Page:Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (IA journalofstrait391903roya).pdf/85

 The Contents of a Dyak Medicine Chest.

A few days ago I was in the upper part of the Saribas river, the home of the race once celebrated throughout Malaya for daring deeds of piracy. My companion was the Rev. William Howell, the joint author with Mr. D. J. S. Bailey of 'A Diction- ary of the Sea-Dyak Language,' and an authority on all subjects connected with the religious and other customs of that people. We had ascended the Padih, an affluent of the main river, to the village of Kundong, where we were going to spend the night in the Dyak house, of which Brok is the tuai, or head-man. The house is of moderate length, about twenty doors; and as usual the apartments of the tuai are near the middle of the building. There we were hospitably installed on the ruai, or undivided hall, (sometimes described asa verandah), which extends through- out the whole length of a Sea-Dyak house, and occupies about half of its area. The good mats were brought down from the sadau, or loft, and spread for us; the rare luxury of a chair was provided for me and there we talked, and taught, and an- swered questions, and dispensed medicines, while the inhabitants of the other rooms gathered round us, as well as the occupants of our host's private quarters. There also we ate, and there we slept when the kindly people would at last consent to our going to bed.

The majority of the 'rooms,' i. e. separate tenements, in this house are inhabited by Christians of long standing, but there are a few who have not yet come in. Amongst them is a Manang, or Doctor of Magic, named Dasu, who has a large practice in the neighbourhood. I was anxious to interview him in order to get some information that I wanted for the purpose of compar- ing the original spiritual beliefs of the Borneans with those that underlie the Mohammedanism of the Malays of the Peninsula. I was also desirous of ascertaining how far the methods of the