ABORS AND GALONGS. 69 



Nipong and, apparently, less malevolently inclined towards man than those demons, 

 to whom the souls of all lay persons go in death. 



Priestesses are quite common amongst the Minyongs and Panggis. I happened 

 to be at Rotang when a Panggi priestess passed through on her way from Jaru to pay 

 a professional visit to the Rotang community, then suffering from an acute epidemic 

 of dysentery. Her portrait, taken by Mr. Kemp, is given on Plate V and clearly shows 

 the bells and ornaments that proclaim her calling She had only been a mirii for 

 about a couple of months, having been proclaimed one of themselves by the local 

 priests after what must have been an epileptic fit, but was considered by the hill 

 people to be a holy trance and the customary manifestation of possession by the 

 spirits. The Panggis who were with her stated that her peculiar round brown eyes, 

 "deer's eyes" as they called them, are looked upon as a mark of communion with the 

 spirits, both in men and women. I afterwards obtained satisfactory corroboration 

 of this belief. She was quite ready to answer questions, but a hill child of twelve, 

 who had only been initiated two months previously, could not make a good witness, 

 and her ignorance of the folklore and legends of her people was deplorable. Under 

 these circumstances, her considerable ideas of her own importance were hardly 

 justified. However (for a consideration) she kindly consented to dance. She stated 

 that she only worshipped the spirits when she felt herself to be under their influence. 



The hill-tribes have a persistent if vague belief in more or less beneficent deities 

 definitely concerned in the affairs of men. These gods are called by varying names. 

 Inferior to these are the spirits of evil, who are intimately associated with the every- 

 day lives of the people and whom it is the business of the mirii to propitiate. 

 It would serve no useful purpose to give a list of names l by which the spirits of 

 good and evil are known in different localities, but the powers and worship of the 

 more important spirits are described in the following pages. 



Signs and altars made of cane and other vegetation readily found in the jungle 



play a prominent part in the religion and, what is practi- 



Taboo on Intercourse. ' r 



cally the same thing, the superstitions of the people. 

 Strangers, that is to say from our experience white men, on entering an Abor or Galong 

 village are made to go under one or more archways made of green branches, or cane 

 and bamboo decorated with fresh green leaves. On this arch a dead pig or a fowl 

 may be displayed as a sacrifice, the blood being smeared over the archway. 1 This is 

 to prevent the spirits of ill-luck and ill-health from getting into the village at the heels 

 of the visitors. I have also observed imitation arrows stuck into the cane and bam- 

 boo arches, but I am uncertain whether these were intended to strengthen the spell, 

 or were a portion of some previous warning to a truculent neighbour or a ban to the 

 spirit of infectious disease rife in a near village. The parting guests must be prepared 

 to be sped on their way with plantain stalks thrown after them by the villagers to 

 ensure the expulsion of any evil spirits that may have crept in with them. It is 



1 For the Abor deities, given as an example, see foot-note to pp. 62 and 71. 



2 The Padam clan sacrifice dogs.. 



