CHAPTER 15 (continued 2)

Since this belief seems to be common to all or almost all savages and primitive peoples, it would be a strange thing if prohibitions against killing and eating certain animals and various superstitious practices in regard to animals were not practically universal among them. Bearing in mind the reality of this belief in the minds of these peoples, it is easy to understand why they should shrink from killing any creature so malignant-looking and powerful for harm as a snake, and why they should feel uneasy in the presence of, and to some extent dread, the MAIAS and the longnosed monkey, creatures whose resemblance to man seems even to us somewhat uncanny. Their objection to killing their troublesome and superfluous dogs seems to be due to a somewhat similar feeling — a recognition of intelligence and emotions not unlike their own, but mysteriously hidden from them by the dumbness of the animals. In the same way it is clear that it is but a very simple and logical inference that the crocodiles are a friendly race, and but the clearest dictate of prudence to avoid offending creatures so powerful and agile; for if the crocodiles were possessed of the mental powers attributed to them by the imagination of the people, they might easily make it impossible for men to travel upon the rivers or dwell on their banks. A similar process would lead to the prohibition against the eating of the tiger-cat, the only large and dangerous carnivore.

The origin of the prohibitions against killing and eating deer and horned cattle is perhaps not so clear. But it must be remembered that until very recently the only horned cattle known to the tribes of the interior were the wild cattle (the Seladang of the Malay peninsula), very fierce and powerful creatures. These wild cattle hide themselves in the remotest recesses of the forests, and, as they are but very rarely seen, they may well be regarded as somewhat mysterious and awful. Deer, on the other hand, abound in the forests, and, like most deer, are very timid; and it is perhaps their timidity that has led in some cases to the prohibition against their flesh, for we have seen how a Kenyah chief feared lest his little son, safe at home, should be infected with the deer's timidity if he himself a hundred miles away should come in contact with the skin of one. In another case we have seen that by the people of one community deer are regarded as relatives, or as containing the souls of their ancestors, and that this belief probably had its origin in the fact that deer are in "the habit of frequenting the grassy clearings made about the tombs by the people. And we saw that a similar belief in respect of certain carnivores probably had a similar origin.

We think that even the elaborate cult of the hawk and of the other omen-birds is to be explained on these lines. If we think of the hawk's erratic behaviour, how he will come suddenly rushing down out of the remotest blue of the sky to hover overhead, and then perhaps to circle hither and thither in an apparently aimless manner, or will keep flying on before a boat on the river, or come swiftly to meet it, screaming as he comes, — if we think of this, it is easy to understand how a people whose whole world consists of dense forests and dangerous rivers, a people extremely ignorant of natural causation, yet intelligent and speculative, and always looking out for signs that shall guide them among the mystery and dangers that surround them, may have come to see in the hawk a messenger sent to them by the beneficent Supreme Being. For this Being is vaguely conceived by them as dwelling in the skies whence the hawk comes, and whither he so often returns. And then we may suppose that the messenger himself has come to be an object of worship in various degrees with the different tribes, as seems to be the rule in all religious systems in which servants of a deity mediate between him and man.

The origin of the various rites in which the fowl and pig are sacrificed, and their blood smeared or sprinkled on men or on the altar-posts of gods, or on the image of the hawk, and their souls charged with messages to the Supreme Being — the origin of this group of customs must be sought in a different direction. To any one acquainted with Robertson Smith's RELIGION OF THE SEMITES, and with Mr. Jevon's INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF RELIGION, the idea naturally suggests itself that these animals are or were true totems, of which the cult has passed into a late stage of decay. It might be supposed that, being originally totem animals, they thereby became domesticated by their worshippers; that they were occasionally slain as a rite for the renewal of the bond between them and their worshippers, their blood being smeared or sprinkled on the latter, and their flesh ceremonially eaten by them; and that the eating of them has become more and more frequent, until now every religious rite, of however small importance, is made the occasion for the killing and eating of them. It might also be supposed that, with the development or the adoption of the conception of a Supreme Being, the original purpose and character of the rites had become obscure, so that the slaughtered animals are now regarded in some cases as sacrifices offered to the deity.

