PETAltA, OK SEA DYAK OOT)S. 115 



upon the weather, and upon, freedom from many noxious pests 

 over which he feels little or no control — rats, locusts and insects 

 innumerable ; he gets gain from the products of the jungle, and 

 loves its fruits : high hills surrounded with floating clouds, and 

 the violent thunder storms, are regarded with something of myste- 

 rious awe ; he must invoke these powers, for he wants them to be 

 on his side in the weary work of life's toils, and the struggle for 

 existence ; and thus he imagines each phenomenon to be the work- 

 ing of a god, and worships the gods he has imagined. 



I must now refer to three beings which have been mentioned 

 before, and which occupy a peculiar position in Dyak belief, as 

 holding definite functions in the working of the world. These are 

 Salampandai, Pidang Gana, and Singalang Burong. 



Salampandai is a female spirit, and the maker of men, some say 

 by her own independent power, some by command of Petara. The 

 latter relate that in the beginning Petara commanded her to make 

 a man, and she made one of stone, but it could not speak and 

 Petara refused to accept it. She set to work again and fashioned 

 one of iron, but neither could that speak, and so was rejected. The 

 third time she made one of clay which had the power of speech, 

 and Petara was pleased, and said : " Good is the man you have 

 '* made, let him be the ancestor of men." And so Salampandai ever 

 afterwards formed human beings, and is forming 'them now, at her 

 anvil in the unseen regions. There she hammers out children as 

 they are born into the world, and when each one is formed it is 

 presented to Petara, who asks : " What would you like to handle 

 "and use?" If it answer: " The parang, the sword and spear," 

 Petara pronounces it a boy ; but if it answer : " Cotton and the 

 " spinning wheel," Petara pronounces it a female. Thus they are 

 determined boys or girls according to their own choice. 



Another theory makes Petara the immediate creator of men, 

 and of all things : — 



" Langit Petara dulu mibit, 

 " Mesei dunggul manok banda. 

 " Tan ah Petara dulu ngaga, 

 " Mesei buah mbawemg blonja. 



