180 TWO RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES. 
All this occupied about half an hour and by this time they 
were not far from the object of their search. And now falling 
down on hands. and: knees they commenced groping about the 
room clutching. at various object. until at last one of them - 
suddenly announced that he had caught the lost soul. This 
he securely enclosed between his hands and going up to the 
nearest relative he.clapped- the spirit on the head of the latter - 
and to prevent escape,.tied over the head a piece of cloth. 
Thus was effected the most cuaea met of the work and all 
rest was straight-forward. 
The Bayoh. commenced _ to aie to the opine ape 
whose replies though not audible to the assembly were never- 
theless recognised by the Bayoh. Quoth the Bayoh, “So sorry — 
to see youill, is there anything we can do for you?’ or - 
‘What sort of a time have you had latterly ?” and the like., . 
Soon*the Bayoh uncover their heads and the reiative is in- 
formed concerning the welfare of the deceased and is instruct- 
ed to take a sarong, or a cooking pot or some dollars to the 
grave. This done, the spirit of the dead will rest in peace. 
The application of the deceased spirit to the head of the: 
nearest relative is also followed out during the funeral cere-. 
mony. Just as the.corpse is about to be removed: from the 
house the next of kin taking a plate or basket in his hand 
approaches the head of the corpse and affects to shovel up the 
spirit pouring it over his own head: this he repeats several 
times. . The alleged reason is that the spirit shall not leave. 
the house. 
The Plato is in some degree paralleled amongst Sea 
Dayaks by a catching the soul’ ceremony held in cases of 
obdurate sickness. According to Archdeacon Perham—" If 
the patient is apparently in a dangerous state, they pretend 
the-soul has escaped far away, perhaps to the river: and they 
will wave about a garment or a piece of woven cloth to imitate 
the action of throwing a cast net to enclose it as a fish is 
caught; perhaps they give out that it has escaped into the 
jungle and they will rush out of the house to circumvent and 
secure it there; perhaps they will say it has been carried away 
Jour, Straits Branch 