But we do not think that this tempting hypothesis as to the origin of the rites can be upheld in this case. In the first place, the wild pig of the jungle is hunted in sport and killed and eaten freely by all the various tribes, and is, in fact, treated on the whole with less respect and ceremony than perhaps any other animal. Secondly, the domestic pig differs so much from the wild pig that Mr. Oldfield Thomas has pronounced it to be of a different species, and it seems possible that it has been introduced to Borneo by the Chinese at a comparatively recent date. Further, there is reason to suppose that the custom of sacrificing pigs and fowls arose through the substitution of them for human beings in certain rites. For there is a number of rites of which it is admitted by the people that the slaughter of human beings was formerly a central feature; of these, the most important and the most widely spread are the funeral rites of a great chief, the rites at the building of a new house, and those on returning from a successful war expedition. In all these fowls or pigs are now substituted as a rule, but we know of instances in which in recent years human beings were the victims. Thus some years ago, on the death of the chief of a community of Klemantans (the Orang Bukit), a slave was bought by his son, and a feast was made, and the slave was killed through each man of the community giving him a slight wound. This was said to be the revival of an old and almost obsolete custom. In another recent case, when a mixed party of Kayans and Kenyahs returned from a successful war expedition, only the Kenyahs had secured heads. The Kayans therefore took an old woman, one of the captives, and killed her by driving a long pole against her abdomen, as many of them as possible taking part by holding and helping to thrust the pole. The head was then divided among the parties of Kayans, and pieces of the flesh were hung on poles beside the river, just as is done with the flesh of slain enemies and with the flesh of the pigs that are always slaughtered on such occasions. It was said that this killing of a human being was equivalent to killing a pig, only much finer.

Kayans tell us that they used to kill slaves at the death of a chief, usually three, but at least one, and that they nailed them to the tomb, in order that they might accompany the chief on his long journey to the other world and paddle the canoe in which he must travel. This is no longer done, but a wooden figure of a man is put up at the head and another of a woman at the foot of the coffin of a chief as it lies in state before the funeral. And a small wooden figure of a man is usually fixed on the top of the tomb, and it is said that this is to row the canoe for the chief. A live fowl is usually tied to this figure, and although it is said to be put there merely to eat the maggots, we think there can be no doubt that we see here going on the process of substitution of fowl for slave.

In building a new house it is customary among almost all these tribes to put a fowl into the hole dug to receive the first of the piles that are to support the house, and to allow the end of the pile to fall upon the fowl so as to kill it. The Kenyahs admit that formerly a girl was usually killed in this way, and there is reason to believe that in all cases a human victim was formerly the rule, and that the fowl is a substitute merely.[146]

In the following cases, too, we see the idea of substitution of fowls or pigs for men.

It is customary with the Malanaus of Niah to kill buffalo, and also to kill fowls, and put them together with eggs on poles in the caves in which the swifts build the edible nests, in order to secure a good crop of nests. One year, when the nests were scanty they bought a slave in Brunei, and killed him in the cave, in the hope of increasing the number of nests.

It was formerly the custom to exact a fine of one or more slaves as punishment for certain offences, E.G. the accidental setting fire to a house. At the present time, when slaves are scarcer than of yore, they are rarely given in such cases, but usually brass gongs; and the gongs are always accompanied by a pig.

Now, when slaves were killed and nailed to the tomb of a chief, the purpose was perfectly clear and simple. It Was done in just the same spirit in which the weapons and shield and clothing are still always hung on the tomb of a deceased warrior, in order, namely, that his shade may not be without them on the journey to the other world. On the introduction of the domestic pig it may well have become customary for the poorer classes, who could not afford to kill a slave, or for families which owned no slaves, to kill a pig as in some degree a compensation for the want of human victims. If such a custom were once introduced, it may well have spread rapidly from motives of both economy and humanity; for a slave is as a rule very kindly treated by his master, and in many cases comes to be regarded as a member of the family.

We may suppose, too, that it was formerly the custom to kill a slave when prayers of public importance were made to the Supreme Being, in order that the soul of the slave might carry the prayer to him. If this was the case, the substitution of pig for slave, on the introduction of the domestic pig, may be the more readily conceived to have become customary, when we remember that these people regard the souls of animals as essentially similar to their own.[147] If such a custom of substitution once gained a footing, it would naturally become usual to take the opportunity of communicating with the higher powers whenever a pig was to be slaughtered.

This view, that in all sacrifices of the pig and fowl these are but substitutes for human victims, finds very strong support in the following facts: — The Kalabits, a tribe inhabiting the north-western corner of the Baram district, breed the water-buffalo and use it in cultivating their land. It has probably been introduced to this area from North Borneo at a recent date. The religious rites of this people closely resemble those of the tribes with which we have been dealing above; but in all cases in which pigs are sacrificed by the latter, buffaloes are used by the Kalabits.

