SPIRITUAL EXISTENCES 17 



deities. It seems to us that the only difficult step in such 

 a simple and direct evolution of the idea of a beneficent 

 Supreme Being is the conception of gods or spirits that 

 perform definite functions, such as Bali Atap, who guards 

 the house, and the gods that preside over harvesting and 

 war, as distinct from such gods or nature-spirits as 

 Balingo and Bali Sungei. But there seems to be no doubt 

 that this step has been taken by these peoples, and that 

 these various gods of abstract function have been evolved 

 by them. And it seems to us that, were a god of war 

 once conceived, it would be inevitable that, among com- 

 munities whose chief interest is war and whose prosperity 

 and very existence depend upon success in battle, such a 

 god of battles should come to predominate over all others, 

 and to claim the almost exclusive regard of his worshippers. 

 Such a predominance would be given the more easily to 

 one god by these people, because the necessity for strict 

 subordination to their chiefs has familiarised them with 

 the principles of obedience of subjects to a single ruler and 

 of subordination of minor chiefs to a principal chief ; while 

 the beneficence of the Supreme Being thus evolved would 

 inevitably result; for the god of battles must seem beneficent 

 to the victors, and among these people only the victors 

 survive. Again, this conception is one that undoubtedly 

 makes for righteousness, because it reflects the character of 

 the people who, within the community and the tribe, are 

 decent, humane, and honest folk. 



We are conscious of presumption in venturing to adopt 

 the view that the conception of a beneficent Supreme 

 Being may possibly be neither the end nor the beginning 

 of religion, neither the final result of an evolution, 

 euhemeristic, totemistic, or other, prolonged through 

 countless ages and generations, nor part of the stock-in- 

 trade of primitive man mysteriously acquired. Yet we 

 are disposed to regard this conception as one that, amid 

 the perpetual flux of opinion and belief which obtains 

 among peoples destitute of written records, may be com- 

 paratively rapidly and easily arrived at under favourable 

 conditions (such as seem to be afforded by tribes like the 

 Kenyahs and Kayans, warlike prosperous tribes subordin- 

 ated to strong chiefs), and may as rapidly fall into neglect 

 with change of social conditions ; and we suggest that it 

 may then remain as a vestige in the minds of a few individ- 

 uals only to be discerned by curious research, as among 



