THE PINJIH RHINO. 21 



fessional manner known as jampi. Another candle 

 was lit, and Pa' Senik again began to play his in- 

 strument. Suddenly Che Mat broke in upon the 

 monotonous music of the arbab, clapped his hands 

 wildly above his head, shook his hair free from the 

 handkerchief that bound it round his forehead, and, 

 with a quick twist of his neck, swung his long 

 locks in a sweeping circle round his head. The sud- 

 denness of the interruption was startling. Round 

 whirled the black glistening mane, followed by the 

 gaze of every eye in the room, and as it completed 

 the circle, another short jerk of the muscles of the 

 neck sent it again madly flying round his head. 

 Again and again, and more quickly each succeeding 

 time, was the stream made to revolve round him, 

 until at last all that was to be seen of the man 

 seated on the floor was his short bare body, with 

 an occasional glimpse of white compressed features, 

 surmounted by a black, rushing, whirling halo that 

 filled and fanned the room. For some minutes this 

 extraordinary muscular effort continued, until sud- 

 denly Che Mat fell forward in a state of collapse. 

 There was perfect silence for a few moments, while 

 all the spectators held their breath, and then Pa' 

 Senik, picking up some rice, threw it over the supine 

 figure, and asked him who he was. There was no 

 answer, and Pa' Senik was forced to have recourse to 

 his arbab. After a considerable interval Che Mat 

 announced that he was Pran Ali, meaning thereby 

 that he was possessed by a spirit of that name. In 

 answer to questions put by Pa' Senik, the spirit 

 Pran Ali expressed himself as friendly to us, and a 



