The Land Dayaks of Sarawak say they have only one soul; the “Sibuyaus” talk of several; but their souls, as shown by the priest to the friends of the patient, bear a suspicious resemblance to the seeds of the cotton plant. “Berobat Sisab” has a similar aim to the above. At this, one priest, but no priestess, is present. The priest first makes a bamboo altar[10] in the common verandah outside the door of the patient’s room, round which are placed offerings, and a pig and a fowl are killed. The interdict lasts for eight days. For two there is beating of gongs and drums, and dancing by the man who makes the charm, usually some relation of the sick person. On the first night the soul is recovered, and the patient washed in the milk of the cocoa-nut. I have often been present when these ceremonies were going on; it is astonishing that any patient should recover, stunned as he must be by the beating and clanging of these ear-splitting instruments close to him. It has effectually prevented my closing my eyes; and the melancholy wail of the priestesses is sufficient, one would imagine, to drive hope itself from the bedside of the sufferer. The feasts and incantations connected with farming operations are as follows:--First, in the midst of cutting down the jungle; second, when it is set on fire. These are small affairs, the interdict lasting but one day, and only a fowl being killed. They are called “Mekapau,” only one gong and one drum are beaten; and also “nyirañgan,” because a bamboo altar is built by the roadside, and upon it a small offering of rice and blood is placed for the spirit. The second feast is to drive away all evil influences from the earth, when ready for the seed. The third feast[11] is the blessing of the seed before planting. It is brought out, and the priestesses wave over it their flat brush-like wands, which consist of the undeveloped fruit of the areca palm, stripped of its sheath, and is in itself one of the prettiest objects in the world, and in its natural bursting spreads around the parent stem a delicious perfume that scents a whole grove. They thus expel all malign influences; the interdict lasts two nights, one fowl is killed, and there is music and dancing.