I02 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



In the same way it is clear that it is but a very 

 simple and logical inference that the crocodiles 

 are a friendly race, and but the clearest dictate 

 of prudence to avoid offending creatures so power- 

 ful and agile ; for if the crocodiles were possessed 

 of the mental powers attributed to them by the 

 imagination of the people, they might easily make 

 it impossible for men to travel upon the rivers 

 or dwell on their banks. A similar process 

 would lead to the prohibition against the eating 

 of the tiger-cat, the only large and dangerous 

 carnivore. 



The origin of the prohibitions against killing 

 and eating deer and horned cattle is perhaps not 

 so clear. But it must be remembered that until 

 very recently the only horned cattle known to the 

 tribes of the interior were the wild cattle (the 

 Seladang of the Malay peninsula), very fierce and 

 powerful creatures. These wild cattle hide them- 

 selves in the remotest recesses of the forests, and, 

 as they are but very rarely seen, they may well 

 be regarded as somewhat mysterious and awful. 

 Deer, on the other hand, abound in the forests, and, 

 like most deer, are very timid ; and it is perhaps 

 their timidity that has led in some cases to the 

 prohibition against their flesh, for we have seen 

 how a Kenyah chief feared lest his little son, safe at 

 home, should be infected with the deer's timidity if 

 he himself a hundred miles away should come in 

 contact with the skin of one. In another case we 

 have seen that by the people of one community deer 

 are regarded as relatives, or as containing the souls 

 of their ancestors, and that this belief probably had 

 its origin in the fact that deer are in the habit of 

 frequenting the grassy clearings made about the 

 tombs by the people. And we saw that a similar 

 belief in respect of certain carnivores probably had 

 a similar origin. 



