Salampandai is the maker of men. He hammers them into shape out of clay, and forms the bodies of children to be born into the world. There is an insect which makes at night the curious noise—_kink-a-clink, kink-a-clink_. When the Dyaks hear this, they say it is Salampandai at his work. The story goes that he was commanded by the gods to make a man, and he made one of stone; but it could not speak, and so was rejected. He set to work again and made one of iron; but neither could that speak, so the gods refused it. The third time he made one of clay,[1] and this had the power of speech. The gods, _Petara_, were pleased, and said: “The man you have made will do well. Let him be the ancestor of the human race, and you must make others like him.” And so Salampandai began forming human beings, and is forming them now at his anvil, using his tools in unseen regions. There he hammers them out, and when each child is formed it is brought to the _Petara_, who asks: “What would you like to handle and use?” If it answer, “A sword,” the gods pronounce it a male; but if it answer, “Cotton and the spinning-wheel,” it is pronounced a female. Thus they are born as boys or girls, according to their own wishes. There is a word which is often used by the Dyaks—_mali_. It is difficult to find an exact English equivalent to the word. We may say it means “sacred,” or “forbidden,” or “taboo,” but none of these seems to me to convey the full force of the word _mali_. To the Dyak mind, to do anything _mali_ is to incur the displeasure of the gods and spirits, and that means not only misfortune in this world, but for all time. Even the children seem to dread the word, and the little boy, who is wilful and disobedient, will at once drop what he has in his hand if he is told it is _mali_ for him to touch it. There are many things which the Dyaks say it is _mali_ to do. Often they can give no reason for it except that it has always been so from ages past. Most races of mankind believe in the existence of a class of beings intermediate between deity and humanity. The Dyak is no exception, and he believes that innumerable spirits, or _antu_, inhabit the forests, the rivers, the earth, and the heavens; but whereas among other races the spirits seem to act as mediators between the gods and mankind, this is not the case among the Dyaks, because they believe that their gods are actually present in answer to invocations and sacrifices, and that they visit these human regions and partake of the food given them. With the Dyaks the distinction between spirits—_antu_—and gods—_Petara_—is very vague. There are both good and evil spirits. The former assist man, the latter do him injury. Of the gods no evil is predicated, and so it comes to pass that the good spirits are closely identified with their gods.