s that he has
sent forth by notching the tree against which he leans. Trees thus
"blazed" are never felled. The child must not in later life injure any
tree which belongs to the species of his tree; for him all such trees
are taboo, and he must not even eat their fruit, the only exception
being when an expectant mother revisits her birth-tree. Every tree of
its species is regarded as identical with the birth-tree (ii. 3, 4).
When an East Semang dies his birth-tree dies too (ii. 5).

(aa). The child's soul is conveyed in a bird, which always inhabits
a tree of the species to which the birth-tree belongs. It flies from
one tree of the species to another, following the as yet unborn body.
The souls of first-born children are always young birds newly hatched,
the offspring of the bird which contained the soul of the mother. If
the mother does not eat the soul-bird during her accouchement the
child will be stillborn or will die shortly after birth (ii. 4, 192,
194, 216). She keeps the soul-bird within the birth-bamboo, and does
not eat it all at once, but piecemeal (ii. 6). All human souls grow
upon a soul-tree in the other world, whence they are fetched by a bird
which was killed and eaten by the expectant mother (ii. 194).

(bb). Semang religion, in spite of its recognition of a thunder-god
(Kari) and certain minor deities (so called), has very little indeed
in the way of ceremonial, and appears to consist mainly of mythology
and legend. It shows remarkably few traces of demon worship, very
little fear of ghosts of the deceased, and still less of any sort of
animistic beliefs (ii. 174). [As the Kari is the deity common to the
Semang and the people higher in culture than the Semang, it is
difficult to trace out the primitive idea. The myths also show a
common impress, "which is probably mainly due to the same savage
Malay element" (ii. 183).]

(cc). During a storm of thunder and lightning the Semang draw a few
drops of blood from the region of the shin bone, mix it with a little
water in a bamboo receptacle, and throw it up to the angry skies (ii.
204).

(dd). Pretend entire ignorance of a supreme being, but on pressure
confessed to a very powerful yet benevolent being, the maker of the
world (ii. 209).

FOOTNOTES:

[284] Beddoe, _Races of Britain_, cap. ii., and _Journ. Anthrop.
Inst._, xxxv. 236-7; Boyd-Dawkins, _Early Man in Britain_, cap. vii.
viii. and ix.; Ripley, _Races of Europe_, cap. xii.

[285] Rhys, _C