ON TALLY STICKS AND STRINGS IN BORNEO. 9 



theDayong affects the motions of aperson goingalong journey — 

 paddling a boat for instance — chanting all the time and accom- 

 panied in the chorus by the people who repeat over and over 

 again the words ' Bali Dayong ; ' then returning with the soul 

 he with the assistance of a fowl or pig waives it back into the 

 body. And now, when safely in and the fees paid, the Dayong 

 knots round the patients wrist with a string of ' Daun silat ' 

 (leaf of a Licuala palm) and thus ties in the soul and at the same 

 time completes the undertaking. During this time however 

 the soul of the Dayong has been absent from his body and at 

 this stage to the cries of ' Mulai Mulai ' (Come home, come home) 

 from the crowd it re-enters, the man himself suddenly relapsing 

 from a quivering hissing maniac into a rational being who, as 

 if just awakening from a sleep, takes his seat unconcernedly 

 amongst the crowd. 



Tally sticks also are very much used by Kenyahs, Punans, 

 and other inland tribes (but not Kayans) who have not come in 

 contact with more civilised peoples. An ordinary Kenyan, tally 

 stick is a strip of wood about a foot long, an inch or more 

 wide, and an eighth of an inch thick : at one end is a rudely carved 

 head and hands, a representation of the god. At one side of 

 the stick are marks each referring to one door of the house. 

 A debt incurred by the occupant of any ' door ' is recorded by 

 a notch in the corresponding position on the stick. Bartering 

 among these people is very limited : their objects of barter are 

 few, being mainly pigs, fowls, parangs, grongs, and pieces of 

 iron. For each of these different objects there are separate 

 positions on the stick. Excepting in rare cases debts are not 

 incurred between occupants of different houses so that one stick 

 of the type just described is as a rule quite sufficient to record 

 all the debts owed to one man. When a debt is paid the owner 

 of the stick will just snip away the wood from either side of 

 the notch so as to replace the notch by a curved depression in 

 the wood. 



The tally stick is usually to be found hung up near the fire- 

 place where it becomes smoked and blackened with age : such 

 a stick would be accepted as evidence in case of a dispute 

 respecting a debt of long standing, for it would not be easy to 



R. A. Boa, No. 49. 1907. 



