XVIII CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 159 



vertical pieces of the cradle (see PI. 166). The 

 mother nurses the infant in her arms during most 

 of her leisure moments, and she hushes it to sleep 

 by crooning old lullabies as she rocks it in her arms 

 or in a cradle suspended from a pliable stick. ^ 

 The father hardly handles it during its first year, 

 but many fathers nurse and. dandle the older infants 

 for hours together in the most affectionate manner ; 

 and, if the child's grandfather is living, he generally 

 becomes its devoted attendant. 



About the end of its first year the infant begins 

 to crawl and toddle about the room and gallery, to 

 sprawl into the hearth and eat charcoal, and to get 

 into all sorts of mischief in the usual way. During 

 the first year he lives chiefly on his mother's milk, 

 but takes also thick rice-water from an early age. 



Towards the end of the first year the lobes of 

 the ears are perforated, and a ring (or, in the case 

 of a girl, several small rings) is inserted in each. 

 Of childish affections of health, the commonest at 

 this age is yaws {frambcesia) about the mouth. 

 Kayan mothers believe that every child must go 

 through this, and that one attack protects against 

 its recurrence ; and the rareness of the disease in 

 adults seems to bear out this belief. Most of the 



^ We give the original and translation of one such lullaby : — 



*' Megiong ujong bayoh 



Mansip anak yap — cheep, cheep. 



Lematei telayap, 



Telayap abing, 



Lematei Laki Laying oban, 



Lematei Laki Punan oban." 



The translation runs : — 



' ' The branches of the bayoh tree are swaying 

 With the sound of little chicks — cheep, cheep, 

 The lizards are dead, 

 There are no lizards any more, 

 Gray-haired Laki Laying is dead, 

 The old jungle man is dead." 



The reference to the Punan in this lullaby may be explained by saying that 

 the children are frightened sometimes by being told that the jungle man will 

 take them. 



