ANIMISTIC BELIEFS 6i 



no domestic pig is ever slaughtered without being 

 charged beforehand with some message or prayer 

 to Bali Penyalong, which its spirit may carry up to 

 him. But the most important function of the pig is 

 the giving of information as to the future course of 

 events by means of the markings on its liver/ 



Whenever it becomes specially interesting or 

 important to ascertain the future course of events, 

 when, for example, a household proposes to make 

 war, or when two parties are about to go through a 

 peace-making ceremony, a pig is caught by the 

 young men from among those beneath the house, 

 and is brought and laid, with its feet lashed together, 

 before the chief in the great gallery of the house. 

 And it would seem that the more important the 

 ceremony the larger and the more numerous should 

 be the pigs selected as victims. An attendant 

 hands a burning brand to the chief, and he, stooping 

 over the pig, singes a few of its hairs, and then, 

 addressing the pig as '* Bali Bouin," and gently 

 punching it behind the shoulder, as we have already 

 depicted him, he pours out a rapid flood of words. 

 The substance of his address is a prayer to Bali 

 Penyalong for guidance and knowledge as to the 

 future course of the business in hand, and an 

 injunction to the soul of the pig to carry the prayer 

 to Bali Penyalong. 



Sometimes more than one chief will address one 

 pig in this way ; and then, as soon as these prayers 

 are concluded, some follower plunges a spear into 

 the heart or throat of the pig, and rapidly opens its 

 belly in the middle line, drags out the liver and lays 

 it on a leaf or platter with the underside uppermost, 

 and so carries it to the chief or chiefs. Then all 

 the elderly men crowd round and consult as to the 

 significance of the appearances presented by the 



^ " They endeavoured to learn the future, especially in war, by consulting 

 the entrails of victims." 



