12 PUAKA. 



etc. Kama-puaa was a goblin, worshipped as a god, half man and 



half hog Poo-puaa was one of the gods in a temple ; 



his head resembled a hog. Kane-puaa was the god of husbandry : 

 He akua koivaa o Kanepuaa — "a furrow making god was Tane- 



poaka." 



Now the pig, as is well known, played, and plays, an important 

 part in agricultural rites in Europe, I 1 ) and, to gain some idea 

 ■of this, it is only necessary to glance through that part of " The 

 Golden Bough " which is named " Spirits of the Corn and of the 

 Wild." Furthermore there is a close connection between tree or 

 vegetation spirits, genii locorum, and those of agriculture. 



To return, however, to the word puaka, I have shewn that in 

 Polynesia and in Borneo (-) the word can mean a pig-bodied or 

 pig-faced spirit, and that in Polynesia it can mean pig only. 



Now there can be no doubt that the word is of identical origin 

 in Polynesia, in Borneo, and in the Malay Peninsula, seeing that 

 the languages of Polynesia and Indonesia all belong to one group. 



The Malays have no idea that puaka in any way refers to the 

 pig, but consider a puaka to be a tree spirit or a genius loci. It 

 seems probable, however, that puaka actually did mean pig in 

 Malay at one time, or, if not, a pig-like tree spirit, vegetation spirit, 

 or genius loci;( x ) but that now-a-days — very likely owing to the 

 introduction of the religion of Mohamed — the connection of pig 

 with puaka has been forgotten (suppressed) and there merely re- 

 mains the belief that the puaka is a tree spirit or genius loci. 



(1) Possibly the fact that wild pig often rout up large pieces of 

 ground in search of worms or roots, so that they almost look as if they 

 had been ploughed, may have had something to do with the respect in 

 which the pig is held in connection with agriculture ; vide supra the epithet 

 •' ' furrow-making. ' ' Furthermore the wild pig takes a great interest — an 

 inimical interest — in agriculture. The Sakai tribesmen of some parts of 

 the Malay States believe that the earth spirits, if offended, will appear as 

 wild pigs, and come in droves to devastate the crops. The Dusuns of the 

 Tempasuk District of North Borneo, too, tell how the people (spirits') 

 from certain villages far away become pigs in order to plunder the ripe 

 padi. 



(2) Puaka is not the Dusun word for either the domestic or the 

 wild pig. 



(1) The genii locorum in a jungle-covered country like the Malay 

 Peninsula would probably be those of the jungle, i.e. of trees, especially of 

 those which were large, or in any way remarkable. 



Jour. Straits Branch 



Jour. Straits Branch 



