United States or Mozambique ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !


The more important of these are the god of war, TOH BULU; three gods of life, LAKI JU URIP, LAKI MAKATAN URIP, and LAKI KALISAI URIP, of whom the first is the most important; the god of thunder and storms, LAKI BALARI and his wife OBENG DOH; the god of fire, LAKI PESONG; gods of the harvest, ANYI LAWANG and LAKI IVONG; a god of the lakes and rivers, URAI UKA; BALANAN, the god of madness; TOH KIHO, the god of fear; LAKI KATIRA MUREI and LAKI JUP URIP, who conduct the souls of the dead to Hades.

The villages, with the exception of Balammepa, have an aspect of poverty, and the country is ravaged by that frightful scourge the small-pox, and likewise some cases apparently of cholera, from the account given of the complaint. Near the hill of Bulu Tanna there is a hot spring, and likewise, by the report of the natives, some slight remains of an old building.

Close to the Bulu Tanna, in the foreground, is another smaller hill, with two remarkable tufts on the top: this hill, just open to the eastward of Bulu Tanna, is the leading mark for Songi, which stands to the westward.

Some were to go out and teach; some were to carry Testaments and tracts written in Bulu to others; some were to help about the mission station so that there might be a better place in which to teach the ones who came. Some were to raise extra crops so they might have something to give to those who went far out to teach.

For several years past there have been rumors of a race of Pygmies in the interior of the Cameroons, but these reports were not verified until the year 1898, when the Bulu expedition of the German military force succeeded, with much difficulty, in seeing several individuals of this race, secured through the aid of a native chief. One woman was measured and proved to be just four feet high.

It seems possible, therefore, that TOH BULU was nothing more than the spirit concerned with the hornbill's feathers, which are the emblems or badges of acknowledged prowess in battle; and that with the exaltation of the original god of war above his fellows, this minor spirit concerned in warfare has acquired a larger sphere and importance.

For TOH BULU seems to be a god of but small account with the Kayans; his name figures but little in their rites; and the name itself indicates his subordinate position; for TOH is, as we have seen, the generic name for spirits of minor importance, and BULU is the Kayan word for feather; TOH BULU, literally translated, is then the feather-spirit or spirit of the feathers.

Five hundred years later they tried again. An adventurous general by the name of Bulu made himself master of the Assyrian throne. He assumed the name of old Tiglath Pileser, who was considered the national hero of the Assyrians and announced his intention of conquering the whole world. He was as good as his word.

"I must now return to Labu, to give some account of the channel between the reefs; as, from the appearance of the charts, it would seem impossible to navigate the western side of the bay. Having passed Tanjong Labu at a distance of 3 1/2 or 4 miles, get the flat-topped hill called Bulu Tanna ahead.

It was mentioned above that the Kayans recognise a god of war, TOH BULU. This fact may seem incompatible with the view that the idea of LAKI TENANGAN has been reached by exalting the god of war above his fellow-departmental deities; but it is not, we think, a fatal objection.