" Such dream experiences
are then the VERA CAUSA of the inception of faith in individual
totems among the peoples in which totemism is most highly developed;
and among the tribes of Sarawak we find cases which illustrate how a
similar faith, strengthened by further dreams and by the good fortune
of its possessor, may spread to all the members of his family or
of his household and to his descendants, until in some cases the
guardian animal becomes almost, though not quite, a clan-totem. The
further development of such incipient totems among these tribes is
probably prevented at the present time, not only by their agricultural
habits, but also by their passionate addiction to war and fighting and
head-hunting; for these pursuits necessitate the strict subordination
of each community to its chief, and compel all families to unite
in the cult of the hawk to the detriment of all other animal-cults,
because the hawk is, by its habits, so much better suited than any
other animal to be a guide to them on warlike expeditions.[150]
The prevalence of the belief in a Supreme Being must also tend to
prevent the development of totemism.
Plants
In Chapter VI. we have described most of the superstitious beliefs
and practices connected with the PADI plant and the rice.
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