THE PIGMIES. 23 



Poyang or Pawang. After having given, on this subject, many 

 details, which I need not repeat here, Logan sums up his impres- 

 sions in the following terms : — " Among these tribes, we recognise 

 u a pure Schamamism with its accompanying charms and talismans; 

 " a living faith fresh from ancient days of Eastern and Middle Asia, 



" preserving its pristine vigour and simplicity, untouched 



" by the Budhistic deluge and resisting the pressure of the 



11 Islamism which surrounds it." ( l ) 



I hardly need remark that among most Dravidian tribes, even 

 among those who have reached a certain standard of civilization , 

 we can detect, in spite of the influence of different Hindu or 

 Mohamedan sects, a substratum of various beliefs similar to those 

 I have just recorded. 



Belief in a future life. — All Negritos believe that the soul sur- 

 vives the body ; that it has the same wants as the living, and 

 desires that a regard should be manifested for it. Among the 

 Mincopies it is customary to place a vessel full of water on 

 the grave of the deceased, so that his soul may be able to quench 

 its thirst during the night ; a fire is lighted under the stage which 

 bears the body of a chief, in order to prevent his mighty spirit 

 from harming any traveller passing by ; the skull and bones, 

 exhumed from the tomb, are worn round the neck as propitiatory 

 to the spirit of the dead ; the soul of a stranger is looked upon as 

 harmless, and therefore the body of any one who dies away from 

 his tribe is left unburied. ( 2 ) 



The Aetas show great respect to the dead, " For several 

 " years," says La Gieonni&ee, " they deposit tobacco and betel on 

 " the tombs. The bow and arrows which belonged to the departed 

 '■' are suspended over his grave, on the day of the funeral, and every 

 " night, according to the belief of his friends, he leaves it and 

 - goes out hunting." ( 3 ) 



(i) The Binua of Johore. Loc. cit., p. 282. 



(2) The details are borrowed from Mr. Day's memoir. They have all 

 the more weight that the writer gave them " en passant" and without hav- 

 ing apparently understood their real importance. Observations on the Anda- 

 manese, loc. cit. p. 163). 



( 3 ) Vingt anneh aux Philippines, p. 301. 