The rite of sprinkling the blood of pigs and fowls on men and on the altar-posts and images may, we think, be an extension or adaptation of the blood-brotherhood ceremony. We have seen that with the Kayans and Kenyahs the essential feature of this ceremony is the drawing of a little blood from the arm of the two men, each of whom then drinks or consumes in a cigarette the blood of the other one. Such a rite calls for no remote explanation; it seems to have suggested itself naturally to the minds of primitive people all the world over as a process for the cementing of friendship. When two hostile communities wished to make a permanent peace with one another, it would be natural that they should wish to perform a ceremony similar to the rite of blood-brotherhood. But the interchange of drops of blood between large numbers of persons would obviously be inconvenient; and if the idea of substituting fowls and pigs for human victims had once taken root in their minds, it would have been but a small step to substitute their blood for human blood in the peacemaking ceremonies. We have seen above that in such a ceremony fowls are exchanged by the two parties, so that the men of either party are smeared with the blood of the fowl originally belonging to the other party. It may be that here, too, the blood of slaves was formerly used, but of this we have no evidence. The custom of smearing the blood of fowls and pigs on the two parties to a friendly compact having been arrived at in this way, the rite might readily be extended to the cases in which the hawk, represented by his wooden image, or the Supreme Being, also represented by an image, is invoked as one of the parties to the compact. We are inclined to think that in some such way as we have here suggested, namely, by the substitution of pigs and fowls for human victims, and of their blood for human blood, the origin of the customs of sacrificing fowls and pigs, and of ceremonially sprinkling their blood, may be explained.

We conclude, then, that the various superstitions entertained by these tribes in regard to animals are not to be looked upon as survivals of totemism, but that they may all be explained in a simpler and more satisfactory manner.

Suggested Theory of the Origin of Totemism

Before bringing this chapter to an end, we would point out that among the facts we have described there are some which seem to suggest a possible and, indeed, as it seems to us, a very natural and probable mode of origin of totem-worship. We refer to the varieties of the NGARONG of the Ibans and sporadic analogous cases among the other tribes. We have seen that the NGARONG may assume the form of some curious natural object, or of some one animal distinguished from its fellows by some slight peculiarity, which receives the attentions of some one man only. In such cases the NGARONG is hardly distinguishable from a fetish. In other cases the man, being unable to distinguish the particular animal which he believes to be animated by his NGARONG, extends his regard and gratitude to the whole species. In such a case it seems difficult to deny the name "individual totem" to the species, if the term is to be used at all. In other cases, again, all the members of a man's family and all his descendants, and, if he be a chief, all the members of the community over which he rules, may come to share in the benefits conferred by his NGARONG, and in the feeling of respect for it and in the performance of rites in honour of the species of animal in one individual of which it is supposed to reside. In such cases the species approaches very closely the clan-totem in some of its varieties. (In speaking of the "Kobong" of certain natives of Western Australia, Sir G. Grey[148] says, "This arises from the family belief that some one individual of the species is their nearest friend, to kill whom would be a great crime, and to be carefully avoided.")

Of similar cases among other tribes of guardian-animals appearing to men in dreams and claiming their respect and gratitude, we must mention the case of Aban Jau, a powerful chief of the Sebops, a Klemantan sub-tribe. He had hunted and eaten the wild pig freely like all his fellow-tribesmen, until once in a dream a wild boar appeared to him, and told him that he had always helped him in his fighting. Thereafter Aban Jau refused, until the day of his death, to kill or eat either the wild or the domestic pig, although he would still consult for omens the livers of pigs killed by others.[149]

We have described above (vol. ii., p. 76) how a Kayan may become blood-brother to a crocodile in a dream, and may thereafter be called Baya (crocodile), and how in this way one Kayan chief had come to regard himself as both son and nephew to crocodiles, and how he believed that they brought him success in hunting and carried him ashore when (in a dream) he had fallen into the river. The cousin of this chief, too, regarded himself as specially befriended by crocodiles because his great-grandfather had become blood-brother to one in a dream. So it is clear that the members of the family to which these young men belong are likely to continue to regard themselves as related by blood to the crocodiles, and bound to them by special ties of gratitude.

In another case we saw how all the people of one household regard themselves as related to the crocodiles and specially favoured by them, explaining the relation as due to one of their ancestors having become a crocodile. In another case we saw that some ill-defined relation to the gibbon is claimed by a community of Kenyahs whose house is decorated with carvings of the form of the gibbon, and whose members will not kill the gibbon. And in yet another case we saw that a Kayan house is decorated with conventionalised carvings of some animal whose species has been forgotten by the community. In each of these last three cases, it seems highly probable that the special relation to the animal was established by some such process as we see going on in the preceding case; so that we seem to have in this series one case of incipient totemism and others illustrating various stages of decay of abortive beginnings of totemism. And it is easy to imagine how in the absence of unfavourable conditions such beginnings might grow to a fully developed totem-system. For suppose that in any one community there happened to be at one time two or more prosperous families, each claiming to be related with and protected by some species of animal as the result of friendly overtures made by the animals to members of the families in their dreams. It would then be highly probable that members of other families, envious of the good fortune of these, would have similar dream experiences, and so come to claim a similar protection; until very soon the members of any family that could claim no such protection would come to be regarded as unfortunate and even somewhat disreputable beings, while the faith of one family in its guardian-animal would react upon and strengthen the faith of others in theirs. So a system of clan-totems would be established, around which would grow up various myths of origin, various magical practices, and various religious rites.

