t
willingly mention the names of birds or beasts while at sea. Instead,
they call them all _cheweh_--which, to them, signifies an animal, though
to others it is meaningless, and is supposed not to be understanded of
the beasts. To this word they tack on the sound which each beast makes
in order to indicate what animal is referred to; thus the pig is the
grunting _cheweh_, the buffalo the _cheweh_ that says '_uak_,' and the
snipe the _cheweh_ that cries '_kek-kek_.' Each boat that puts to sea
has been medicined with care, many incantations and other magic
observances having been had recourse to, in obedience to the rules which
the superstitious people have followed for ages. After each take the
boat is 'swept' by the medicine man, with a tuft of leaves prepared with
mystic ceremonies, which is carried at the bow for the purpose. The
omens are watched with exact care, and if they be adverse no fishing
boat puts to sea that day. Every act in their lives is regulated by some
regard for the demons of the sea and air, and yet these folk are
nominally Muhammadans, and, according to that faith, magic and sorcery,
incantations to the spirits, and prayers to demons are all unclean
things forbidden to the people. But the Fisher Folk, like other
inhabitants of the Peninsula, are Malays first and Muhammadans
afterwards. Their religious creed goes no more than skin deep, and
affects but little the manner of their daily life.

All up and down the coast, from Sedeli in Johor to the islands near
Senggora, the Fisher Folk are found during the open season. Fleets of
smacks leave the villages for the spots along the shore where fish are
most plentiful, and for eight months in the year these men live and
sleep in their boats. The town of Kuala Trengganu, however, is the
headquarters of the fishing trade, as indeed it is of all the commercial
enterprise on this side of the Peninsula. At the point where the
Trengganu river falls into the sea, a sandy headland juts out, forming
a little bay, to which three conical rocky hills make a background,
relieving the general flatness of the coast. In this bay, and
picturesquely grouped about the foot of these hills, the thatched houses
of the capital, and the cool green fruit groves cluster closely.
Innumerable fishing crafts lie at anchor, or are beached along the
shore; gaily-dressed natives pass hither and thither, engrossed in their
work or play; and the little brown bodies of the naked children fl