248 THROUGH CENTRAL BORNEO 



Katingans a hit means that it is advisable to cut the 

 trees at once, while a miss necessitates a delay of three 

 days. Every day, weather permitting, as soon as the 

 men return from the ladangs in the evening, about an 

 hour before sunset, this game is played on the space 

 before the houses of the kampong. Sometimes only two 

 men consult fate, spinning alternately. The same kind 

 of top is found among the Kayans, Kenyahs, and other 

 Dayak tribes. 



According to the information I obtained from the Da- 

 yaks they believe that the soul has eternal existence, and 

 although many tribes have the idea that during life several 

 souls reside in one individual, after death only one is 

 recognised, which is generally called liao. One or more 

 souls may temporarily leave the body, thereby causing 

 illness. 



Neither in this life nor the next are there virtuous or 

 sinful souls, the only distinction being in regard to social 

 standing and earthly possessions, and those who were 

 well-to-do here are equally so there. With the Katingans 

 whatever is essential to life in this world is also found in 

 the next, as houses, men, women, children, dogs, pigs, 

 fowls, water-buffaloes, and birds. People are stronger 

 there than here and cannot die. The principal clothing 

 of the liao is the tatu marks, which it will always keep. 

 The garments worn besides are new and of good quality. 

 When my informant, a native official of Kasungan, who 

 sports semi-civilised dress, expressed his disapproval of 

 the poor wearing quality of his trousers to an old Katin- 

 gan, the latter exclaimed: "That matters not. Above, 



