All groups of the Taiyal hold sacred the small bird to which reference has already been made in connection with head-hunting customs--whose cry is regarded as an omen of good or evil, according to the note, and followed accordingly. The flight of this bird is also noted when starting on either a hunting expedition or on one of warfare (head-hunting). The warriors or hunters will stop on the spot at which the bird is seen to alight, and there lie in wait for either enemy or game, according to the nature of the expedition. This bird cannot, I think, in spite of the reverence in which it is held, be regarded as the totem of the Taiyal people. Rather, the tribes-people seem to regard it as the spokesman of some ancestor--one who was in his day a famous warrior, and who thus, through the medium of the bird, continues to guide his descendants, and all members of the tribal group to which during his lifetime he had belonged. Sometimes it is the spirit of a priestess which is supposed thus to continue to guide and guard her people. The Taiyal word for spirit, or ghost--often used in the sense in which the Christian would use guardian angel--is _Ottofu_. This seems to correspond with the _Atua_ of the Polynesians. Sometimes, however, it seems to be used much as _Mana_ is used by other Oceanic peoples. Unless one understands really thoroughly the language of a primitive people (and I do not pretend so to understand Taiyal) it is difficult always to trace the association of ideas; but apparently, in this connection, the association is that when a man is guided minutely by the spirit of some powerful ancestor, he himself becomes imbued with more than human power and wisdom and strength. The heart and the pupil of the eye seem closely associated by the Taiyal with the spirit of each individual and are sometimes spoken of, separately and together, as _Ottofu_. The spirit of oneself is thought to separate itself from one’s body during sleep; also it is liable to jump out suddenly if one sneezes, and in this case perhaps be lost permanently; hence a sneeze is considered to portend bad luck. As regards life after death, the Taiyal believe that only the good spirits go to the “high mountain,” to which reference has been made. This local Mount Olympus seems to be situated on one of the high peaks of the great central mountain range of the island. In order to reach it--or to attempt to reach it--each spirit, after death, must pass over a narrow bridge spanning a deep chasm. The men who have been successful as warriors and as huntsmen pass over in safety; also the women who have been skilful at weaving. Men who have been unsuccessful in war or in the chase, and women who have lacked skill at the loom, or have been idle, fall from the bridge down into the dirty water that lies at the bottom of the chasm.