The tribe is divided, like others, into totemistic exogamous septs,
which pay reverence to their totems. Thus members of the Kulu
(tortoise), Kiro (tiger), Nag (cobra), Kankul (leopard) and Kuto
(crocodile) septs abstain from killing their totem animal, fold
their hands in obeisance when they meet it, and taking up some
dust from the animal's track place it on their heads as a mark of
veneration. Certain septs cannot wholly abstain from the consumption
of their sept totem, so they make a compromise. Thus members of the
Baa, or rice sept, cannot help eating rice, but they will not eat the
scum which gathers over the rice as it is being boiled. Those of the
Bilum or salt sept must not take up a little salt on one finger and
suck it, but must always use two or more fingers for conveying salt
to the mouth, presumably as a mark of respect. Members of the Suren
or stone sept will not make ovens with stones but only with clods of
earth. The tribe do not now think they are actually descended from
their totems, but tell stories accounting for the connection. Thus the
Katang Kondai or bamboo sept say that a girl in the family of their
ancestors went to cut bamboos and never came back. Her parents went
to search for her and heard a voice calling out from the bamboos, but
could not find their daughter. Then they understood that the bamboo
was of their own family and must not be cut by them. The supposition
is apparently that the girl was transformed into a bamboo.