INDIAN ISLANDERS. 231 lary protectors of houses and villages. The Prayan- ganare beautiful genii of female forms, who bewitch man, and occasion madness ; they inhabit trees, dwell- ing chiefly on the banks of rivers. The Kdbo Kd- male are evil male genii, usually presenting them- selves in the shape of buffaloes, but often taking the form of husbands to deceive wives; they are the patrons of thieves and robbers. The Wewe are malignant spirits, in the form of gigan- tic females, who carry ofi* infants. The Dadung- awu protect the wild animals of the forest, and are the patrons of the hunter. In Bali, as will be seen in the account of that island, the bulk of the peo- ple, notwithstanding their profession of Hmduism^ have peopled the elements, mountains, and forests, with their local deities, assigning a tutelary god to each state or province, and erecting temples to them. There is little doubt but Hinduism in Java was on the very same footing. * The inhabi- tants of the Indian islands are not in a state of so- ciety to relish the laborious subtleties, and the troublesome ceremonies of the Hindu religion and ritual, and there is no doubt but the Brahmins
- The people of the Moluccas had the same form of religion.
- They knew of no God," says Valentyn, " but maintained that
every province had its dem^^n, that plagued or protected it as he thought proper, on whom, in danger or affliction, they al- ways called.*' — Valentyn^ Deel I.
