Two Malay methods of divination
I.H.N. Evans’s brief note documents two Malay divination practices he observed in the early 1910s: one involving floating needles in water, the other a ring-and-hair pendulum used to identify a thief (p. 247).
Summary
The first method, witnessed at Lenggong, Upper Perak, in 1913, involved drying needles and placing them on the surface of water in a bowl without breaking the surface film. Whether the needles came together or remained apart was interpreted to predict whether a betrothed woman’s marriage would endure or end in divorce (p. 247). Evans notes a similar practice existed in India.
The second method, observed in Pahang, employed a gold ring tied to a long hair taken from a woman’s head, suspended over a basin divided into eight compartments, each bearing the name of a suspected thief. A blind man held the free end of the hair and recited a Muslim prayer; the ring was then expected to swing and touch the compartment of the guilty party. On the occasion Evans witnessed, the ring swung but did not strike any compartment, leading to the conclusion that the thief was not among those named (p. 247).