SPIRITUAL EXISTENCES ii 



myth/ of which several variants are current, describes 

 his miraculous advent to the world ; thirdly, he is re- 

 garded by Kayans, Kenyahs, and many Klemantans 

 as the founder of their race. 



The Kenyahs also invoke in their prayers several 

 spirits who seem, like Odin Lahang, to be regarded 

 as deceased members of their tribe ; such are Tokong 

 and Utong, and Pa Balan and Pliban. From all 

 these descent is claimed by various Kenyah and 

 Klemantan subtribes ; and that they are regarded 

 as standing higher in the spiritual hierarchy than 

 recently deceased chiefs, is shown by the prefix 

 Bali^ commonly given to their names, whereas this 

 title or designation is not given to recently deceased 

 chiefs ; to their names the word urip is prefixed by 

 both Kayans and Kenyahs. The word urip means 

 life or living ; the exact meaning of this prefix in 

 this usage is obscure, possibly it expresses the re- 

 cognition that the men spoken of are, though dead, 

 still in some sense alive. 



A further link in this chain of evidence is afforded 

 by the Kenyah god of thunder, Balingo, This 

 spirit, it would seem, must be classed among the 

 departmental deities, being strictly the Kenyah 

 equivalent of Laki Balari of the Kayans ; and all 

 the Kenyahs and many Klemantans seem to claim 

 some special relation to Balingo^ while one Madang 



^ See vol. ii., p. 138. 



* See vol. ii. , p. 29, for usage of this word. 



^ This relation is illustrated by the fact that among the charms and objects 

 of virtue which the Kenyahs hang beside the heads in the galleries of their 

 houses, or over the fireplaces in their rooms, are to be found in many houses 

 one or two specimens of stone axe-heads. The original use of these objects 

 is not known to the great majority of their possessors, who regard them as 

 teeth dropped from the jaw of the thunder-god, Balingo. It is generally 

 claimed that some ancestor found these stones and added them to the family 

 treasures. A man who possesses such " teeth," carries them with him when 

 he goes to war. The Madang chief Tama Kajan Odoh, mentioned in the 

 following note as claiming descent from Balingo, possessed the unusual number 

 of ten such teeth. The credit of having first obtained specimens of these stones 

 from the houses belongs to Dr. A. C. Haddon, who discovered a specimen in 

 a Klemantan house of the Baram basin in the year 1899. The existence of such 

 stones in native houses in Dutch Borneo had been reported by Schwaner many 

 years before that date. 



