THE ABORIGINAL TEIBES. 141 



Hill, who must be satisfied by an offering before a dhya can 

 be cut on its slopes. The forest is peopled by woodland 

 sprites, for whom a grove of typical trees is commonly left 

 standing as a refuge in clearing away the jungle. When the 

 field is sown, the god of rice-fields (Khodo Pen) has to be 

 satisfied, and again when the crop is reaped. The malignant 

 powers receive regular propitiation. The Tiger God has a hut 

 built for him in the wilderness that he may not come near 

 their dwellings. The goddess of small-pox and of cholera 

 receives offerings chiefly when her ravages are threatened. 

 Among such elementary powers must be reckoned the ghosts 

 of the deceased, which have to be laid by certain ceremonies. 

 These consist in conjuring the ghost into something tangible, 

 in one case into the body of a fish caught in the nearest water, 

 in another into a fowl chosen by omen. The object, whatever 

 it is, is then brought to the house of the deceased, and propi- 

 tiated for a certain time, after which it is formally consigned 

 to rest by burial, or in one case by pouring it (in solution) 

 over the representation of the village god. The spirits of 

 persons killed by wild animals are believed to be especially 

 malignant, and are " laid ' with much care and ceremony. To 

 this practice has been superadded by some the rite of periodical 

 propitiation of deceased ancestors by sacrifice, implying their 

 continued existence in another world, an entirely different 

 thing it may be observed from the rite already described, 

 which implies only a restless and spiteful existence in this 

 world of a ghost which may be made an end of by a 

 ceremony. I believe the superior belief to be entirely 

 derived from the Hindus, with whom it is a prime article 

 of faith. 



None of these powers of nature are represented .by idols, 

 nor have they any particular forms or ceremonies of worship. 



