256 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap, xxi 



imparted it in a more or less partial manner to the 

 tribes to whom they have given so much else of 

 culture, custom, and belief. 



It is perhaps not without significance in this 

 connection that the Karens, whom we regard as 

 the nearest relatives of the Kayans, were found 

 to worship a Supreme Being, and have proved 

 peculiarly apt pupils of the Christian missionaries 

 who have long laboured among them. 



By way of crowning the indiscretion of the 

 foregoing paragraphs, we point out that there are 

 certain faint indications of linguistic support for 

 this speculative suggestion. Bali, which, as we 

 have explained, is used by Kayans and Kenyahs to 

 denote whatever is sacred or is connected with 

 religious practices, is undoubtedly a word of Sanskrit 

 derivation.^ Flaki, the name of the bird of most im- 

 portance in augury, bears a suggestive resemblance 

 to the German Falke and the Latin falco. The 

 Kayan word for omen is aman, the resemblance 

 of which to the Latin word is striking. Are these 

 resemblances merely accidental ? If more of the 

 words connected with the religious beliefs and 

 practices could be shown to exhibit equally close 

 resemblances, we should be justified in saying — No. 



^ This is clearly shown in the article " Bali" of Monier Williams's Sanskrit 

 Dictionary. 



