Kayan (Borneo) padi-clearing bullroarer

When the Kayan cleared jungle for padi, a few trees were left standing on high ground as resting-places for the Toh, the spirits of the locality. A tree might be stripped of its branches, with a pole lashed across the stem and bunches of palm leaves hung from it. A bullroarer was sometimes hung on this cross-piece too, to dangle and flicker in the breeze. The same instrument was a boys’ toy.

Death and sickness, especially madness, accidental bodily injuries, failure of crops, in fact almost any trouble may be ascribed to the malevolent action of Toh.

Hose & McDougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo (1912), vol. II, p. 23

Particulars

Object

Wooden bull-roarer used as a boys' toy, sometimes suspended on a cross-piece of a tree left standing when clearing jungle for padi.