ANIMISTIC BELIEFS 107 



custom were once introduced, it may well have 

 spread rapidly from motives of both economy and 

 humanity ; for a slave is as a rule very kindly treated 

 by his master, and in many cases comes to be 

 regarded as a member of the family. 



We may suppose, too, that it was formerly the 

 custom to kill a slave when prayers of public 

 importance were made to the Supreme Being, in 

 order that the soul of the slave might carry the 

 prayer to him. If this was the case, the substitution 

 of pig for slave, on the introduction of the domestic 

 pig, may be the more readily conceived to have 

 become customary, when we remember that these 

 people regard the souls of animals as essentially 

 similar to their own/ If such a custom of substitu- 

 tion once gained a footing, it would naturally become 

 usual to take the opportunity of communicating with 

 the higher powers whenever a pig was to be 

 slaughtered. 



This view, that in all sacrifices of the pig and 

 fowl these are but substitutes for human victims, 

 finds very strong support in the following facts : — 

 The Kalabits, a tribe inhabiting the north-western 

 corner of the Baram district, breed the water-buffalo 

 and use it in cultivating their land. It has probably 

 been introduced to this area from North Borneo at 

 a recent date. The religious rites of this people 

 closely resemble those of the tribes with which we 

 have been dealing above ; but in all cases in which 

 pigs are sacrificed by the latter, buffaloes are used 

 by the Kalabits. 



The rite of sprinkling the blood of pigs and 

 fowls on men and on the altar -posts and images 

 may, we think, be an extension or adaptation of the 

 blood-brotherhood ceremony. We have seen that 

 with the Kayans and Kenyahs the essential feature 

 of this ceremony is the drawing of a little blood 



^ See vol. ii., p. 4. 



