1891.] W. Doherty — The Butterflies of Sumba and Samhawa, 8fc. 153 



with the heathen Do Donggo. Here the sorcerers hold a higher rank as 

 juhi Ferafu or priests of the god Perafu. But all temporal power is in 

 the hands of the glarangs or headmen. The result is, that the Tnori, or 

 ancestral spirits, and the hencha, or demons, are never out of peoples' 

 minds, everything seen or done has some good or evil significance, there 

 are sabred trees, mountains, springs, stones, and animals, while every spot 

 is the scene of some ahsurd legend. Each village has its priest's house, 

 priestess's house, and its uma Perafu or house of Perafu, closed, empty 

 and of very archaic make. Belief in the evil eye, in the unluckiness of 

 a thousand acts and signs, in the constant presence of evil demons, and 

 in the disastrous eifect of anything unusual or uncustomary, make 

 these people the timid, unhappy race they are.* 



The Sumhanese are said to worship one greater god, described as 

 umbu walu mendoku or he who tnahes all, who owns all the sandalwood. 

 Also two deities called umbu awan, lord of heaven, and v/tnhu tana, lord 

 of earth, to whom worship is paid at harvest time, and rice, pigs, horses 

 and buffaloes sacrificed. They also believe in evil spirits, and the huge 

 fig trees in some of the villages are apparently held in veneration. Cer- 

 tain things also are sacred, and hence tabu or forbidden (palili in Sumba, 

 leo or pomali in Timor, perafu among the heathen of Sambawa). 

 Though the crocodiles receive no regular ceremonial worship as in 

 E,oti,t the Sumbanese nevertheless throw them meat, saying, " Don't eat 



* For instance, when I was at Kala in the Donggo conntiy, the juhis kept 

 praying and sacrificing all night to prevent evil resulting from my stay there. At 

 Pelatito the people threatened to abandon their homes when they heard I waa 

 going to climb Haruhasa, the chief mountain in those parts. And when I returned 

 and nothing happened, they said I had not really done it, just as when the alpinist 

 climbed Ararat, the Armenians would not believe it, because he had not seen the 

 Ark standing intact on the summit, as St. Mesrob had seen it in his dream. At 

 Oo, the juhi declared that my visit had caused the terrible rains we had then. Out 

 of revenge I rolled my eyes at him tragically, and repeated the first stanza of 

 " Simple Simon met a Pieman " once or twice when I met him, upon which he fled 

 the country. Such things are quite impossible in Sumba, and their own little 

 devices for keeping off the evil spirits are performed in rather a sceptical mood. 

 As in India they snap their fingers when some one sneezes. If a young man hiccups, 

 they box his ears, if an old man, they ask him respectfully why he did it, to which 

 he calmly replies that he never did, and there is a general smile. 



t The following story was told me by Mijnheer Teffer, whose wife, a remarkably 

 beautiful woman, now a Christian, was the daughter of the king of Hai in Roti. 

 There is a caste of priests of the crocodile there. When they want to travel by water 

 they call the crocodile, and he carries them wherever they wish on his back. On a 

 certain day they go down to the bank, and call the crocodile, describing to him their 

 rank and duties. When he comes out, they take him up and carry him, with a band 

 of music and an applauding crowd, to his temple. There they give him rice and 

 sweetmeats, put a robe on him, and begin praying over him. He dislikes the praying 



