Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/298

 276 Reviews.

is not improbable that the practice of taking the heads of fallen enemies arose by the extension of the custom of taking the hair for the ornamentation of the shield and sword hilt. It seems possible that human hair was first applied to shields in order to complete the representation of a terrible human face, which, as we have seen, is generally painted on the shield, and which is said to be intended as an aid to confusing and terrifying the foe." The second possible origin is from "the custom of slaying slaves on the death of a chief, in order that they might accompany and serve him on the journey to the other world" (vol. i., p. 189). Here again we may argue in the same manner. The first view seems to be adventitious and wholly insufficient, for, in view of the fact that the Kayan are supposed by the authors to have brought the custom with them into Borneo, it would follow that such shields would be found among the tribes in the region whence they came, and this, so far as I know, is not the case. The second view is far more plausible, but here again it would seem as if the solution offered were inadequate. Taken by itself such an explanation seems at first to be quite satisfactory, but how are we to account for the fact that the spiritual beings called Toh, which are not the ghosts of the deceased owners of the heads, take up their residence in the heads as they hang in the gallery of the house? (vol. ii., p. 20).

Space will not permit of the discussion of the problem here. Suffice it to say that this relationship will have to be explained before we can claim to understand the cult, and that the explana- tion is more likely to come from the mainland than from Borneo.

I merely cite these two examples to shew that, viewed from the standpoint of complexity of culture, problems of origin and development assume a very different character. There can be no doubt that only in this way can we ever emerge from that region of probability and conjecture, of personal opinion and subjective theories, where we are at present confined, to the land of method and precision.

The following statement by the authors is very welcome, coming as it does from eminent authorities : —

"It has often been attempted to exhibit the mental life of savage peoples as profoundly different from our own; to assert