44 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



and of the country traversed by the ghost on its 

 journey thither. This was done in the way maps 

 of their own country are always made by the 

 Borneans, namely, he laid upon the floor bits of 

 stick and other small objects to represent the 

 principal topographical features and relations. We 

 tested the trustworthiness of his account by asking 

 him to repeat it on a subsequent occasion ; when he 

 did so without any noteworthy departure from the 

 former description. A point of special interest is the 

 appearance in the land of shades of the house of 

 Bali Peny along and of Oko Perbungan (which seems 

 to be the Madang name for the wife of the Supreme 

 Being). This map brings out clearly what seems 

 to be the essential feature of all these schemes, 

 namely, that the land of shades is the basin of a river 

 divided by a mountain ridge from that from which the 

 ghost departs. 



The Punans add some picturesque incidents. 

 According to their version, a huge helmeted horn- 

 bilP {^Rhinoflax Vigil) sits by the far end of the 

 bridge across the river of death, and with its screams 

 tries to terrify the ghost, so that it shall fall from 

 the bridge into the jaws of the great fish which is in 

 league with the bird. On the other side of the river 

 is Ungap, a woman with a cauldron and spear. 

 Ungapy if appeased with a gift, aids the ghost to 

 escape from the monstrous bird and fish. Pebbles 

 or beads are put in the nostrils of the Punan corpse 

 in order that they may be presented to Ungap, 



The Punans recite or sing a story in blank 

 verse descriptive of this passage of the soul. It is 

 sometimes sung in very dramatic fashion, the per- 

 former acting the principal incidents and pitching 

 his voice in a doleful, though musical, minor key. 

 Such a recitation of the passage of the soul, delivered 



^ The cry of this species is peculiar ; it terminates with an interrupted 

 series of cries that sound like mocking laughter. 



