XVI MAGIC, SPELLS, AND CHARMS 133 



whirled round in the cone, and one by one they fall into a 

 faint, to be recovered by fanning with the pinang blossom. 

 They dance about and brush against the onlookers as 

 though unable to control their movements, and are only 

 kept at a distance by finding handfuls of rice flung in 

 their faces. The point of giddiness and hysteria eventually 

 reached can only be compared with certain stages of 

 drunkenness. 



The outsider will find it difficult to detect much method 

 in the madness, but on more sober occasions the performers 

 can offer intelligible explanations of their behaviour. The 

 account given by an old medicine woman at Niah, and 

 confirmed by the man who conducts the ceremonies at the 

 same village, shows that the part taken by the spirits is 



Fig. 84. — Boat used in bayoh ceremony. 



quite as definite as the performance of the exorcisers. 

 Attracted by the music, the followers of the chief evil 

 spirits gather round the house when the bayoh has begun, 

 and hunt about. These little demons ask the chief medicine 

 woman, "Why have you called us?" She replies, "Tell your 

 master that I have called you because there is a person here 

 sick." They then . go back and fetch the more powerful 

 spirit whom they serve. This demon comes up from the 

 sea to the jong^ a small ship or raft that stands behind the 

 house (Fig. 84), and finds his way up the rope ladder. He 

 asks the bayoh woman, " Why have you called me, mother?" 

 She answers, " I have called you because there is a sick person 

 here. You can help him ! See whether you can help him 

 or not." If the demon finds the sickness beyond his power 

 to cure, he says, " I cannot help you ; get some one else " ; 

 and the next night another one is invoked, until the evil 



