S O O L O O, 
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and cries they put great reliance, and consult them in war or on any v 
particular expedition. For this purpose they draw numbers of them 
together, and feed them by scattering rice about. It is said their 
priests consult their entrails also on particular occasions, to endeavour 
to look into future events. 
In the performance of their engagements and oaths, they are most 
scrupulous. They seem to have some idea of a future life, and that 
on the road to their elysium they have to pass over a long tree, which 
requires the assistance of all those they have slain in this world. 
The abode of happy spirits is supposed to be on the top of Kini Balu, 
one of their loftiest mountains, and the portals are guarded by a fiery 
serpent, who does not suffer any virgin to pass into the celestial 
paradise. 
Polygamy does not exist among them, but they have as concubines 
slaves, who are captured in their wars or rather predatory expeditions. 
If a wife proves unfaithful to her husband, he kills several of his 
slaves, or inflicts upon her many blows, and a divorce may be effected 
by the husband paying her a certain price, and giving up her clothes 
and ornaments, after which he is at liberty to marry another. The 
women, however, exercise an extraordinary influence over the men. 
But of all their peculiar traits, there is none more strange than the 
passion they seem to indulge for collecting human heads. These are 
necessary accompaniments in many transactions of their lives, par¬ 
ticularly in their marriages, and no one can marry unless he has a 
certain number of heads; indeed, those who cannot obtain these are 
looked upon with disdain by the females. A young man wishing to 
wed, and making application to marry her for whom he has formed 
an attachment, repairs with the girl’s father to the rajah or chief, who 
immediately inquires respecting the number of heads he has procured, 
and generally decides that he ought to obtain one or two more, ac¬ 
cording to his age, and the number the girl’s father may have pro¬ 
cured, before he can be accepted. He at once takes his canoe and 
some trusty followers, and departs on his bloody errand, waylaying 
the unsuspecting or surprising the defenceless, whose head he imme¬ 
diately cuts off, and then makes a hurried retreat. With this he 
repairs to the dwelling of his mistress, or sends intelligence of his 
success before him. On his arrival, he is met by a joyous group of 
females, who receive him with every demonstration of joy, and gladly 
accept his ghastly offering. 
Various barbarous ceremonies now take place, among which the 
heads undergo inspection to ascertain if they are fresh ; and, in order 
to prove this, none of the brain must be removed, nor must they have 
