This last
operation seems to fall under the head of magic and may be described
here. It is usually performed by the DAYONGS, and is applied more
particularly in cases in which localised pain is a prominent feature
of the disorder. The DAYONG comes provided with a short tube, prepared
by pushing out the core of a section of the stem of a certain plant
of the ginger family. After inquiring of the patient the locality of
his pains, he holds up the polished blade of a sword, and, gazing at
it as one seeing visions, he sings a long incantation beginning: --
BALI DAYONG USUN LASAN
URIP ULUN KAM KELUNAN
NINI KETAI NATONG TAWANG LEMAN
BALI DAYONG.[155]
The crowd of people, men and women, sitting round the central figure,
join in the BALI DAYONG, which recurs as the refrain at the end of
each verse, intoning in loud deep voices. It seems clear from the use
of the words BALI DAYONG that the whole is addressed to some superior
power; for no human DAYONG, and indeed no human being, is addressed or
spoken of with the title BALI. And it would perhaps be more correct,
therefore, to describe the address as a supplication rather than
an incantation, and the whole operation as a religious rite rather
than a magical procedure. But we are here on the disputed borderland
between magic and religion, and other features incline us to regard
the process as magical rather than religious.
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