SEA DYAK RELIGION. papal 
his senses he saw beside him a maias (orang-utan) which had 
starched the bleeding and dressed the wound; and when departing 
the creature hung up some what for use in future contingen- 
cies. In other stories, the man is spirited away by the animal as 
in the following. A Dyak was fishing by a large deep pool, and 
saw in the water a huge python, about 50 feet long and big in pro- 
portion. He at once rushed to the conclusion that this was no 
mere beast, but an entu in serpent form; and without a moment's 
hesitation jumped down upon its back. The python dived, and 
then crept up the bank, and crawled along the road, but they had 
not gone far before the serpent was metamorphosed into aman, 
thus justifying the man’s guess. As the two proceeded, the antu 
asked what he wanted; did he wish to be a hunter, a diver, a 
fisher, a climber, a pig-trapper, or to be a rich man? No, he wish- 
ed to have a brave spirit and an invulnerable body, and to over- 
come his tribal enemies without mortal hurt to himself. The antu 
was complacent, and told him that if he married a certain woman, 
(naming her) his request should be granted. He made overtures 
to the lady, but her parents refused, and the marriage was not 
consummated: consequently he got only a part of the luck which 
the antu prospectively gave him. His after life, however, was 
thought to have verified the truth of the apparition ; for he rose 
to a position of note among his people; and distinguished himself 
in that very line in which the autu said he should. 
The alligator, also, is more than a canny beast; it 1s believed to 
be endowed with spirit-intelligence ; and Dyaks will not willingly 
take part in capturing one, unless the saurian has first destroyed 
one of themselves; for why, say they, should they commit an act 
of ageression, when he and his kindred can so easily repay them ? 
But should the alligator take a human hfe, revenge becomes a 
sacred duty of the living relatives, who will trap the man eater in 
the spirit of an officer of justice pursuing a criminal. Others, even 
then, hang back, reluctant to embroil themselves in a quarrel which 
does not concern them. The man-eating alligator is supposed to 
be pursued by a righteous Nemesrs ; and whenever one is caught, 
they have a profound conviction that it must be the guilty one, or 
his accomplice; for no innocent leviathan could be permitted by 
