Through Central Borneo An Account Of Two Years' Travel In The Land Of The Head-Hunters Between The Years 1913 And 1917 By Carl Lumholtz
- Page 259 of 489 - First - Home
If The Second Player Hits The Spinning Top It Is A
Good Omen For Cutting Down The Trees.
If he fails, another tries his luck,
and so on.
The long-continued spinning of a top is also a favourable sign
for the man who spins it. With the Katingans a hit means that it is
advisable to cut the trees at once, while a miss necessitates a delay of
three days. Every day, weather permitting, as soon as the men return from
the ladangs in the evening, about an hour before sunset, this game is
played on the space before the houses of the kampong. Sometimes only two
men consult fate, spinning alternately. The same kind of top is found
among the Kayans, Kenyahs, and other Dayak tribes.
According to the information I obtained from the Dayaks they believe that
the soul has eternal existence, and although many tribes have the idea
that during life several souls reside in one individual, after death only
one is recognised, which is generally called liao. One or more souls may
temporarily leave the body, thereby causing illness.
Neither in this life nor the next are there virtuous or sinful souls, the
only distinction being in regard to social standing and earthly
possessions, and those who were well-to-do here are equally so there. With
the Katingans whatever is essential to life in this world is also found in
the next, as houses, men, women, children, dogs, pigs, fowls,
water-buffaloes, and birds.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 259 of 489
Words from 69079 to 69328
of 132281
