PECULIARITIES 215 



debated is — Why do not the dead return ? Or 

 rather, Why do they become visible only in dreams 

 and even then so seldom ? The meeting of dead 

 friends in dreams generally leaves the Kayan doubt- 

 ful whether he has really seen his friend ; and he will 

 try to obtain evidence of the reality of the revenant 

 by prayer and by looking for a favourable answer in 

 the liver of a pig, the entrails of a fowl, or in the 

 behaviour of the omen birds. They argue that 

 persons who have been much attached to their 

 relatives and friends would surely return to visit 

 them frequently if such return were at all possible. 



The relation of the sky to the earth remains also 

 an open and disputed question. One of us well 

 remembers how, when staying in a Kenyah house, 

 he was approached by a group of youths who 

 evidently were debating some knotty problem, and 

 how they very seriously propounded the following 

 question : — If a dart were shot straight up into the 

 air and went on and on, what would become of it "^ 

 Would it come up against the sky and be stopped 

 by it? 



The whereabouts of the home of the white men, 

 and how long is spent on the journey thither, are 

 questions often raised. Tama Bulan once raised 

 the question of the motion of the sun, and having 

 been told that really the earth revolves and that the 

 sun only appears to move round it, he argued that 

 this could hardly be, since we see the sun move 

 every day. For a long time he said nothing more 

 on this topic to us, but it continued to occupy his 

 mind ; for some years later he recurred to it and 

 announced that he now accepted the once incredible 

 doctrine, because he had inquired concerning it of 

 every European he had been able to meet, and all 

 had given him the same answer. 



The methods of argument of the Kayans are 

 characteristic and worthy of a short description. 



VOL. II p 



