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Not until this rite has been performed are the boys considered to be safe in the strange region. The more remote and inaccessible the region, the more are the TOH of it feared; rugged hill tops and especially mountain tops are the abodes of especially dangerous TOH, and it was only with difficulty that parties of men could be induced to accompany us to the summits of any of the mountains.
This is thought to render it difficult for the TOH to recognise his victim. Such a black mark is worn more especially on going away from the house. Sea Dayaks sometimes go farther under such circumstances.
The generic Kayan name for spirits of this class is TOH. All the spirits of this class seem to be objects of fear, to be malevolent, or, at least, easily offended and capable of bringing misfortunes of all kinds upon human beings. The most important of these TOH are perhaps those associated with the dried human heads that hang in every house.
It is supposed that, when the fire goes out, the TOH of the heads notice the fact, and begin to suspect that they are deserted by the people; when the rain begins to come in through the roof their suspicions are confirmed, and the TOH set out to pursue their deserters, but owing to the lapse of time and weather are unable to track them.
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.
The wife would come out, her face ablaze from the oven, with an anxious charge about that butter; the old man would hail her from the barn to know "ef she'd thought toh look in th' mail yes'rday;" and one or the other was sure to add, "Jes' time for breakfast, Lois."
While the coffin lies in the house all noises other than the wailing are avoided in its immediate neighbourhood, and the children, dogs, and fowls are kept away from it. The DAYONG will sit beside the coffin occasionally brandishing a sword above it in order to keep in check the TOH who, attracted to the neighbourhood of the corpse, might grow too bold.
As regards the influence of their religious beliefs on the moral conduct of the Kayans, we have seen that the fear of the TOH serves as a constant check on the breach of customs, which customs are in the main salutary and essential for the maintenance of social order; this fear does at the least serve to develop in the people the power of selfcontrol and the habit of deliberation before action.
I can teach my brother to make bows and shoot arrows. Can he not instruct Sassacus how to make guns, and the little black seeds which cause the lightning?" "That is not so easy as thou thinkest. I know not myself how to make guns, and the powder which thou callest seeds." "Toh!" replied the Indian, shaking his head, "my brother is afraid Sassacus might hurt himself with the lightning."
If, after floating some distance down stream, the child is found unhurt, it is carried home, the parents feeling some confidence that it will be "spared" to grow up Again, on going to the territory of people who have recently come to friendly terms with their village, men will make a black mark across the forehead with soot in order to disguise themselves from the TOH of this region.
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