Hunting invocations
This short note by R. N. Bland presents a Malay Elmu Pawang Buru Rusa (deer-hunting invocation) collected from a pawang in Kuala Pilah, Negri Sembilan, accompanied by Bland’s English translation.
Bland offers the text as a comparative supplement to George Maxwell’s account of a Perak deer-hunt published in Blackwood’s Magazine (October 1904), noting that while his own version is less ornate than Maxwell’s, the two share a “family likeness” in structure and purpose (p. 19). The invocation addresses forest spirits (Che’ Lanang, Che’ Redup, Che’ Bendang, Che’ Merah) and establishes a division of spoils between the pawang and the spirits, while a second section (Badi) commands a spirit to depart and offers atonement for the pawang’s hunting dogs (pp. 20–22). Bland remarks on the confidentiality of such material, noting that his pawang had only admitted him to the craft under a promise of secrecy and customary payment in cloth, knife, coconuts, and wang bharu (p. 19).