Among other efforts to show how the hereditary totem of a group might be derived from the special animal or plant friend of an individual male, may be noticed that of Messrs. Hose and McDougall.[34] The Ibans, or Sea Dyaks of Sarawak, are probably of Malay stock, and are ‘a very imitative people,’ of mixed, inconsistent, and extravagant beliefs. They have a god of agriculture, and, of course, are therefore remote from the primitive; being rice-farmers. They respect nyarongs, or ‘spirit helpers,’ though Mr. Hose lived among them for fourteen years without knowing what a nyarong is. ‘It seems usually to be the spirit of some ancestor, or dead relative, but not always so....’ The spirit first appears to an Iban in a dream, in human form, and the Iban, on awaking, looks for the _nyarong_ in any casual beast, or quartz crystal, or queer root or creeper. So far the _nyarong_ is a fetish. Only about two per cent, of men have _nyarongs_. If the thing be an animal, the Iban respects the other creatures of the species. ‘In some cases the cult of a _nyarong_ will spread through a whole family or household.’ Australian individuals have also their secret animal friends, like _nyarongs_ and _naguals_, but these are never hereditary. What _is_ hereditary is the totem of the group, which may not be altered, or so seldom that it would be hard to find a modern example: though changes of totems may have occurred when, in the pristine ‘treks’ of the race, they reached regions of new fauna and flora. ‘The children and grandchildren,’ our authors go on, ‘among the Ibans, will usually respect the species of animals to which a man’s _nyarong_ belongs, and perhaps sacrifice fowls or pigs to it occasionally.’ Of course ‘primitive’ man has no domesticated animals, and does not sacrifice anything to anybody. ‘If the great-grandchildren of a man behave well to his _nyarong_, it will often befriend them just as much as its original _protégé_.’ It is not readily conceivable that, among very early men, and where the names of the dead are tabued, the wisest great-grandchild knows who his great-grandfather was. Still, though the great-grandfather was forgotten, his _nyarong_--it may be said--would be held in perpetual memory, and become the totem of a group. But this is not easily to be conceded, because there would be the competition of the _nyarongs_ of each generation to crush the ancient nyarong; moreover the totem, in truly primitive times, is not inherited from fathers, but from mothers.