SRA DYAK RELIGION. 217 
-tance from the antu, entered into conversation with him, begged 
for his spear, or anything he could bestow; but the spirit had 
nothing to give except some magic medicine (ubat) which would, 
by the mere fact of its possession by him, give his dogs pluck to 
attack any pig or deer. Having given him this, he advised the 
man to return quickly, for his dogs, he said, would be back soon, 
and might be savage with him. The man needed no further 
urging, retired a short distance in good order to save appearances, 
and then bolted through the jungle in the direction of his exit. 
And not only do entus hunt; but they build houses and work 
and farm just as Dyaks do. They love to erect their invisible 
habitations in trees, especially of the waringin kind; and many a 
tree is pointed as sacred, being the abode of a spirit or spirits ; and 
to cut one of these down would provoke the spirit’s vengeance. 
I remember an instance of a Dyak dangerously ill, whose malady 
was generally attributed to his having unwillingly cut down one 
of these possessed trees. A sacrifice was made at the foot of the 
tree; but the disturbed antw would not be pacified, and the man 
died. Stories are told of men being spirited away into these trees 
for days, and found again at the foot of the tree safe in life and 
limb; but I will not say sound in mind. The fact of a tree hav- 
ing a supernatural inhabitant is generally revealed through 
dreams. A case of this kind occurred at Banting. It was told to 
somebody in a dream that in a paltry looking kara (ficus) tree on 
the hill there lived an antu who desired to be fed, and a space 
round was cleared and an offering made. As soon as I became 
aware of it, | cut the tree down, and heard no more about it. 
Another way of discovering these tree spirits is the following: 
Strike an axe in the tree at sundown, and leave it adhering to the 
tree during the night. If it be found in the morning still in that 
position, no antu is there; if it has fallen to the ground, he is 
there, and has revealed his presence by displacing the axe. 
The tops of hills too are favourite haunts of this invisible socie- 
ty; and when Dyaks fell the Jungle of the larger hills, they often 
leave a few trees standing on the summit as a refuge for them. A 
hill on the Saribas river was supposed to be so much the property 
of the spirits that it was dangerous and unlawful to farm it, and 
