182 A NATUBALISrS WANDERINGS 



Mef^aiiii I came on their burial-f]rrounJ, laid out in the forest 

 the pathside — a great elevated qiiadranguhir mound, in 



length just enough to admit a full-grown body. A rough 

 stone at head and foot indicated where each person lay side 

 by side with his neighbour. Only the married people are 

 interred in this common burying-place, in the right, perhaps, 

 of their being parents of the people; all others, youths 

 and infants — useless off-shoots of their race — are buried any- 

 where in the forest, and always some distance from w^hcre 

 their elders lie. An unmarried woman about to give birth to 

 a child is compelled to leave the village and retreat to the 

 forest, whence after some forty days of solitary sojourn she 

 returns — never with her offspring — and the village is purified 

 by the sacrifice of a buffalo. Their most sacred oath is sworn 

 by placing a hand over the grave of their forefathers amid 

 the incense of benzoin, or in a circle drawn on the ground : 

 "May the spirit of my forefathers afflict me if I have spoken 

 falsely," being the formula. The same manner of swearing 

 obtains, I am told, among the inhabitants of the 3rakakau, 

 Komering (Muara-dua), fcemindo, and Blalau (Hoodjoong) 

 regions. The Kisam people swear also by drinking the 

 water in which a kriss has been dipped, as well as by the 

 spirit of Tuan R:ija Gnawo, who has his dwelling-place on 

 Mount Dempo. 



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