1 76 PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



should a deer be seen feeding- near a man's grave his 

 relatives would probably conclude that his soul had 

 taken the form of a deer, and the whole family would 

 abstain from eating venison for fear of annoying the 

 deceased." 1 



The Bahau of Central Borneo ascribe not merely to 

 human beings but to all things living and not-living 

 the possession of a soul called bruwa. This soul at 

 death escapes in the shape of a fish a bird or a snake, 

 and makes its way to Apu Kesio, the land of the dead. 

 But human beings, their domestic animals and some 

 others have a second soul called ton luwa, which only 

 forsakes the corpse after death, and remains at the 

 grave until it becomes an evil spirit. The ton luwa 

 however, may appear in the form of a goat or a grey 

 monkey, and stories are told showing that it is able to 

 sojourn in such animals ; wherefore the Bahau are 

 loth to eat them. 2 The inhabitants of Nias believe 

 that the soul divides into two or three parts according 

 as the deceased was rich or poor. One part, after the 

 performance of all the funeral rites, goes to the village 

 of souls, where it passes through many successive lives. 

 Often it takes brute form. Thus men who have been 

 murdered become grasshoppers, those who die with- 

 out male issue become night-flying moths, old men 

 assume the form of big hogs, and children become 

 earthworms. Another part, called the ehtha, or 

 hereditary soul, must be received in a purse if there 

 be no direct heir ; otherwise the soul of the dying man 

 must receive it in his mouth from the mouth of the 



1 Hose,/. A. I. xxiii. 165. 



8 Arch. Religionsw. ix. 263, summarising Nieuwenhuis, Qucr 

 durck Borneo. g 



