The Pagan Tribes of Borneo and Animal Transformation

Record summary

Charles Hose and William McDougall’s The Pagan Tribes of Borneo records religion, ritual, social life, and narrative beliefs among several Bornean peoples. Its discussions of animal powers, spirit doubles, omen animals, and human-animal relations can support comparison with shape-changing traditions, including accounts later classified as were-animal beliefs. The work is not a report of verified transformations and its ethnographic generalizations cover culturally distinct communities. A researcher should identify the specific group, local term, and context rather than treating “Borneo” as one folklore system.