Part 26 (1/2)
OROBONG, a weed (not unlike the foxglove in appearance) which always grows freely among the young PADI, is gathered by the female friends of any woman pa.s.sing through the ordeal of childbirth. They boil the leaves and wash her body with the decoction on several days following the delivery. It is held that, if this is not done, the woman's abdomen will not regain its normal state. This usage also is common to the Kayans with many other tribes.
The leaves of the DRACAENA are sometimes tied beneath the prow of a boat during journeys to distant parts (as mentioned on p. 70, vol. ii.); they are also hung upon the tombs and, with the ISANG, upon altar posts, when the rites are performed.
The Ibans and some of the Klemantans will not make the first stroke in cutting down the TAPANG tree (ARBOURIA), alleging that, if they do so, great troubles will befall them.
Supplementary Note on the NGARONG
Since correcting the proofs of this chapter we have come upon a brief account of the guardian spirits of the Iban, which corroborates our account of the Ngarong. It is contained in a series of papers ent.i.tled RELIGIOUS RITES AND CUSTOMS OF THE IBANS OR DYAKS OF SARAWAK, BORNEO, written by Leo Nyuak (an Iban educated in a mission school), and translated by the Very Rev. Edm. Dunn (ANTHROPOS, vol. i. p. 182, 1905). In this account the guardian spirit is called TUA, and we are told that ,The TUA or guardian spirit of an Iban has its external manifestation in a snake, a leopard, or some other denizen of the forest. It is supposed to be the spirit of some ancestor renowned for bravery, or some other virtue, who at death has taken an animal form ... it is revealed in a dream what animal form the honoured dead has taken.”
CHAPTER 16
Magic, Spells, and Charms
Magic is in a comparatively neglected and backward condition among the Kayans and Kenyahs, Punans, Ibans, and the more warlike up-country Klemantans. On the other hand, some of the coastwise tribes of Klemantans, especially the Malanaus and Kadayans, cultivate magic with some a.s.siduity.
The Kayans dislike and discourage all magical practices, with the exception of those which are publicly practised for beneficent purposes and have the sanction of custom.
In the old days they used to kill those suspected of working any evil by magic. There are no recognised magicians among them other than the DAYONGS, and these, as we have seen, perform the functions of the priest and the physician rather than those OF the wizard or sorcerer.
Some of the DAYONGS make use at certain ceremonies of a rough mask carved out OF wood, or made from the sh.e.l.l of a gourd. The mask is merely an oval sh.e.l.l with slits for eyes and mouth, generally blackened with age and use. It may be worn during the soul-catching ceremony, but not during attendance on the recently deceased. This use of a mask is not known to us among any other of the peoples (Pl. 151).
The medicine man of the Ibans is known as MANANG; the MANANGS are more numerous than the DAYONGS of the Kayans; they are more strictly professional in the sense that they do but little other work, depending chiefly on what they can earn by their treatment of disease and by other ways of practising upon the superst.i.tions of their fellows. They generally work in groups of three or four, or more in cases of serious illness, and, with the imitativeness and disregard for tradition characteristic of the IBAN, they have developed a great variety of procedures,[151] into most of which the element of deliberate fraud enters to a much greater extent than into the practice of the Kayan DAYONGS. The Sea Dayak MANANG is usually covered with skin disease (tinea) and s.h.i.+rks all hard work with the other members of the village.
A peculiar and infrequent variety of Sea Dayak MANANG are the MANANG BALI. They are men who adopt and continuously wear woman's dress and behave in all ways like women, except that they avoid as far as possible taking any part in the domestic labour. They claim to have been told in dreams to adopt this mode of life; they are employed for the same purpose as the more ordinary MANANGS, and they practise similar methods.
