A DYAK MEDICINE CHEST. 67 
‘We had talked to one another so pleasantly and frankly 
that I thought I might ask Dasu as a great favor to show me 
his Lupong, or Medicine Chest, and the charms of power which 
it contained. It was quite evident that this aroused his suspicions 
again, and he retired within himself as before. But the prin- 
cipal people of the house, who were sitting by us, urged him to 
consent, and, as old acquaintances of mine, assured him of my 
good faith. So he was at last persuaded, and went to his own 
room to fetch the treasure. 
As I have said, the good mats of the household, as is usual 
when it is intended to show respect to a visitor, had been taken 
down for our accommodation from the place where they are 
stored. But we now saw that the most valued of them all had 
been held in reserve. This, which was made of fine and very 
flexible rotan, the latest triumph of the skill and industry of our 
courteous hostess Ipah, Brok’s wife, was now handed down and 
spread in front of us for the reception of the great man and the 
mysterious implements of his profession. After some consider- 
able delay, probably intended to excite our curiosity the more, 
he appeared and sat down on the mat prepared for him: a 
subdued murmur of applause and satisfaction greeting him as he 
took his seat. 
A Manang’s LZupong, or case for holding his charms, may 
be almost anything. Sometimes it is a box, sometimes a basket, 
sometimes a bag. In this instance it was an open-mouthed 
basket made of thin shavings of bamboo, hung round the neck 
of the owner by a strip of bark. 
Before beginning the exhibition Dasu made a little formal 
speech, in which with much show of humility, he spoke in 
depreciation of his own powers and knowledge, and of his 
collection of remedial charms, as compared with those of other 
members of the profession elsewhere. ‘These remarks were of 
course received with complimentary expressions of dissent from 
the audience: and then at last the contents of the basket were 
displayed before us. They were tied up together in a cloth 
bag, the most highly prized being further enclosed in special 
receptacles of their own, such as a second cloth covering, a little 
bamboo box with a lid, or a match-box. They were 
ceremoniously brought out and placed side by side on the mat 
R. A, Soc., No. 39, 1903, 
