And it seems to us
that to invoke the aid of the hypothesis of totemism in the past to
explain the existence of a set of animal or plant superstitions in
any particular case is but to increase the mystery that shrouds their
origin; for unless it can be shown that the adoption or development
of totemism by any people brings with it immense advantages for them
in the struggle for existence, every fresh case in which the evidence
compels us to admit its occurrence, whether in the past or as a still
flourishing institution, can but increase the wonder with which we
have to regard its wide distribution.
Secondly, we have in the total absence of totemism among the Punans
very strong ground for rejecting the suggestion of its previous
existence among the Kenyahs. For in physical characters, in language,
and, as far as the difference in the mode of life permits, in customs
and beliefs, the Punans resemble the Kenyahs so closely that we must
assume them to be closely allied by blood; and it seems probable
that the Punans have merely persisted in the cultural condition from
which the Kenyahs and other tribes have been raised by the adoption
of agriculture and the practice of building substantial houses. Yet,
as we have said, the Punans, although in that condition of nomadic
hunters which is probably the most favourable to the development and
persistence of totemism, observe hardly any restrictions in their
hunting, and in fact seem to kill and eat with equal freedom almost
every bird and beast of the jungle, shooting them with the blow-pipe
and poisoned darts with consummate skill.
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