The foregoing descriptions of mining ceremonies and charms refer to tin only, but in so far as general animistic ideas go, they might be equally well applied to other metals, such as silver and gold. It has already been remarked that as the Tin spirit is believed to take the form of a buffalo, so the Gold spirit is said to take the form of a golden roe-deer (kijang). Of the ceremonies which the Malays believe to be essential for successful gold-mining, not much information has yet been published. In Denys' Descriptive Dictionary, however, we read the following:-- "Gold is believed to be under the care and in the gift of a dewa, or god, and its search is therefore unhallowed, for the miners must conciliate the dewa by prayers and offerings, and carefully abstain from pronouncing the name of God or performing any act of worship. Any acknowledgment of the sovereignty of Allah offends the dewa, who immediately 'hides the gold,' or renders it invisible. At some of the great limbongan [478] mas or gold-pits in the Malay States of the interior, any allusion to the Deity subjects the unwitting miner to a penalty which is imposed by the Penghûlu. The qualities of the gold vary greatly in the same country. The finest gold brought to market is that of the principality of Pahang, on the eastern side of the Malay Peninsula, which brings a higher price than even that of Australia by better than three per cent. The gold is all obtained by washing, and the metal has never been worked, and scarcely even traced to the original veins. It is mostly in the form of powder or dust--the mas-urai of the Malays, literally 'loose or disintegrated gold.'" [479] Gold, silver, and an amalgam formed of the two, are regarded as the three most precious metals, and of these gold is, to a very uncertain and partial extent, still sometimes regarded as a royal prerogative. [480] Of Silver still less information has been collected than of gold. This, however, is but natural, as silver has not yet been found in payable quantities, whereas many gold mines exist. It is just possible, however, that silver may be worked by the Malays on a small scale in the Siamese-Malay States, as it would be difficult on any other hypothesis to account for the following invocation, which was given me by a Malay of Kelantan ('Che `Abas):-- "Peace be with you, O Child of the Solitary Jin Salaka (Silver), I know your origin. Your dwelling-place is the Yellow Cloud Rock; The Place of your Penance the Sea of Balongan Darah; The Place of your Penance is a Pond in every stream; The Place of your Birth was the Bay where the Wind Dies; Ho, Child of the Solitary Jin Salaka, Come hither at this time, this very moment, I wish to make you a propitiatory offering, to banquet you on arrack and toddy. If you do not come hither at this very moment You shall be a rebel unto God, And a rebel unto God's Prophet Solomon, For I am God's Prophet Solomon."