THE OMEN ANIMALS OF SARAWAK. 8i 



in the ground, says a short form of address to the birds and Pulang Gana 

 (the tutelary deity of the soil, and the spirit presiding over the whole work 

 of rice farming), cuts a little pass or jungle with his parang and returns. 

 The magic virtue of the birds has been conveyed to the land. 



For house-building the same birds are to be obtained and in the same 

 way. But for a war expedition, birds on the right hand are required, except 

 the nendah, which, if it make a certain peculiar call, can be admitted on the 

 left. 



These birds can be bad omens as well as good. If heard on the wrong 

 side, if in the wrong order, if the note or call be of the wrong kind, the matter 

 in hand must be postponed, or abandoned altogether; unless a conjunction 

 of subsequent good omens occur, which, in the judgment of old experts, can 

 overbear the preceding bad ones. Hence, in practice, this birding becomes a 

 most involved matter, because the birds will not allow themselves to be heard in 

 straightforward orthodox succession. After all, it is only a balance of prob- 

 abilities ; for it is seldom that Dayak patience is equal to waiting till the omens 

 occur, according to the standard theory. 



These are the inaugurating omens sought in order to strike a line of good 

 luck, to render the commencement of an undertaking auspicious. The contin- 

 uance of good fortune must be carried on by omen influence to the end. 



When any of these omens, either of bird, beast or insect, are heard, or seen 

 by the Dayak on his way to the padi lands, he supposes they foretell either 

 good or ill to himself or to the farm; and in some cases he will turn back 

 and wait for the following day before proceeding again. The nendak is gen- 

 erally good, so is the katupong, on the right or left, but the papau (Harpactes 

 diardi) is of evil omen, and the man must beat a retreat. A beragai heard 

 once or twice matters not; but if often, a day's rest is necessary. The mhuas 

 (Carcineutes melanops) on the right is wrong, and sometimes it portends so 

 much blight and destruction that the victim must rest five days. The 'shout' 

 of the kutok (Lepocestes porphyomelas ) is e\'il, and that of the katupong so 

 bad that it requires three days' absence from the farm to allow the evil to pass 

 away; and even then a beragai must be heard before commencing work. The 

 beragai is a doctor among birds. If the cry of a deer, a pelandok (Tragulus), 

 be heard, or if a rat crosses the path before you on your way to the farm, a 

 day's rest is necessary; or you will cut yourself, get ill or suffer by failure of 

 the crops. When a good omen is heard, one which is supposed to foretell a 

 plentiful harvest, you must go on the farm and do some trifling work by way 

 of 'leasing the work of your hands' there, and then return; in this way you 

 clench the foreshadowed luck, and at the same time reverence the spirit which 

 promises it. And should a deer, or pelandok come out of the jungle and on to 

 the farm when you are working there, it means that customers will come to 

 buy the corn and that therefore there will be corn for them to buy. This is 

 the best omen they can have, and they honor it by resting from work for three 

 days. 



But the worst of all omens is a dead beast of any kind, especially those 

 included in the omen list, found anywhere on the farm. It infuses a deadly 

 poison into the whole crop and will kill some one or other of the owner's family 

 within a year. When this terrible thing happens they test the omen by 

 killing a pig and divining from the appearance of the liver immediately after 

 death. If the prediction of the omen be strengthened, all the rice grown on 

 that ground must be sold; and, if necessary, other rice bought for their own 

 consumption. Other people may eat it, for the omen only affects those at 



VOL. LX. — 6. 



