Seventeen years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo; a ... - Sabrizain.org

OMENS AND DREAMS 161
this there is the hidden conviction that the gods have
some way of revealing their wishes to mankind, and that
obedience to the will of the higher powers is the only way
to insure success and happiness.
The Dyaks place implicit confidence in dreams. Their
theory is that during sleep the soul can hear, see, and
understand, and so what is dreamt is really what the
soul sees. When anyone dreams of a distant land, they
believe that his soul has paid a flying visit to that land.
They interpret their dreams literally. The appearance
of deceased relatives in dreams is to the Dyaks a proof
that the souls live in Sabayan, and as in the dreams they
seem to wear the same dress and to be engaged in the
same occupations as when they lived in this world, it is
difficult to persuade the Dyaks that the life in the other
world can be different from that in this.
In dreams, also, the gods and spirits are supposed to
bring charms to human beings. The story is often told
of how a man falls asleep, and dreams that a spirit came
to him and gave certain charms, and lo ! when
he awakes,
he finds them in his hands. Or else he is told in his
dream to go to a certain spot at a certain time, and take
some stone which will have some mysterious influence
for good over his fortunes. Very often these magic
charms, or pengaroh, as they are called by the Dyaks,
are nothing more than ordinary black pebbles, but the
possession of them is supposed to endow the owner with
exceptional powers.
No doubt Dyaks often concoct dreams out of their
waking thoughts to suit their own interests, and many a
man falsely declares he has received the gift of a charm
from some spirit in order to appear of importance before
others.
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