SPIRITUAL EXISTENCES 9 



have been the origin and history of such rites, it 

 seems to be quite clear that the slaughtering of 

 these animals is regarded as an act of sacrifice in 

 the ordinary sense of the word, i,e, as an offering 

 or gift of some valued possession to the spiritual 

 powers ; for, although on some occasions a pig 

 so slaughtered is eaten, those stuck upon stakes 

 before the altar-post are left to rot ; and the idea 

 of sacrificing, or depriving oneself of, a valued 

 piece of property is clearly expressed on such 

 occasions in other ways ; e.g, a woman will break 

 a bead of great value when her prayers for the 

 restoration to health of a child remain unanswered, 

 or on such an occasion a woman may cut off her 

 hair/ 



The custom of approaching and communicating 

 with the gods through the medium of the omen 

 birds, seems to be responsible in large measure for 

 the fact that the gods themselves are but dimly 

 conceived, and are not felt to be in intimate and 

 sympathetic relations with their worshippers. The 

 omen birds seem to form not only a medium of 

 communication, but also, as it were, a screen which 

 obscures for the people the vision of their gods. As 

 in many analogous instances, the intercessors and 

 messengers to whose care the messages are com- 

 mitted assume in the eyes of the people an undue 

 importance ; the god behind the omen bird is apt 

 to be almost lost sight of, and the bird itself tends 

 to become an object of reverence, and to be regarded 



^ The idea of giving up a valued possession to the god or spirit in order to 

 appease or propitiate him seems to underlie a curious rite formerly practised 

 by \l\xq JingkangSf a Klemantan subtribe living on the great Kapuas river. 

 These people, like most of the peoples of Borneo, value their male children 

 more highly than their female children. If a boy seems to be at the point of 

 death, and if all other efforts to restore him have proved unavailing, ihe 

 relatives would kill an infant sister of the boy, and would cause the boy to eat a 

 small bit of the roasted flesh. The intention seems to be to appease some male- 

 volent spirit that is causing the sickness ; and the eating of the flesh seems to 

 be considered necessary in order to connect the sacrifice clearly with the 

 sick child. 



