The Contents of a Dyak Medicine 
Chest. 
By BISHOP HOSE, 
A few days ago I was in the upper part of the Saribas-river, 
the home of the race once celebrated throughout Malaya for 
daring deeds of piracy. My companion was the Rev. William 
Howell, the joint author with Mr. D. J. 8. Bailey of ‘A Diction- 
ary of the Sea-Dyak Language,’ and an authority on all subjects 
connected with the religious and other customs of that people. 
We had ascended the Padih, an affluent of the main river, to the 
village of Kundong, where we were going to spend the night 
in the Dyak house, of which Brok is the twai, or head-man. The 
house is of moderate length, about twenty doors; and as usual 
the apartments of the twa are near the middle of the building. 
There we were hospitably installed on the rwaz, or undivided 
hall, (sometimes described asa verandah), which extends through- 
out the whole length of a Sea-Dyak house, and occupies about 
half of its area. The good mats were brought down from the 
sadau, or loft, and spread for us; the rare luxury of a chair 
was provided for me and there we talked, and taught, and an- 
swered questions, and dispensed medicines, while the inhabitants 
of the other rooms gathered round us, as well as the occupants 
of our host’s private quarters. ‘There also we ate, and there 
we slept when the kindly people would at last consent to our 
going to bed. 
The majority of the ‘rooms,’ i. e. separate tenements, in 
this house are inhabited by Christians of long standing, but there 
area few who have not yet comein. Amongst them is a Manang, 
or Doctor of Magic, named Vasu, who has a large practice in the 
neighbourhood. I was anxious to interview him in order to 
get some information that I wanted for the purpose of compar- 
ing the original spiritual beliefs of the Borneans with those 
that underlie the Mohammedanism of the Malays of the Peninsula. 
I was also desirous of ascertaining how far the methods of the 
R.‘A. Soc., No. 39, 1903. 
