be exceedingly brave and need
no other weapon wherewith to defend themselves than a stick of wood;
they have never felt pain nor experienced danger in this world, and are
therefore totally ignorant of such emotions. Whether or not they
increase in size in _Tenyu Lalu_ is not known, but it is generally
supposed that they live together in a little world of their own.

Finally, LING YANG is the abode of those who have died by drowning; it
lies below the beds of rivers, and here the spirits soon become
exceedingly rich. All the goods lost in rivers by the capsizing of boats
in the rapids, or when they run foul of a snag in deep water, go into
the coffers of the dwellers in _Ling Yang_.

Such are the main divisions of the _Dali Matei_, or country of the
dead; there are, however, many sacred hills, rivers, and lakes wherein
dwell certain powerful demons who govern the spirits. In this nether
world, some say that there are trees and plants and animals much the
same as in this; this point, however, seemed open to considerable doubt
in the minds of some whom I questioned, while others had so definite an
idea of it that they drew maps to show the positions of the different
regions. They seemed to regard it as a large river, along whose
tributaries dwelt the various classes of departed spirits. The Dayongs,
or medicine men, are the only ones who are supposed really to know;
these all maintain that, while acquiring their power over sickness, they
had visited the land of spirits. In the mythology of all countries there
is sure to be a hero who has made the descent to Hades and returned to
tell the tale, and the Kayans are no exceptions; they have their
Orpheus, only his name is Gamong.

Gamong, during an attack of fever, realized that he was at the point of
death, but was loath to resign his spirit, so he called his friends
around him and begged them to dress him up, after death, in all his
war-clothes, and not to bury him for three days, but to place him in a
sitting posture with his sword and spear in his hands. He comforted them
by saying that he had an inner assurance that he had a terrible
encounter before him, but that he would actually return to this world in
about three days. Shortly after this, his breath ceased and his friends
performed all the rites of burial, just as he had requested. For three
days his body remained rigid; at the end of that time, he came back to
life and told his open-eyed friends his adventures as