ABORS AND GALONGS. 71 



anger at the destruction of his home. The perturbed spirit has to be pacified in the 

 usual manner. 1 



Partly from the association of the deities in pairs and partly from the attributes 



they are believed to possess, it is gathered that the supreme 

 spirits and the most important demons are regarded as 

 male and female * and for this reason are interested in the affairs of mortals of their 

 own sex. In the Abor country, when a man falls ill, the two or three days' taboo ' 

 usual in such cases are held by the household ; an altar is erected and a sacrifice is 

 made near it. The altar consists of four long sticks wrapped round with leaves 

 and planted so as to form a square. Near this the mithan is strangled or some other 

 sacrifice made. If fowls are offered to Epom they are not eaten, but any other 

 creature sacrificed is eaten. A similar ceremony takes place if a woman is ill, when 

 the correct sacrifice (to Nipong) is a big pig. This is the first portion of the rite. 

 The second act takes place in the jungle, where an altar consisting of two upright 

 poles connected by horizontal bars, is erected. It was learnt from one source that a 

 basket containing leaves of plantain and bamboo together with nuts is fastened to the 

 altar. A black hen is brought out into the jungle and to one of its legs are tied 

 threads of different colours and to its other leg are fastened strips of ko-i leaf. The 

 hen, with these emblems attached to it, is then thrust through the bars of the altar 

 and allowed to escape into the jungle/ As it is let free, the following words are 

 pronounced: — " O Nipong, I have marked and dedicated this hen for you. Take it 

 and cure the sick one." If the hen comes back to the village, the omens are 

 unfavourable to recovery. 6 If the fowl does not reappear, the augury is considered 

 hopeful, for Nipong is held to have accepted the sacrifice. After releasing the hen 

 a dog (or bitch) is killed and the carcass suspended from the top bar of the altar. 

 The spirit of this animal is formally handed over to Nipong and, having placed a 

 shield of leaves on a bamboo frame over the sacrifice, the party returns home to 

 await the omen of the fowl. It would not appear to be essential that these rites 

 should be performed by a mirii, but it is considered more efficacious and miriis may 

 be invited by a priestless village to come a considerable way to perform these offices. 



1 Frazer, Golden Bough, Vol. II, pp. 7 — 45. 



5 (a) Doing Anggong the Father Sky and Kine Dene the Mother Earth of the Minyongs. Doing Anggong sounds 

 suspiciously like donyi anggo which means ''the west " according to Lorraine. But that authority gives Doying Aro 

 fcr the Creator and Shutkin Kede for ' ' God below." Moreover the sources of evidence that gave me Doing Anggono, 

 together with the corroboration I was able to obtain, were quite satisfactory. 



(b) Epom and Nipong. 



(c) Shedi-Melo the creator and, according to Lorraine a dual personality, Shedi being female and Melo male. 



(d) Boki and Bogo included as they are associated together, but regarding whom I have no proof whatsoever. 



3 Frazer, Golden Bough, Part II, p. 11, footnote 2. The word genna is freely used by the Assamese I have 

 not been able to trace its origin. It does not appear to be a word of any well-known dialect. Dalton however in his 

 Ethnology of Bengal uses the expression " a condition of tabu called Genna." See p 43 of the Ethnology Taboo is 

 called nyo in Abor when applied to a religious holiday ; taboo for sickness is gam (Lorraine) and Yodnam in Shai yang 

 Miri and Abor (Needbam's Outline Grammar). Gam is the worH I have heard used. 



* Leviticus xiv. 7 and 52. 



5 See description of the first sacrifice on p. 66. 



