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Invisible helpers of the female "seers".It sometimes also happens (just as in Java) that the clairvoyante invokes the help of an invisible being (ureuëng adara). After the burning of incense, which she inhales or over which she waves her hands, muttering the while, the familiar spirit enters into her. Then she appears to lose her senses; trembling and with changed voice she utters some incoherent sentences, which she afterwards interprets on coming to herself again.
The tiōng as a seer.The mina, a well-known talking bird, called tiōng by the Achehnese, is regarded as endowed with this gift of second sight, but a human "seer" male or female, is indispensable for the interpretation of its utterances. Such clairvoyantes are supposed to understand the speech of the bird, and translate into oracular and equivocal Achehnese the incomprehensible chatter of the mina.
In cases of theft the ureuëng keumalòn usually declares whether the thief is great or small of stature, light or dark of complexion, and whether he has straight or wavy hair[1], so that the questioner has at least the consolation of knowing that the stolen article is not hopelessly lost, and that he may recover it by anxious search.
For sick persons the results of the clairvoyance consist as a rule in a recipe in which the leaves of plants take the foremost place, or else it is divined that drums (geundrang) or tambourines should be played for the benefit of the sick child or that a many-hued garment (the ija planggi) should be given it to wear[2].
Lucky marks.Another kind of divination consists in the examination of the lines on the palm of the hand (kalòn urat jaròë) as a means of telling peoples' fortunes. A further method of predicting the future is from the shape and position of the spiral twists of the hair, called pusa (in Java usěr-usěran). From this is deduced the quality of the animal in the case of cattle, goats, sheep and horses, and their future destiny in the case of human beings. Two symmetrical pusas placed opposite one another are lucky signs. A certain peculiar spiral called pusa rimuëng is a token that its possessor will be torn by a tiger.
The spicals found in the very fine lines of the skin are also called
- ↑ The kampong-folk of Batavia, who are much harassed by thefts, also frequently have recourse to such orang měliatin; the writer has even himself known a case in which certain police officers of the capital of Java did not disdain thus to facilitate the fulfilment of their duty.
- ↑ See Vol. I pp. 390 et seq.
