If it fails to recover the offering is
not made.
The blood is the more precious part, which the Bahau of the Mahakam, and
other tribes, offer plain as well as mixed with uncooked rice. The people
eat the meat themselves, but some of it is offered to the well-disposed
antoh and to the other one as well, for the Dayaks are determined to leave
no stone unturned in their purpose of defeating the latter. The Duhoi
(Ot-Danums) told me: "When fowl or babi are sacrificed we never forget to
throw the blood and rice mixture toward the sun, moon, and 'three of the
planets.'" With the Katingans the blian (priest-doctor) always drinks a
little of the blood when an animal is sacrificed.
Singing to the accompaniment of drums, gongs, or the blian's shield, and
dancing to the sound of drums or gongs, are further inducements brought to
bear on the friendly antohs, which are attracted thereby. According to the
belief which prevails in their primitive minds, the music and dancing also
have a deterrent effect upon the malicious ones. Both evil and good antohs
are believed to congregate on such occasions, but the dancing and music
have a terrifying effect on the former, while on the latter they act as an
incentive to come nearer and take possession of the performers or of the
beneficiary of the function by entering through the top of the head. A
primitive jews'-harp, universally found among the tribes, is played to
frighten away antohs, and so is the flute.
A kindly antoh may enter a man and become his guardian spirit, to whom he
occasionally offers food, but it never remains long because that would
make the man insane. One must not step over a person, because a benevolent
antoh that may be in possession is liable to be frightened away, say the
Katingans and other Dayaks. In dancing with masks, which is much practised
on the Mahakam, the idea is that the antoh of the animal represented by
the mask enters the dancer through the top of his head.
The Penihings and Long-Glats of the Mahakam have an interesting belief in
the existence of a friendly antoh which reminded me of the superstition of
the "Nokken" in the rivers of Norway. It lives in rivers, is very rarely
beheld by mortals, and the one who sees it becomes rich beyond dreams of
avarice. The Long-Glats call it sangiang, a survival of Hindu influence.
An old man in Long Tujo is reported to have seen this antoh, and according
to him it had the appearance of a woman sitting underneath the water. No
doubt other tribes have the same belief.
The most famous of antohs is the nagah, which may be good or evil,
according to the treatment received from mortals, and being very powerful
its help and protection are sought in a manner later to be described in
connection with my travels on the Mahakam.
