i86 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



omens, of which the behaviour and calls of lizards 

 and grasshoppers and of the civet cat {Ardogale) 

 are the chief. They pray to Bali Penyalong, who 

 seems to be the principal object of their trust. This 

 being is probably conceived anthropomorphically, 

 but his human qualities are not so clearly marked 

 as in the case of the gods of the settled tribes. 

 They make no images in human form, and we do 

 not know that Bali Penyalong is supposed by them 

 to have a wife. The only image used in rites is the 

 wooden image of the crocodile, which is carried from 

 place to place with every change of camp. In com- 

 municating with the omen -creatures, fire and the 

 frayed sticks are used in much the same way as by 

 the Kayans. Their rites involve no animal sacrifices, 

 and they do not look for guidance or answer to 

 prayer in the entrails of animals. It seems probable 

 that the Punans in each region have absorbed some 

 of their religious and superstitious notions from the 

 settled tribes of the same region ; for in each region 

 the Punan beliefs are different, showing more or 

 less affinity to those of the settled tribes. It is an 

 obscure question whether all their religious belief 

 has been thus absorbed from more cultured neigh- 

 bours, or whether the Punans represent in this and 

 other respects the perpetuation (perhaps with some 

 degeneration or impoverishment) of a more primitive 

 culture once common to the ancestors of all, or the 

 greater part of, the tribes of Borneo.^ The fact that 

 the principal divinity recognised by them bears the 

 same name (Bali Penyalong) as the chief god of the 

 Kenyahs is compatible with either view. 



Beside Bali Penyalong the Punans are aware of 

 the existence of other divinities, which, however, are 

 very obscurely conceived and seldom approached 

 with prayer or rite. As regards the land of shades 

 and the journey thither, Punan beliefs are closely 



1 See Chap. XXI. 



