A place spirit.
There are both male and female place spirits. They are capricious and easily angered, causing much difficulty to people living in or near their territory. There are more than a hundred geographical sub-divisions of the village of Batad, see description under ngādan, and one or more place spirits lives in each area. They live along trails, in pond fields, rocks, trees, springs of water, water holes, and in and around houses. They often roam beyond the boundaries of their assigned areas. They interact with people in the following ways: 1) They capture the souls of people and keep them for ransom, see description under lennāwa. 2) They cause people, animals or belongings to become lost, tengtengaw. 3) Both male and female spirits marry people, taking their spirits to their territory to live. 4) They show themselves, usually as an apparition of a fierce-looking person. Each of the above-mentioned situations brings sickness and eventual death to the person involved if a settlement with the spirit causing the problem is not reached. Therefore ritualists, through possession by the place spirit involved, communicates with him or her and settles on an appeasement offering which is intended to undo the above-mentioned situations, amlag, q.v. Items offered include rice beer, food such as chicken, pig fat, boiled eggs; gongs, blankets, dress belts, neck pendants and other personal items, ginā'u. Apart from the above, place spirits are often angered if not offered food during the eating of a noon snack in the fields or forest, if someone inadvertently throws a shovelful of dirt on one, steps on or bumps against one and the like. The spirit typically retaliates by causing body pain such as a joint pain in a hand or leg. Communication in such a situation is through a breathy prayer, see description under hāpud 2a, in which the one praying apologizes for the offense and asks that the pain be removed.