102 MANANGISM IN BORNEO. 
during the night the Manangs, leading the new candidate, 
march him up one ladder and down the other; but what that 
action is supposed to symbolize, or what special virtue to 
confer, | have not been able to discover. To wind up this 
play at mysteries, the man lays himself flat on the floor, and 
the Manangs walk over him, and trample upon him, to knock 
into him, perhaps, all the Manang power which is to be ob- 
tained. Thisis the “Enjun.” It is regarded as aieenimmesee 
of medical superiority, and the Manang who has passed the 
ordeal will on occasions boast that he is no ordinary spirit- 
controller and soul-catcher, but a “ Manang bangun, Manang 
enjun. 
Women as well as men may become Manangs. In former 
times, I believe, all Manangs on their initiation assumed female 
attire for the rest of their lives; but it 1s Tanelysadeprea 
now, at least on the coast districts ; and Ihave only met with 
one such. If you ask the reason of this strange custom, the 
only answer forthcoming is, that the spirits or deities who 
first taught Dyaks the knowledge of the powers of Manangism, 
gave them an injunction toassume the woman's garb. It will 
be observed that most of the beings mentioned or invoked by 
Manangs are addressed as ‘Ini,’ ‘‘ Grandmother,” which 
perhaps implies that all the special deities of the Manang 
world are supposed to be of the female sex, and, to be con- 
sistent with this belief, it might have been deemed necessary 
for the Manang to assume the outward figure and the dress of 
his goddess. 
The Malays also have their Manangs, who are called ‘ Ba- 
yoh,’ while the ceremony is “ Berasik;” but I believe the 
better instructed Mahometans consider the practice of it alto- 
gether inconsistent with the true religion of Islam. 
It has been said that the Pawang and the Poyang of the 
Malay Peninsula, and the Datus and Sz Lassos of the Battaks 
of Sumatra, and the medicinemen of Borneo, are all offsprings 
and ramifications of the Shaman priests, the wizard physician 
of Central Asia. The Manang of the Dyaks certainly contri- 
butes his share to the proof of the assertion. A main point 
