Bca', the tiger, is the most formidable of the spirit-guides (gunig) that a Temiar or Semai adept marshals in the mediumistic ceremony. Ordinary spirit-guides come from fruits, flowers, mountains and waters, but the tiger belongs to the most senior and powerful halaa'. In deep trance such an adept is said to take on the tiger's form and prowl the darkness around the ceremonial house, and when a great healer dies his head-soul is believed to persist as a tiger spirit-guide who returns in dreams to teach and protect the living. The tiger thus binds the world of the forest predator to the shamanic vocation, standing at the apex of the graded ranks of spirit-familiars.