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

200 DYAK RELIGION
small jackal. They will follow and bark at men, and
from their supposed connection with the spirits are greatly
feared by the Dyaks, who generally run away from them
as fast as they can.
A Dyak in Banting solemnly told me that one day when
out hunting he met a spirit in human form sitting upon
a fallen tree. Nothing daunted, he went up and sat upon
the same tree, and entered into conversation with him,
and asked him for some charm. The spirit gave him some
magic medicine, which would give his dogs pluck to attack
any wild pig or deer so long as he retained possession of it.
Having given him this, the spirit advised the man to
return quickly, for his dogs, he said, would be back soon,
and might do him harm. This advice he willingly fol-
lowed, and hurried away as fast as he could.
There are some wonderful stories related about meeting
the demon Girgasi. It is said that a man once saw this
terrible spirit returning from the hunt, carrying on his
back a captured Dyak whom he recognized. Strange to
relate, the man died the same day on which he was seen
carried by the spirit !
The spirits are said to build their invisible habitations
in trees, and many trees are considered sacred as being
the abode of one or more spirits, and to cut down one of
these trees would provoke the spirits' vengeance. The
wild fig-tree (kara) is often supposed to be inhabited by
spirits. It is said that one way of testing whether the
kara tree is the abode of spirits or not is to strike an axe
into it at sunset, and leave it fixed in the trunk of the
tree during the night.
If the axe be found next morning
in the same position, no spirit is there ; if it has fallen to
the ground, he is there and has displaced the axe !
The tops of the hills are favourite haunts for spirits.