APPENDIX. 303 



( 



and at every accident or illness. The opening of a tin- 

 mine, the construction of a dam, or the erection of a 

 fishing-stake, always call for his attendance. 



The functions of a pawang are roughly divided into 

 spirit -raising and spirit -propitiation. Spirit -raising, the 

 coercion of spirits, is known by the Malays as ber-hantu. 

 It is the pure undiluted shamanism, of the Mongolians ; 

 and upon the exercise of the power every Malay looks 

 with considerable dread, and even the least orthodox 

 shakes his head when it is mentioned. It is seldom at- 

 tempted, and every year is becoming more rare. I have 

 only twice attended a seance, once on the occasion de- 

 scribed in "The Pinjlh Rhino," and once when a chief 

 was about to perform the long and dangerous pilgrimage 

 to Mecca (its use on such an occasion shows how deeply 

 rooted the belief is), and his relatives were anxious to know 

 what the future might have in store for him. On both 

 occasions I particularly noticed that the pawang and the 

 audience, for no other reason than that they knew that 

 they were about to do something which the law of 

 Muhammad held to be wrong, made a special point of 

 commencing the proceedings with a recitation from the 

 Koran. Spirit-propitiation is considered a far less serious 

 matter, the reason perhaps being that the offering of small 

 gifts, such as eggs, limes, or a bowl of rice, and the repe- 

 tition of mantras, is a simple and apparently innocuous 

 thing, very different from participation in the wild scenes 

 where in successive ravings, ecstasies, and collapses the 

 pawangs are possessed of demons. 



The collection of mantras given in the article " A Deer- 

 Drive " is a fair example of a pawang's lore. A similar 

 set, with appropriate ceremonies and due offerings, would 

 be used at the opening of a new clearing in the forest or 

 any similar enterprise. In the case of sickness, the pawang 

 adds a potion or poultice, or perhaps a pill of paper upon 

 which weird figures have been traced. Often he will 

 insist upon the person or persons interested keeping some 

 peculiar observances which generally take the form of 



