24 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



Again, young children are held to be peculiarly 

 subject to the malevolent influence of the Toh. 

 We have already mentioned that no name is given 

 to a child until it is two or three years of age, in 

 order to avoid attracting to it the attention of the 

 Toh, For the same reason the parents dislike any 

 prominent person to touch an infant ; and if for any 

 reason such contact has taken place, it is usual to 

 give the mother a few beads, which she ties about 

 the wrist or ankle of the child, '' to preserve its 

 homely smell " as they say, and so, it would seem, 

 avoid the risk of the Toh being attracted by the 

 unusual odour of the child. Parents who have 

 lost several young children will give to a child, 

 when the time comes for naming it, some such 

 name as Tai (dung), or Tai Manok (birds' dung), or 

 Jadt (bad), in order that it may have a better chance 

 of escaping the unwelcome attention of the Toh, 

 If for any reason it is suspected that the attention 

 of some evil- disposed Toh has been drawn to a 

 child (and the same practice is sometimes observed 

 by adults under similar circumstances), a sooty 

 mark is made upon the forehead, consisting of a 

 vertical median line and a horizontal band just above 

 the eyebrows. This is thought to render it difficult 

 for the Toh to recognise his victim. Such a black 

 mark is worn more especially on going away from 

 the house. Sea Dayaks sometimes go farther 

 under such circumstances. They place the new- 

 born child in a small boat and allow it to float down 

 river, and standing upon the bank call upon all the 

 evil spirits to take the child at once, if they mean 

 to take it, in order that the parents may be spared 

 the greater bereavement of losing it some years 

 later. If, after floating some distance down stream, 

 the child is found unhurt, it is carried home, the 

 parents feeling some confidence that it will be 

 *' spared " to grow up 



