As for the figure in human semblance carved on the slate tablet, or monument, in front of the chief’s house, I am inclined to think this represents rather a glorified ancestor--in the sense in which the Japanese often use the word “Kami” ([Illustration])--rather than “god” in the Western sense of that word. Certainly the Paiwan--like the other aboriginal tribes--pay greater reverence to the spirits of ancestors than to any deity. Besides the ancestral spirits believed to inhabit the ancient swords or knives, previously referred to,[69] there are other spirits whose dwelling-place they believe to be the forest or jungle. All these are worshipped twice a year, at millet planting time and at harvest, when food and drink are offered to the spirits of the dead, at the same time that feasting and drinking are going on among the living; and once every five years at the time of the harvest festival occurs the great celebration, when there is played the game of _Mavay aiya_,[70] already described. Adjoining the territory of the Paiwan, on the north-west,[71] is that of the Tsarisen. Among the latter there is a tradition that their ancestors came down from the moon, bringing with them twelve jars of baked clay, or earthenware. At the home of the chief of the principal tribal group of this now small people are kept two or three old baked-clay pots, or jars, believed by the tribes-people to be of lunar origin--a remnant of the original twelve brought down by their ancestors. These of course are never used, but are regarded by them as being most sacred, only the chief and the priestesses being allowed to touch, or even to go near, them. By the side of the old jars is kept a large, circular white stone, also carefully cherished, believed to be in some way connected with the moon; but whether it was brought from the moon, or whether its appearance suggests the full moon, is not clear. It is before these treasures that the priestesses dance, and also before them that at the semi-annual festivals they place offerings of millet and millet wine, also sometimes of fruit and other food, chanting as they do so. This chanting is supposed to invoke the spirits of the moon-ancestors, who come down during the ceremony and bestow blessings upon the tribe. In other groups within the Tsarisen tribe, where there are no sacred jars or stones, the priestesses arrange the food-offerings in little piles close together, forming a circle: this to simulate the full moon. To step within the charmed circle would be sacrilege unspeakable; an offence so serious that only the death of the offender, the tribes-people say, would remove from the tribe the blight that otherwise would fall upon it. It is not on record that any member of the tribe has ever had the temerity to attempt this; and no member of any other tribe is allowed to come near the sacred spot.