1915-] I- H. N. Evans: Sakai of the Ulu Sungkai. 



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II 



hands told it to dip towards myself, which it immediately 

 did, — not a very wonderful thing, as Jahaia had hold of it on 

 each side of his body. After this I left the hut as it was 2 a.m. 

 and I was told that the rest of the performance would be 

 similar to that which had already taken place. I was un- 

 fortunately unable to catch sufficient of the chant to be able to 

 write it down, but I heard " mari ka' ujong jalan (come to the 

 end of the path) frequently repeated and from what I could 

 make out of the rest it seemed to be a prayer to the Anak Yang 

 to come to Jahaia. I have since been told by the two boys I 

 brought home with me that there is another man in the village 

 who has a better claim to be considered a Halnk than Jahaia. 

 He was able, they said, by the help of his familiar spirit, — and 

 they had seen him themselves do it, — to split a large section 

 of bamboo without touching it, and they described how his 

 Anak Yang was heard to enter the bamboo with a noise like 

 crik-crik-crik, the bamboo splitting into two pieces, with a 

 loud report, a few minutes afterwards. He was also able to 

 grow large eye-teeth, taring, out of the corners of his mouth, 

 and between his first and second fingers. Yok Tong, the 

 elder of the two boys, told me that the Halak had once caught 

 hold of his head with the teeth between his fingers. Another 

 of his accomplishments was to turn himself into a tiger, — he 

 had been seen to do this by Yok Tong's sister, — and to go off 

 into the jungle in search of game. Perhaps I may be able to 

 return to Sungkai at some future date and investigate these 

 remarkable performances for myself. I had heard before at 

 Jeram Kawan that Sakai Halaks were able to split open 

 bamboos as described, but it would be worth while to see if a 

 Halak can be got to undertake to do it for a suitable reward. 



