igi5.] I. H. N. Evans: Sakai of the Ulu Snngkai. 



97 



II 



any claim on you for damage to his goat he is to come and 

 see me about it." Yok Patahng went off at once and gave the 

 Malay my message, whereupon the latter immediately changed 

 his tone and said that he had only been joking and that Yok 

 Pataling did not owe him anything, at the same time upbraid- 

 ing him very bitterly for having gone and informed the 

 "Tuan." To this Yok Pataling replied "I swear by the sun 

 that I did not tell the "Tuan," and if I lie, may the sun 

 shrivel up my tongue." 



Birth Customs. 



My informants with regard to birth customs were two 

 Jeram Kawan Sakai- The information obtained from them is 

 given below. 



The expectant mother is isolated in a small hut of leaves 

 built on the ground not far from her own house, it being tabu 

 for a birth to take place in an ordinary dwelling. Here she is 

 attended by the midwife, and after the child has been born she 

 goes through a three days purification ceremony in the hut, 

 bathing under a decorated bamboo spout into which water is 

 poured from a long water bamboo. When the purification is 

 over the mother returns to her own house and the midwife 

 ceases attendance. No fish or chilies may be eaten by a 

 woman for two months "after she has given birth to a child, 

 and salt and the cabbages of all palm trees which have thorny 

 stems are forbidden for several days. The midwife must be 

 present and eat with a woman when she takes fish or flesh with 

 her rice (makan berlauk) for the first time after her delivery. 

 A similar heating treatment to that employed by the Malays, 

 is undergone by Sakai women after their confinement. 



HALAK'S PERFORMANCE AT UNGKUN.* 



While stopping at Jeram Kawan I arranged with Jehaia, 

 the headman of the down-stream settlement, Ungkun, to hold 

 a magical performance on the night of May 26th. I left Jeram 

 Kawan by boat at about 3 p.m. and arrived at Jahaia's 

 kampong, where I was to sleep that night, some time before 

 dark. Here I found the women busy cutting up and plaiting 

 leaves which were to form the ceremonial decorations and 

 getting ready the bamboo stampers with which an accompani- 

 ment is played to the Hnlak's chants. Jahaia was becomingly 

 modest and said that he would do his best though he could not 

 claim to be a proper Halak, and only knew how to perform a 

 little. Some time after dark the sound of the bamboo 

 stampers from a neighbouring house announced that the 

 performance was about to begin. Making my way to this, 

 and up the tall ladder, I found the hut crowded by the 

 inhabitants of the whole settlement, who were engaged in 

 chattering, sireh chewing, and slapping their bodies in order to 



* See photo PI. XXVIIl taken outside the house on the morning after the 

 performance. 



