XV ANIMISTIC BELIEFS 97 



as a relative imitated in popular dances (the Dok- 

 monkey of the Kayans) ; the belief that the souls of 

 men assume the form of some animal that must 

 not be killed or eaten (deer and the Arctogale 

 among Klemantans) ; the observance by invalids of 

 a very strict avoidance of contact with any part of an 

 animal that must not be killed or eaten in any case 

 (horned cattle among many Kenyahs and Kayans). 

 Not only do we see these various customs, which 

 in several parts of the world have been observed as 

 living elements of totem-cults, and which in other 

 parts have been accepted as evidence of totem- 

 worship in the past, but in the agricultural habits of 

 the people we may see an efficient cause of the 

 decay of totemism, if at some time in the past 

 it has flourished among them. For it has been 

 pointed out, especially by Mr. Jevons in his Intro- 

 duction to the History of Religion, that totemism 

 seems to flourish most naturally among tribes of 

 hunters, and that the introduction of agriculture 

 must tend towards its decay. Now there is some 

 reason to suppose that the introduction to Borneo 

 of rice and of the art of cultivating it is of compara- 

 tively recent date. Crawford reckoned that the 

 cultivation oi padi was introduced to the southern 

 parts of Borneo from Java some 306 years ago, and 

 into the northern parts from the Philippine Islands 

 about 1 50 years ago. But whatever the date of the 

 occurrence may have been, it seems to be certain 

 that, by the introduction oS. padi cultivation from 

 some other country, most of the tribes of Sarawak 

 were converted, probably very rapidly, from hunting 

 to agriculture. This conversion must have caused 

 great changes in their social conditions and in 

 their customs and superstitions ; and, if totemism 

 flourished among them while they were still simple 

 hunters, its decay may well have been one of the 

 chief of these changes. 



