“At last it is over. One hour hence the Commander of Kwala Kapoeas will have the fever as badly as you have had it. Remain quiet now, drink the obat—medicine—which Dohong will give you. In about half an hour’s time you will experience some singing in the ears but don’t feel alarmed, it will be the sign of the disappearance of fever for Kwala Kapoeas.” With solemn steps he quitted the apartment. Wienersdorf now produced a bottle containing a solution of sulphate of quinine and gave it to the Poenan to drink. Without moving a muscle the latter swallowed the bitter draught, wiped his lips with the back of his hand, but assured his doctor that he had greater confidence in the magical performance of Johannes than in all the bitter drugs in creation. A quarter of an hour afterwards he had fallen into a deep slumber. Previous to his departure from Kwala Kapoeas, Johannes with his accustomed foresight had requisitioned some quinine from the doctor’s medicine chest and this drug was now rendering him good service. Dalim, however, warned him against making similar experiments upon the natives. “Threats,” he said, “have been heard and suspicions have been muttered. Some of the people spoke of the danger of receiving total strangers like yourselves in the kottas. Up to the present they have confined themselves to murmurs. But only let them broach the word antoeën and every mandauw will be unsheathed and you will soon be weltering in your blood, your heads in the hands of the Poenans.” “What is the meaning of the word antoeën?” Schlickeisen asked. “It means the power of changing into an evil spirit in order to steal the soul of a man and thus to make him ill,” was Dalim’s reply. “I thought stealing a man’s soul was killing him?” “Yes, but death only results when the soul remains away too long. With the Dayak illness is simply considered a temporary absence of the soul from the body and healing is therefore the restoration of the abstracted soul in due time. Our priestesses are quite experts in these matters. If you like I will tell you a legend relating to the subject.” The four Europeans hereupon refilled their pipes and placed themselves round the Dayak, who commenced his narrative: “Once upon a time there lived a family of Dayaks who, while digging a hole in the ground to fix a stake for one of their houses in course of erection, found a large red water-snake which they killed and relished for their dinner. The snake, however, called Lendong, belonged to the family of Naga gallang petak and was a favorite with Mahatara. According to Dayak tradition the first living being created by Mahatara was a great water-snake upon which he gradually deposited mud and sand and thus made it carry the earth. Hence the name Naga gallang petak, or snake serving as the foundation of the earth. Each of its motions caused the earthquake. The part of the world towards which its head pointed had prosperity—that towards which its tail pointed misfortune.