ANIMISTIC BELIEFS 113 



The prevalence of the belief in a Supreme Being 

 must also tend to prevent the development of 

 totemism. 



Plants 



In Chapter VI. we have described most of the 

 superstitious beliefs and practices connected with 

 the padi plant and the rice. 



It is not clear that any other plants are regarded 



as be-souled ; but we mention here certain customs 



in connection with some of them that seem to point 



in that direction. The silat, a common jungle palm, 



figures most prominently in rites and beliefs of the 



Kayans. The leaves of this palm are used to 



decorate the heads taken in war ; and on the 



occasion of any ceremonial use of the heads, fresh 



leaves are always hung upon or about them. No 



other leaves will serve this purpose, though it is 



difficult to say in what the special virtue of this 



plant consists. The leaves of the same plant are 



hung about the doorway of a new house when the 



people first take up their abode in it ; but it is hung 



in such a way that passers-by do not brush against 



it, and children especially are kept away from it. It 



is commonly hung about the altar-posts of the gods ; 



and it is a strip of this leaf that is tied about the 



wrist of a sick man to confine his soul to his body 



at the close of the soul-catching ceremony. It is 



tied also about the wrists of men returning from 



any warlike expedition. When applied for any 



ceremonial purpose it is called isang ; and it is 



not until it has been so used that it becomes an 



" unclean " object. It is used in its merely material 



aspect for roofing leaf shelters in the jungle, and is 



put to other similar uses to which the broad tough 



leaves are well adapted. Most or all of the peoples 



use the leaves of this plant in the same ways as the 



Kayans. 



