ABSTRACT
The name for the shaman among the Kintak Bong and Menik Kaien is halak, a term which is in general use also among the Sakai. The performance took place at night, and when the “halak” had ensconced himself in the hut—which was only just big enough to hold him—a number of other Negritos came and squatted round it, and the occupant started a chant, each line of which was taken up and repeated by the chorus outside. The singing of the women and children, who squatted outside the panoh, and took up the chants given out by the halak, was both musical and sweet. The antics of the halak, while hidden from sight within the panoh, are worth alluding to. Sounds of grunting, whistling, growling, shouting, singing, chest-beating and slapping with the hands on the walling proceeded from the inside before he began his chants under the inspiration of the Chinoi.
