IN BORNEAN FORESTS [chap, iv 



fancy they see everywhere and recognise in any strange or un- 

 usual sound. They believe that these " Antu " wander in the 

 forests, hiding in the hollow trunks of trees, or else among rocks or 

 on the tops of hills, their sole business being the care of the affairs 

 of mankind. To find out the intentions of the spirits regarding 

 them, especially in times of trouble or danger, the Dyaks endeavour 

 to draw omens from the heart of a sacrificed pig, or from the flight 

 and appearance of certain birds. Everything which appears to 

 them as supernatural, especially cases of sickness, is attributed to 

 evil spirits, and they have " medicine-men " or shamans, whom 

 they call " Manang," who are consulted on these occasions. These 

 " doctors," among other peculiarities, go about dressed as women 

 and charge themselves with the duty of exorcising the evil spirits 

 producing the disease. The same result is supposed to be attained 

 by depositing offerings in diminutive huts built on purpose at the 

 landing-places or near the village. 



The Sea-Dyaks inter their dead, but to this rule there appear to 

 be exceptions. Thus certain shamans or priests called " Mulana," 

 are placed after death on a raised platform : a custom practised 

 elsewhere in the Eastern Archipelago, especially among the Papuans, 

 but which in this case might suggest that followed by the Parsees, 

 who, as is well known, place their dead on towers built for that 

 purpose. 



It can hardly be doubted that certain beliefs amongst the Dyaks 

 are derived from more highly-civilised people or from wandering 

 apostles of various creeds and religions coming from the Asiatic 

 continent. To such contacts must be traced their tradition re- 

 garding the Deluge, which is very like the Biblical one ; x and the 

 belief in Paradise and in Hell, called by them " Sabayana," and 

 supposed to^_be divided into seven different stories. 2 



1 Cf. R. J. Perham, A Sea-Dyak Tradition of the Deluge, in the Sarawak 

 Gazette, No. 133, July, 1877. 



2 Cf. St. John, Op. cit. I., p. 65. 



52 



