98 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums. [Vol. VI, 



obtain some relief from the swarms of sandflies which infested 

 the village. The HalaK's apparatus consisted of a circular 

 frame of rattan cane, with a diameter of about four feet, hung 

 all round with a fringe of bertam leaves cut into strips about 3 ft. 

 long. This frame was suspended at a distance of about 4 ft. 

 frpm the floor, the ends of the hangings thus being about 

 6 ins. from it. The frame was held in position by three 

 strips of tree-bark, which were attached to it at regular 

 intervals, and were all tied together to a roof beam of the house. 

 Close to the frame, and about 5 ft. above it, was hung one of 

 the ceremonial offering tra}s (ancliak) which are used both by 

 Malays and aborigines. This was decorated with ceremonial 

 hangings of cut and plaited leaves and the scented inner bark 

 of some tree. At the side of the hut was tied a sheaf of the 

 large leaves of the salak palm (Zalacca edulis). Jahaia 

 reserved his exhibition till late in the evening and the first 

 performer was a youth who I was given to understand did not 

 possess a familiar spirit, but hoped possibly to cultivate one in 

 time. He wore a loin cloth round his waist and on his head a 

 wreath of shredded leaves, studded with flowers, which had a 

 sort of ornamental brush of stiff leaves standing up from it at 

 the back. Two garlands of cut leaves on a foundation of 

 tree-bark were worn crossed over his chest and in his hand he 

 carried a switch of lebak leaves. He took up a squatting 

 position on the floor within the circle of the hangings attached 

 to the rattan frame, and another young man, wearing a wreath 

 of flowers on his head, also entered the circle *s'his assistant. 

 When the hut had been plunged into semi-darkness by tying 

 iip salak leaves in front of a lamp hung near the door, the 

 women, with a bamboo stamper in either hand, took places 

 behind a log of wood which had been placed near one side of 

 the hut. The young Halak then commenced a chant in a 

 Sakai dialect, each line being taken up and repeated by his 

 assistant and an accompaniment played by the women with 

 their stampers on the log of wood. Every time the Halak 

 raised his voice he brought the switch of lebak leaves smartly 

 down on the palm of his left and he also frequently flourished 

 it over his right shoulder. The chant was, I understand, 

 an invocation to an Anak Yang to come and obey his 

 commands. Presentlj' two or three other youths came and 

 crouched under the circle of hanging leaves, those who could 

 not get entirely inside it managing at any rate to squeeze in 

 their heads and shoulders. After the performance had gone on 

 for some time it was brought to a close, and Jahaia with a 

 single assistant took his place within the circle. Jahaia, 

 having inherited his familiar spirit from his father who, as 

 mentioned above, was a Malay-speaking Selangor aborigine, 

 proceeded to call upon it in Malay. His chant was taken 

 up by his assistant and the women who were beating time 

 with the stampers, and after a while a Sakai who was squatting 

 next to me told me that the Anak Yang had came. Jahaia 

 then stood up and grasping (he circular rattan frame in his 