It is well known that such dreams as convince the Iban, the Kayan, and the Kenyah of the reality of his special relation to some animal, and lead him to respect all animals of some one species, produce similar results in other parts of the world. We quote the following passages from Mr. Frazer's remarks on individual totems in his book on totemism: — "An Australian seems usually to get his individual totem by dreaming that he has been transformed into an animal of that species." "In America the individual totem is usually the first animal of which a youth dreams during the long and generally solitary fast which American Indians observe at puberty." Such dream experiences are then the VERA CAUSA of the inception of faith in individual totems among the peoples in which totemism is most highly developed; and among the tribes of Sarawak we find cases which illustrate how a similar faith, strengthened by further dreams and by the good fortune of its possessor, may spread to all the members of his family or of his household and to his descendants, until in some cases the guardian animal becomes almost, though not quite, a clan-totem. The further development of such incipient totems among these tribes is probably prevented at the present time, not only by their agricultural habits, but also by their passionate addiction to war and fighting and head-hunting; for these pursuits necessitate the strict subordination of each community to its chief, and compel all families to unite in the cult of the hawk to the detriment of all other animal-cults, because the hawk is, by its habits, so much better suited than any other animal to be a guide to them on warlike expeditions.[150]

The prevalence of the belief in a Supreme Being must also tend to prevent the development of totemism.

Plants

In Chapter VI. we have described most of the superstitious beliefs and practices connected with the PADI plant and the rice.

It is not clear that any other plants are regarded as be-souled; but we mention here certain customs in connection with some of them that seem to point in that direction. The SILAT, a common jungle palm, figures most prominently in rites and beliefs of the Kayans. The leaves of this palm are used to decorate the heads taken in war; and on the occasion of any ceremonial use of the heads, fresh leaves are always hung upon or about them. No other leaves will serve this purpose, though it is difficult to say in what the special virtue of this plant consists. The leaves of the same plant are hung about the doorway of a new house when the people first take up their abode in it; but it is hung in such a way that passers-by do not brush against it, and children especially are kept away from it. It is commonly hung about the altar-posts of the gods; and it is a strip of this leaf that is tied about the wrist of a sick man to confine his soul to his body at the close of the soul-catching ceremony. It is tied also about the wrists of men returning from any warlike expedition. When applied for any ceremonial purpose it is called ISANG; and it is not until it has been so used that it becomes an "unclean" object. It is used in its merely material aspect for roofing leaf shelters in the jungle, and is put to other similar uses to which the broad tough leaves are well adapted. Most or all of the peoples use the leaves of this plant in the same ways as the Kayans.

LONG, a species of CALADIUM, is commonly hung, both root and leaves, upon the door of a room to mark that it is LALI (tabu) owing to sickness, harvesting, or any other circumstance.

OROBONG, a weed (not unlike the foxglove in appearance) which always grows freely among the young PADI, is gathered by the female friends of any woman passing through the ordeal of childbirth. They boil the leaves and wash her body with the decoction on several days following the delivery. It is held that, if this is not done, the woman's abdomen will not regain its normal state. This usage also is common to the Kayans with many other tribes.

The leaves of the DRACAENA are sometimes tied beneath the prow of a boat during journeys to distant parts (as mentioned on p. 70, vol. ii.); they are also hung upon the tombs and, with the ISANG, upon altar posts, when the rites are performed.

The Ibans and some of the Klemantans will not make the first stroke in cutting down the TAPANG tree (ARBOURIA), alleging that, if they do so, great troubles will befall them.

Supplementary Note on the NGARONG

Since correcting the proofs of this chapter we have come upon a brief account of the guardian spirits of the Iban, which corroborates our account of the Ngarong. It is contained in a series of papers entitled RELIGIOUS RITES AND CUSTOMS OF THE IBANS OR DYAKS OF SARAWAK, BORNEO, written by Leo Nyuak (an Iban educated in a mission school), and translated by the Very Rev. Edm. Dunn (ANTHROPOS, vol. i. p. 182, 1905). In this account the guardian spirit is called TUA, and we are told that ,The TUA or guardian spirit of an Iban has its external manifestation in a snake, a leopard, or some other denizen of the forest. It is supposed to be the spirit of some ancestor renowned for bravery, or some other virtue, who at death has taken an animal form … it is revealed in a dream what animal form the honoured dead has taken."