THE WITCH DOCTOR
The children of Borneo are taught from their earliest years that there
are evil spirits everywhere--in the air, in the trees, in the rocks and
in the streams--and that these cause disease and death. And so when
sickness comes, the witch doctor or _Manang_ is sent for, because he
claims to have mysterious powers over the spirits.
Every disease is believed to be caused by the touch of some demon, who
wishes to carry off the soul of the sick man into the other world, and
the witch doctor is the man who has power to charm or kill the evil
spirit, and rescue the soul of the sick man from his cruel clutches.
When called in to attend a patient, he in company with other medicine
men go through a ceremony, which, though agreeing in the main points,
differs in details according to what the disease is, and the amount of
fees paid.
The witch doctor always possesses a _lupong_ or medicine box, generally
made of bark skin, which is filled with charms, consisting of scraps of
wood or bark, curiously twisted roots, pebbles and fragments of quartz.
These charms are either inherited or revealed to their owners by the
spirits in dreams, as possessing medicinal virtue. One important and
necessary charm is the _Batu Ilau_--"stone of light"--a bit of quartz
crystal into which the witch doctor looks in order to see the soul, so
as to be able to catch it and bring it back to the body it has left. It
is believed by the Dyaks that in all cases of serious sickness, the soul
leaves the body and wanders about at greater or less distance from it;
if it can be caught before it has proceeded too far on its journey to
the other world, well and good; if not, the patient dies. Whether the
patient recover or not, the witch doctor is rewarded for his services.
He makes sure of this beforehand, and demands his fee before he
undertakes the case.
The _Manang_ never carries his own box of charms; the people who fetch
him must carry it for him. He arrives at the house of the sick man
generally at sunset, for he never performs by daylight, unless the case
is very serious, and he is paid extra for doing so. It is difficult and
dangerous work, he says, to have any dealings with the spirits in the
daytime. Sitting down by the patient, after some inquiries, he produces
out of his medicine box a pebble, or a boar's tusk, or some other charm,
and gently strokes the body with it. If there be several medicine men
called in, the leader undertakes the preliminary examination, the rest
giving their assent.
The witch doctor now produces his _Batu Ilau_ ("stone of light") and
gravely looks into it to see where the soul is, and to discover what is
the proper ceremony for the case. When there is serious illness, the
witch doctor affirms that the spirit of the afflicted person has already
left the body and is on its way to the other world, but that he may be
able to overtake it and bring it back, and restore it to the person to
whom it belongs. He pretends to converse with the evil spirit that
troubles the sick man, repeating aloud the answers that the spirit is
supposed to make.
There are many different ceremonies resorted to in cases of illness, but
the following is what is common to all _Manang_ performances.
In the public hall of the Dyak house, a long-handled spear is fixed
blade upwards, with a few leaves tied round it, and at its foot are
placed the medicine boxes of all the witch doctors who take part in the
ceremony. This is called the _Pagar Api_ ("fence of fire"). Why it is
called by this curious name is not clear.
The _Manangs_ all squat on the floor, and the leader begins a long
monotonous drawl, the rest either singing in concert, or joining in the
choruses, or singing in turn with him. After a tiresome period of this,
they stand up and march with slow and solemn step in single file round
the _Pagar Api_. The monotonous chant sometimes slackens, sometimes
quickens, as they march round and round the whole night through, with
only one interval for food in the middle of the night. The patient
simply lies on his mat and listens.
Most of what is chanted consists of meaningless sounds, it being
supposed that what is not understood by man is intelligible to the
spirits. But some parts of it can be understood by the careful
listener. The witch doctors call upon the sickness to be off to the ends
of the earth and return to the unseen regions from whence it came. They
invoke the aid of spirits, as well as their own ancestors, and spin out
the invocation to last till early morning. Then they rush round the
_Pagar Api_ as hard as they can go, still singing their incantation. One
of their number suddenly falls on the floor and lies motionless. The
others sit down round him. He is covered over with a blanket, and all
wait, while his spirit is supposed to hurry away to the other world to
find the wandering soul and bring it back. Presently he revives, and
looks vacantly round like a man just waking out of sleep. Then he raises
his right hand clenched as if holding something. That hand contains the
soul, and he proceeds to the patient, and solemnly returns it to the
body of the sick man through the crown of his head. This "catching of
the soul" is the great end to which all that has preceded leads up. One
more thing must be done to complete the cure. A live fowl must be waved
over the patient, and as he does so, the leader sings a special
invocation of great length. The animal is afterwards killed as an
offering to the spirits, and eaten by the _Manangs_.
The witch doctor is supposed to be called to his profession by a
revelation made to him in a dream by some spirit. He therefore claims to
have a familiar spirit, whom he can call to his aid when necessary. He
must also commit to memory a certain amount of Dyak incantations to take
part in the ceremonies in company with other _Manangs_. In addition to
this, before he can accomplish the more important feats such as
pretending to catch the soul of a sick man, he must be initiated by
other witch doctors. There are three different grades of _Manangs_, and
the higher the grade is, the larger the fees the aspirant has to pay the
other witch doctors. There are some differences in the ceremonies
connected with the admission into each of these three grades, but in all
of them the aspirant sits in the verandah of the Dyak house, and a
number of witch doctors walk round him singing incantations during the
whole night. The other _Manangs_ pretend to endow him with mysterious
powers, and to make him able to "touch" the maladies of the body, and
also to see the soul wherever it may be wandering.
From what has been said it will be seen that the Dyak witch doctor uses
much deceit and trades on the ignorance of others. He pretends to be
able to "catch the soul" of a sick man, and is paid for doing so. When
Dyaks have given up their old beliefs and superstitions, and have
accepted the true Faith, they naturally give up their belief in the
witch doctor's mysterious powers. For this reason the greatest opponents
to the advance of the Gospel in Borneo are the _Manangs_. I am glad to
say, however, that some Dyak witch doctors have listened to the teaching
of the missionaries and have seen the wickedness of the deceitful lives
they have led. These have become Christians, and have openly confessed
to their evil practices in trading on the superstitions of the Dyaks.
Some have become Catechists and teachers, and are teaching others to
renounce the belief in evil spirits which they at one time taught, and
are undoing the evil they did in the past by bringing people to God.