The ceremony just described is evidently a form of purification by water. Similar purificatory ceremonies form an integral part of Malay customs at birth, adolescence, marriage, sickness, death, and in fact at every critical period of the life of a Malay; but will be most conveniently discussed in detail under each of the particular headings referred to. The tepong tawar ceremony (for the details of which see Chapter III., and which is perhaps the commonest of all Malay magic rites) would also seem to have originated from ideas of ceremonial purification. 2. THE SEA, RIVERS, AND STREAMS The Malays have been from time immemorial a sea-faring race, and are quite as superstitious in their ideas of the sea as sailors in other parts of the world. As has been already indicated, [487] their animistic notions include a belief in Water Spirits, both of the sea and of rivers, and occasionally this belief finds expression in ritual observances. Thus, for instance, it was formerly the custom to insert a number of sugar-palm twigs (segar kabong) into the top of the ship's mast, making the end of it look not unlike a small birch of black twigs. [488] This was intended to prevent the Water Spirit (Hantu Ayer) from settling on the mast. His appearance when he does settle is described as resembling the glow of fire flies or of phosphorescence in the sea--evidently a form of St. Elmo's fire. The ship being a living organism, one must, of course, when all is ready, persuade it to make a proper start. To effect this you go on board, and sitting down beside the well (petak ruang), burn incense and strew the sacrificial rice, and then tapping the inside of the keelson (jintekkan serempu) and the next plank above it (apit lempong), beg them to adhere to each other during the voyage, e.g.:-- "Peace be with you, O 'big Medang' and 'low-growing Medang!' Be ye not parted brother from brother, I desire you to speed me, to the utmost of your power, To such and such a place; If ye will not, ye shall be rebels against God," etc. I need hardly explain, perhaps, that "big medang" and "low-growing medang" are the names of two varieties of the same tree, which are supposed in the present instance to have furnished the timber from which these different parts were made. Then you stand up in the bows and call upon the Sea Spirits for their assistance in pointing out shoals, snags, and rocky islets. [489] Sometimes a talisman is manufactured by writing an Arabic text on a leaf which is then thrown into the sea. So, too, it is not unusual to see rocks in mid-stream near the mouths of rivers adorned with a white cloth hanging from a long stick or pole, which marks them out as "sacred places," and sometimes in rapids where navigation is difficult or dangerous, offerings are made to the River Spirits, as the following quotation will show:--