Abstract
A CURIOUS Malay superstition has come to my knowledge concerning these implements. They appear to be very rare out here, and those found are treasured by Malays as lucky things to have about the house. I have as yet only been able to procure two specimens. One of these I have described in a paper on the Sakaies read before the Anthropological Society in June last. This nearly resembles Fig. 55 in Dr. Evans' “ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain,” and is made of a soft description of slate which can be scratched with the thumb-nail. The other is of a much harder description of slate almost like greenstone; it much resembles Fig. 76 of the same work. It is 7¾ inches long, 17/8inches wide at the widest end, which is sharpened, and 1½ inches wide at the other end, which is not sharpened. The faces are flatter than those figured by Dr. Evans and the sides perfectly squared. It is beautifully polished, but several depressions are left all over it, showing that it had originally been chipped out. The Malays call them Bâtu-lintarh—i.e. thunder-stones—and account for their presence by saying that they are the missiles used by angels and demons in their continual warfare.
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HALL, A. Stone Axes, Perak. Nature 32, 626 (1885). https://doi.org/10.1038/032626e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/032626e0
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