which wanders to the nether regions when he dies, and the third is an entity which dwells in the severed and preserved skull. The prominence of the head as a vehicle of soul-substance in Indonesia suggests that the third of these spiritual agencies may be the Mailu representative of the Indonesian soul-substance, but this is also identified with the breath, so that the Mailu have two beliefs which may be connected with the Indonesian concept.
The Koita and Motu believe in the existence of an entity, called sua by the Koita and lauma by the Motu, the absence of which from the body causes sickness. It is also believed to leave the body in sleep and to become the ghost at death. Among the Motu pigs have a laulauma which comes to an end when the animal dies so that it has no lauma or ghost. The shrinkage in size of a pig at death is ascribed to the absence of the laulauma.[1]
Lieut. E. W. P. Chinnery records[2] beliefs of the people of the mountainous districts of Papua which bear a closer likeness to the Indonesian concept of soul-substance. The body is believed to be permeated by the “strength” of a “thing within,” the influence of which becomes attached to everything with which the body is in any way associated. The “thing within” itself becomes the ghost after death, so that it would appear as if the concept of soul-substance has become an attribute of an entity within the body which becomes the ghost at death. The nature of the relation between the two is well illustrated by the belief that the status of a ghost depends on the “strength” of his soul during life. Various customs, including cannibahsm and the anointing of the body with the juices of the decaying dead, depend on the desire to add to the “strength” of the soul.
If now we pass from New Guinea eastwards we find that
