SHAMANISM IN PEItAK. 223 



demons to the terrified villagers of raairy an inland hamponrj have 

 a distinct personality. They must be met by the employment o£ 

 other demons to counteract their influence, or they must be pro- 

 pitiated by bloody sacrifices. 



In the State of Perak, it is usual to ascribe nearly every disease to 

 supernatural agency. Medicine is often dispensed with altogether, 

 and all hope of recovery is made to rest on the result of the incanta- 

 tions of professional paivangs. According to the belief of the peo- 

 ple ( professed Mohamedans for generations and generations ! ) the 

 mountains and rivers of their country, the ground on which they 

 tread, the air which they breathe, and the forests in which they 

 seek for rattans, gutta, gums and other produce, abound with 

 spirits of various kinds and of varying powers and dispositions. 

 The malicious bajapr/ is the most dreaded, for he is a goblin of 

 inveterate hostility to mankind. Scarcely less formidable is the 

 lanrjsiiyar, a kind of " white lady " or " Banshee," who may be 

 heard sometimes amid the darkness of a tropical night moaning 

 among the branches of the trees or soothing the child which she 

 carries in her unsubstantial arms. The hunter spirit ( bantu pern- 

 buru), who with his wife and child sometimes rushes past the 

 peasant g huts at night in a whirlwind, pursuing with his four 

 ghostly dogs an unseen quarry, is a potent source of evil, and there 

 are many others too numerous to mention. 



When the malice of some one of these many demons has caused 

 sickness in a Malay family in Perak, help is summoned in the shape 

 of apawang, or medicine-man, who has a catalogue of spells at his 

 command and is known for his familiarity with evil-spirits. The 

 diagnosis may be effected in two ways. Either the pawang be- 

 comes entranced and sees (tilik) in his disembodied form secrets 

 concealed from ordinary mortals and is able on recovering sensibi- 

 lity to declare the nature and cause of the disease, or else he 

 calls down (menurunhan) some familiar demon ( whom he has pro- 

 bably inherited from his guru or preceptor), and, becoming 

 possessed by him, speaks, at his prompting, words of wisdom or 

 folly as the case may be. 



Some years ago I was a witness at a kamj>ong t or village, in Perak 



