80 GEORGE D-S-DUNBAR ON 



one time human sacrifices were made to Piangand his fellow war gods Pekang and Yebo, 

 as stated in the not altogether fortunate account of the people that has appeared in 

 the public press. But careful investigation has failed to discover that human sacrifice 

 is still practised. Only slaves or captives taken in war could be offered, and why, as the 

 materialistic Abor and Galong of to-day has remarked to me on more than one occasion, 

 waste anything so valuable over the ceremony. That it was not any reluctance to 

 admit to killing human beings is fairly established by the fact that the recognized 

 power of the master to hang incorrigible slaves and the death-dealing magic attri- 

 buted to the medicine men were incidentally discovered during the inquiry into the 

 sacrifices to the spirits of war. 



The Minyong Abors, according to one of their Gams, conduct the augury in the 

 following way. : — 



Certain of the fighting men go out, some little way from the village, and first of 

 all make a stand in which they place their spears the heads pointing in the direction of 

 the enemy's village. In front of this they make two fences leading towards a big long 

 basket with a wide opening to it, as shewn in the accompanying figure. 



A red cock is then killed as an offering to the Spirit of War, the bird that is sacri- 

 ficed acting as the medium through which Piang replies to his votaries. One of the war- 



A fence. 



B basket. 



C mouth of basket. 



Dcock beheaded 



and thrown on 



ground. 



riors holds the cock by the head another holding its tail. The bird is then beheaded and, 

 with the words, "If we are to be successful may the body of the cock enter the 

 basket," the headless body is thrown on the ground between the fences and sprinkled 

 with a powder of Indian corn and roasted grains of rice. This ceremony is not per- 

 formed by the mini. If the cock dashes into the basket the omen is of course favourable 

 and the foray takes place. If the raid is successful, fowls, pigs and other animals are 

 sacrificed to the spirit of war whilst the prisoners (generally children) are kept as slaves. 

 If, on the other hand, the cock does not enter the basket and the omens are therefore 

 unfavourable, the men take a few steps beyond the altar in the direction of the enemy's 

 village, and then go back to their own homes without speaking and enter the moshap 

 for the night. The other villagers avoid meeting, their eyes, for there is a superstition 

 that, under these circumstances, " if four eyes are together " then the people of the 

 village who looked will die from a discharge of blood from the mouth. The Other 

 dwellers in the moshap also take care to avoid them. A year must elapse, so it was 

 stated, before the augury can be taken again. 



The Galongs say that they make an image of Peka, their war god, of cane leaves 

 on a bamboo frame. On this a helmet is placed. The mirih calls upon Peka to give the 

 warriors power and lust for battle. A fowl is sacrificed to a small image or a pig to a 



