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. When Dyaks fell the jungle of the larger hills, they always leave a clump of trees at the summit as a refuge for the spirits. To leave them quite homeless would be to court certain disaster from them. According to Dyak belief the evil spirits far outnumber the good ones. There are many strange customs connected with the Dyak belief in spirits. As all illnesses are caused by the spirits, it is necessary that these be propitiated. When there is any great epidemic in the country—when cholera or smallpox is killing its hundreds on all sides—one often notices little offerings of food hung on the walls and from the ceiling, animals killed in sacrifice, and blood splashed on the posts of the houses. When one asks why all this is done, they say they do it in the hope that when the evil spirit, who is thirsting for human lives, comes along and sees the offerings they have made and the animals killed in sacrifice, he will be satisfied with these things, and not take the lives of any of the people living in the Dyak village house. As a matter of fact, this offering of sacrifices to the evil spirits is a frequently recurring feature in Dyak life. The gods are good, and will not injure them, and so the Dyaks worship them at their own convenience, when they wish to obtain any special favour from them. But the evil spirits are always ready to do them harm, and to take the lives of victims, and therefore sacrifices must constantly be made to the spirits, who will accept sacrificial food as a substitute for the lives of human beings. From what has been said it will be seen that the spirits are to the Dyaks not mere apparitions which come and go without any special object, but have definite power, and can either bestow favours or cause sickness and death. Therefore they rule the conduct of the Dyak, and receive religious homage. They are, indeed, a constituent and important part of Dyak religion. The sacrifices offered by the Dyaks are of two kinds—_piring_ and _ginselan_.