2o8 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums. [Vol. VI, 



looking-glass or other shining object about in the open, and 

 for the same reason it is tabu for a man to have intercourse 

 with his wife during daytime. 



An attempt is sometimes made to drive away a 

 threatening storm by blowing through the teeth with a hissing 

 sound — " Hish." The ideas of the Jehehr with regard to the 

 lunar eclipse, which they call Kenod biilan are similar to those 

 of the Semang of Ijok. They believe that the moon is 

 attacked by a butterfly which attempts to swallow it. The 

 Jehehr frighten away the butterfly by making music with 

 bamboo stampers. ^ 



It is curious to note that among most, if not all, the 

 aboriginal tribes of the Peninsula the spells of the magician are 

 performed within a magic circle. In some cases a round hut 

 of leaves is erected in which the magician ensconces himself, 

 in others merely a round frame with hangings is used. The 

 Jehehr told me that they too made use of the round hut 

 or bumbnn. 



The custom of avoidance of the mother-in-law seems to 

 be very strictly in force, since she may neither be named, 

 or spoken to, by her son-in-law. 



Some articles of diet are tabu to the women, it being 

 considered that the infringement of the tabu would cause the 

 offender to suffer from convulsions {sawan). The flesh of the 

 piandok or chevrotain is rigidly tabued, but though, to a lesser 

 extent, the meat of the sambhur (Cervus unicolor) and the 

 muntjac (Muntaicus muntjac) are also tabu I was told that 

 some women were not afraid to eat it. It teoks rather as if 

 these tabus might have arisen from the desire of the men to 

 reserve the rarer and most savoury items of diet to themselves. 



As far as I could gather, there appears to be little or 

 no marriage ceremony. The Jehehr said that it was allowable 

 to have two wives, but not usual. 



A man who wishes to marry takes a wife from another 

 settlement (the girls of marriageable age in his own will 

 probably be all his near relations) and brings her back to his 

 own camp. After a while, however, he returns to live with his 

 wife's relatives for a time, and visits are paid to them at 

 varying intervals. 



A woman is forbidden to eat certain articles of food for 

 four days after giving birth to a child, ; these are the cabbages 

 of palms, flesh and fish, and tubers. 



Names of children are usually taken from the river, or 

 small streams, nearest to which they are born, or from rapids 

 or promontories, but they are also given from the kind of 

 tree under which the birth takes place. The following list of 

 Jehehr names is, I think, fairly representative. 



Name. 



Chermin derived from Sungei Chermin, the Chermin 



River. 



