[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

. ‘THE VILLAGE AND VILLAGE LIFE 45
in some detail in subsequent chapters, and much will have to
be written of the different forms of magic which play so important
a part in native affairs, but it will be well to say something here
of the religious life of the people. It rnust be confessed that
apart from the rites which they perform we know very little
about this. The countryside is believed to be populated by a
great number of speciï¬Åc beings, each of which is distinguished
by some peculiarity of appearance—a.s, for instance, long hair,
the absence of a leg or arm, or some kind of monstrosity—or by
some special disposition. To many of these there is a story
attached, telling how they killed certain men, and often how they
were ï¬Ånally led into some trap and themselves killed. They are
spoken of as temes, the word which has primarily the signiï¬Åcance
of our word " ghost â€ù, and this implies that these beings are
believed once to have been human, but there is nothing to suggest
that they are identiï¬Åed with any known men or Women of the
past. To what extent the belief in these temzs influences the
life of the people we cannot tell ; no reference has been found
to any ritual performed in connection with them.
Much more important are the beings associated with the
sacred place which belongs to each clan. They are also usually
referred to as temes and are believed to have once been mortals,
though there is no evidence that they are as a rule conceived
of as clan ancestors. Their cult is connected with the fertility
lrites which are performed annually by oï¬Åicial magicians, one of
whom is attached to each clan. An account of these rites will be
found in the chapter which deals with totemism.
There is record ofvonly one spirit who is believed never to
have been human ; he dwells in or by a certain fertility stone
near the village of Looremew, and it is said of him that he changes
into a_ cock and crows, but should anyone try to shoot him,
believing him to be an ordinary wild fowl, he turns into a snake
and bites the hunter. It is to this spirit that a man offers
prayers when he visits the stone of Looremew for the purpose
of causing his wife to conceive (cf. p. 672).
A few myths have been recorded, mostly from Seniang and
Mewun. Many of these are origin myths, and it is interesting
to notice that there are two distinct groups of them. Those
comprising one group are of the form typically associated with