The next process is the purification of mother and child by a ceremony which consists of bathing both in warm water just not hot enough to scald the skin (ayer pesam-pesam jangan melochak kulit), and in which are leaves of lengkuas, halia, kunyit t'rus, kunyit, pandan bau, areca-palm blossom, and the dried leaves (keronsong or keresek) of the pisang k'lat. This has to be repeated (every?) morning and evening. In most places the new-born infant is, as has been said, laid upon a mat and formally adopted by the father, who breathes into the child's ear [559] a sort of Muhammadan prayer or formula, which is called bang in the case of a boy, and kamat in the case of a girl. After purification the child is swaddled in a sort of papoose; an inner bandage (barut) is swathed round the child's waist, and a broad cloth band (kain lampin) is wound round its body from the knees to the breast, after which the outer bandage (kain bedong) is wound round the child's body from the feet to the shoulder, and is worn continually until the child is three or four months old, or, in Malay parlance, until he has learned to crawl (tahu meniarap). This contrivance, it is alleged, prevents the child from starting and straining its muscles. Over the child's mat is suspended a sort of small conical mosquito-net (kain bochok), the upper end of which is generally stitched (di-semat) or pinned on to the top of the parent's mosquito curtain, and which is intended to protect the child from any stray mosquito or sandfly which may have found its way into the bigger net used by his parents. Next comes the ceremony of marking the forehead (chonting muka), which is supposed to keep the child from starting and straining itself (jangan terkejut terkekau), and from convulsions (sawan), and at the same time to preserve it from evil spirits. The following are the directions:--Take chips of wood from the thin end (kapala?) of the threshold, from the steps of the house-ladder, and from the house furniture, together with a coat (kesip) of garlic, a coat of an onion, assafoetida, a rattan cooking-pot stand, and fibre from the "monkey-face" of an unfertile cocoa-nut (tampo' niyor jantan). Burn all these articles together, collect the ashes, and mix them by means of the fore-finger with a little "betel-water." Now repeat the proper charm, [560] dip the finger in the mixture, and mark the centre of the child's forehead, if a boy with a sign resembling what is called a bench mark [V], if a girl with a plain cross +, and at the same time put small daubs on the nose, cheeks, chin, and shoulders. Then mark the mother with a line drawn from breast to breast (pangkah susu) and a daub on the end of the nose (cholek hidong). If you do this properly, a Langat Malay informed me, the Evil One will take mother and child for his own wife and child (who are supposed to be similarly marked) and will consequently refrain from harming them!