68 GEORGE D-S-DUNBAR ON 



been noticed. The special spirits to whom, according to the Galongs, only the souls 

 of the miriis go after death cannot be regarded as fetish, they are worshipped in 

 open village ritual. Altars are common, idols are set up, but concrete objects of 

 fetishism are entirely unknown, and are quite contrary to the religious beliefs of the 

 people. It is greatly to be regretted that so wide a dissemination of misleading 

 statements concerning a practically unknown people should have been possible. 



The mirii plays so prominent a part in the religion of the hill-tribes that it is 

 ^ „ ,. . impossible to discuss or examine the belief of the people 



The Medicineman. - 1 *r r 



without first of all describing this very influential person. 

 He keeps the mythical legends alive in the community, conducts the rites of sacrifice, 

 takes the more important omens (those found in an egg, or the entrails of a fowl), visits 

 the sick and conducts the various rites and semi-religious dances that take place on 

 these and other occasions. Miriis are found throughout the hills and consequently the 

 name and even the sex varies. The Galong mirii (and the Chulikata-Bebijia igu) is a 

 man whilst the Abor mirii may be a woman. Almost every community has its own 

 priest, or pythoness, and some of the Minyong and Panggi villages are known to 

 possess more than one. Villages that have no miriis of their own borrow from their 

 neighbours when they require ghostly comfort and support. 



It would appear not only from what was learnt locally, but from remarks made 

 by Minyong Abors that the Galong miriis are credited with exceptional powers. It is 

 believed that they can cause the death of an enemy by the persistent pronouncement 

 from a raised platform of a peculiarly effective curse. When I expressed a doubt as 

 to the efficacy of this method, the case of the (late) kayah of Dijmur was cited 

 as an un-answerable example of the power of a modern Ernulphus who might, the 

 thought was unavoidable, be far more usefully employed than in wasting his 

 fulminations on the air of the Galong border. 



The priestly office is not hereditary amongst the Galongs, but as it only descends 

 to one who is well versed in the ritual of religion and who knows the legends of the 

 tribe, the mantle of the prophet falls, as a rule, on some near relative, for there is a 

 considerable amount of prestige and influence, even if there is surprisingly little 

 material gain, attached to the office of mirii. 



The Galong miriis are not distinguishable amongst their tribe from men of 

 ordinary clay. They wear no distinctive ornaments, a custom that they leave to 

 their eastern neighbours. But since it is customary for grateful patients to present 

 necklaces to the miriis on recovery from severe illness, the Galong medicine-men may 

 sometimes be recognized by a noticeable number of these thank-offerings. 



I gathered from Dutem, Gam of Ledum, a reliable witness, but whose statement 

 on this point I have had no opportunity of verifying from other trustworthy Minyong 

 sources, that among the Minyongs the office of mirii is hereditary, for the nearest male 

 relative of the late mirii who is found to possess the divine afflatus, is held to succeed 

 him. The dead mirii' s own son is of course looked upon as the nearest heir in the 

 hierarchy ; the second heir, somewhat curiously, could be his sister' s son. The souls of 

 the dead miriis go to Boki and Bogo, two spirits of the sun superior to Epom and 