Among the IBANS certain persons get a bad reputation for working harm by magic. They are said to be cunning in sorcery (TAU TEPANG), and these persons may properly be said to be sorcerers or witches. They are believed to work harm in many ill-defined ways, especially to health; but their procedures are not generally known; they probably include poisoning, but, like the practices of our European witches in recent times, they probably have but little existence outside the timorous imaginations of the people. Such persons are disliked and shunned, though not killed as they would be among Kayans or Kenyahs. They are not professional sorcerers, I.E. their help is not called in by other persons who wish to work evil on their enemies, for others do not dare to do this. At the present time in Sarawak, if a man accuses another of practising TEPANG, he is liable to be sued for libel and fined.[152]
Black Magic
The most important of the magical practices is one known and occasionally resorted to among all the peoples for the purpose of bringing about the death of a personal enemy. We describe the procedure as carried out by the Sebops (Klemantans), but in all essentials the account holds good for all or nearly all the peoples. It is not usual to invoke the aid of any recognised magician. The man whose heart is filled with hatred against another will retire secretly to a spot at the edge of a PADI field, or of some other clearing, where he can see a large expanse of sky and yet feel sure of being un.o.bserved. Here he sets up the BATANG PRA, a pole supported horizontally some six or eight feet above the ground, its ends resting on two vertical poles. A little figure of a man or woman (according to the s.e.x of the person aimed at), which has been carved for the purpose out of soft wood, is fixed upright in the ground beneath the BATANG PRA. This is called TEGULUN KALINGAI USA, which, literally translated, is ”the reflected image of the body.” The operator makes a fire beside the TEGULUN, digs a small hole in the ground, and fills it with water coloured with ferruginous earth. This pool is called BAw.a.n.g DAAR,[153] the lake of blood. Sitting before the TEGULUN he scans the s.p.a.ce of sky framed by the BATANG PRA, searching for some hawk upon the wing. As soon as he sees a hawk within this area, he addresses it, waving in one hand a small frayed stick, and saying, ”Put fat in the mouth of So-and-So,”
and he puts a bit of pork fat into the mouth of the TEGULUN. Then saying, ”Send him to BAw.a.n.g DAAR,” he immerses the TEGULUN in his pool of reddened water; and taking it out again he thrusts into it a little wooden spear. After this he buries the TEGULUN in a hole in the ground, covering it with earth. (Only people who die by violence or of some much-feared disease are normally buried in this fas.h.i.+on.) This done he keeps shouting to the hawk to go to the left, at the same time waving his stick in that direction. If the hawk pa.s.ses out of the area of operations towards the right, he knows that his attempt will not succeed, and he desists for the time being; if it flies out to the left he knows that his arts will prevail, and he addresses the hawk as follows: --
”BALI FLAKI TUAI MUSIT, OU MATEI IYA KALUNAN ITO TAMA ODOH (the name of the victim), TUJU KAU, BALI FLAKI, MIEU TUOR BAw.a.n.g DAAR AU MULOH USUK, BALI FLAKI, MIEU NIAK BOIN NA ALAM UJUN, PALA UJA MATEI SAGAM; MATEI DAAR KAYU SAGAM; MATEI SUAT; MATEI AIOH SAGAM; MATEI MANYAT ALAM SUNGEI; MATEI PADAM; MATEI NAKAP BAYA; MATEI SAKIT ULUN; MATEI SAKIT USOK.” (Translation runs -- ”O Bali Flaki, go your way, let this man Tama Odoh die; go and put him in the lake of blood, O Bali Flaki; stab him in the chest, Bali Flaki, put fat of pig in his mouth that he may die to-morrow (this is equivalent to -- let his head be taken; for fat is always put in the mouth of the head taken in battle); let him be killed by a falling tree, to-morrow; let him die from a wound; let him die by the hand of his enemy, tomorrow; let him be drowned, to-morrow; let him die of a deadly disease; let him be caught by a crocodile; let him die of pain in the head; let him die of pain in the chest.”) It will be observed that the formula calls upon the hawks to give effect to the malevolent wishes, so that the operation is not one of direct magical or sympathetic action, but rather is one by which the aid of a higher power is invoked. This feature of the process renders it one which the strongest minded cannot pooh-pooh.
With this comprehensive curse the rite is concluded and the vengeful man returns home and secretly observes his enemy. The latter may become aware that magic is being worked against him through dreaming that fat is put into his mouth; and as he is probably more or less aware of the hatred of his enemy, it is not unlikely that such a dream will come to him.[154] There can be no doubt that, if in this or any other way a man learns that he has been made the object of a magical attempt of this sort, he, in many cases, suffers in health; and it is probable that in some cases such knowledge has proved fatal. If it is discovered that any man has attempted to injure another in this way, he falls into general reprobation, and, if the case can be proved against him, heavy damages in the form of pigs, gongs, etc., may be awarded by the house-chief.
A curse is sometimes imposed without formality, and in the heat of the moment, in the face of their enemy. Under these circ.u.mstances the curse is usually muttered indistinctly, and seems then to work upon the victim all the more powerfully. The words used are similar to those of the curse written out above.
A characteristic bit of Iban magic is the following: -- A man, angered by finding that some one has deposited dirt in or about his property or premises, takes a few burning sticks and, thrusting them into the dirt, says, ”Now let them suffer the pains of dysentery.”
Therapeutic Magical Procedures
It was said in Chapter XIV. that the Kayans treat disease by three distinct methods, namely, by soul-catching, by drugs and regimen, and by extraction of the supposed cause of the trouble. This last operation seems to fall under the head of magic and may be described here. It is usually performed by the DAYONGS, and is applied more particularly in cases in which localised pain is a prominent feature of the disorder. The DAYONG comes provided with a short tube, prepared by pus.h.i.+ng out the core of a section of the stem of a certain plant of the ginger family. After inquiring of the patient the locality of his pains, he holds up the polished blade of a sword, and, gazing at it as one seeing visions, he sings a long incantation beginning: --
BALI DAYONG USUN LASAN URIP ULUN KAM KELUNAN NINI KETAI NATONG TAw.a.n.g LEMAN BALI DAYONG.[155]