DOCTOR AND PRIEST OF A DYAK VILLAGE. 175 



terious character, and I have not been able to learn 

 that a similar functionary exists amongst the wild 

 tribes of the other islands, but as far as my inquiries 

 in Borneo are concerned, the curious practice of priest- 

 craft which follows is peculiar to the sea Dyak tribes. 

 The manang is a person of great consequence in the 

 village, all diseases being brought to him for cure ; to 

 perform this, if the disease be internal, he calls together 

 all the friends of the sick person, and by making, with 

 the assistance of others playing on gongs and tom- 

 toms, a deafening noise, sufficient to kill a person 

 in ordinary health. He pretends to converse with the 

 spirit which troubles the afflicted person. This method 

 of treating diseases is not very conducive to the restor- 

 ation of health, but if the strength of the person is 

 sufficient to bear him through, it is well; but should he 

 die, no blame is attached to the manang, but it all 

 devolves upon the malignant spirit, who is certainly 

 not so black as, on these occasions, he is painted. 



I have not been able to hear correctly whether the 

 pamali, or the taboo, hereafter to be described, is 

 practised on these occasions, but as it is an institution 

 anterior to the introduction of the Hindu religion on the 

 west coast, I should suppose it here to be practised 

 with the same rigour as amongst the land tribes. 



But to return to the dress and habits of life of the 

 manang. He is generally old, and rich from the many 

 presents and payments made to him by those who 

 require his services : his dress precisely resembles 



