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

178 "MANANG," OR WITCH-DOCTOR
such as pretending to catch the soul of a sick man, he
must be publicly initiated by one or more of the following
ceremonies :
1. The first is called Besudi, which means "feeling,"
The aspirant sits in the veranda of the
or " 1
touching.'
Dyak house, and a number of witch-doctors walk round
him singing incantations the whole night. The ceremony
performed over him is the same as that done for a sick
man (Pelian). This is supposed to endow him with the
power to touch and feel the maladies of the body, and
apply the requisite cure. It admits to the lowest grade,
called manang mala (unripe manang), and is obtain-
able for the lowest fees.
2. If a manang wishes to attain a higher grade, he goes
through a second ceremony, which is called Bekliti, or
" opening." A whole night's incantation is again gone
through by the other manangs, and in the early morning
the great function of initiation is carried out. The witch-
doctors lead the aspirant into an apartment curtained off
from public gaze by large sheets of native woven cloth.
There they assert they cut his head open, and take out
his brains and wash and restore them. This is to give
him a clear mind to penetrate into the mysteries of
disease and to circumvent the wiles of the unseen spirits.
They insert gold-dust into his eyes to give him keenness
and strength of sight, so that he may be able to see the
soul wherever it may have wandered. They plant barbed
hooks in the tips of his fingers to enable him to seize the
struggling soul and hold it fast, and, lastly, they pierce
his heart with an arrow to make him tender-hearted and
full of sympathy with the sick and suffering. Needless
to say, none of these things are done. A few symbolic
actions representing them are all that are gone through.