Elements of the Inau Cult in Ethnic and Cultural Contacts of the southern Far East1

The article describes the wood shaving stick cult (inau), practiced by the peoples of the continental and insular parts of the southern Far East. This cult is syncretic and variable, resulting from ethnic and cultural contacts between ethnic groups of the Pacific area. The study of inau, both archaeological and ethnographic, is relevant to an understanding of ethnic interaction in the region.