146 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



sugar-canes and bananas. " Whither are you going, 

 friend ? " said they. " I'm going to the wind-spirit " 

 he answered. " Oh ! then, will you please ask him 

 how it is we have no branches like other trees ; we 

 should like to have branches like them." ^ ** Yes, Til 

 remember it," said Simp ang Imp ang, and, passing on, 

 he soon came to the home of the wind-spirit. There 

 he heard a great noise of wind blowing, and the 

 wind-spirit said, ** What do you want here, Simpang 

 ImpangT He answered angrily that he had come 

 to demand ih^ padi that the wind-spirit had carried 

 away. ** We'll settle the dispute by diving " said 

 the wind-spirit,^ and he dived into the water ; but 

 being only a bubble, he very soon popped up to the 

 surface. Then Simpang Impang called on his com- 

 panion the fish to dive for him ; and when the wind- 

 spirit saw that he had no chance of coming out the 

 winner in this ordeal, he said, '* No, this is not fair, 

 we'll settle the matter by jumping," and he leapt 

 right over the house. Simpang Impang called on 

 the swift as his substitute, and the swift, rising from 

 the ground, jumped right out of sight. Still the 

 wind-spirit would not give in. " We'll have another 

 test ; let's see who can go through this blow-pipe " ; 

 and he went whistling through. Then Simpang 

 Impang did not know what to do, for none of his 

 companions seemed able to help him. But he had 

 forgotten the ant, until a little squeaky voice called 

 out, ** I can do it " ; and forthwith the ant crawled 

 through the blow-pipe. Still the wind-spirit would 

 not give in, and Simpang Impang was very angry, 

 and seizing his father, the fire-drill, he set the wind- 

 spirit's house on fire. Then at last the wind-spirit 

 called out that he would make compensation for the 

 padih^ had taken away. " But," said he, *' I haven't 



^ This greeting of the passer-by and the charging him with some commission 

 is very characteristic of the Ibans. 



2 A form of trial by ordeal occasionally practised by Ibans and other 

 tribes. 



