a remarkable resemblance to a bird. This appears to me very fairly sufficient evidence to prove that the tree-soul is not supposed by the Malays necessarily to resemble a tree.177