xviii CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 171 



of evil omen and as foretelling the early death of 

 one of the couple if they should persist in going 

 through the ceremony. Such omens are hardly ever 

 disregarded ; not even if the girl is far advanced in 

 pregnancy.^ In the latter case the girl does not 

 incur the odium that attaches to the production of 

 bastard offspring (see Chap. XX.); she is treated 

 as a married woman would be, and her child is 

 regarded as legitimate. 



We describe in the following paragraphs the 

 wedding of the son of an influential Kayan chief to 

 the daughter of the chief of another house of the 

 same village, such as we have had occasion to assist 

 at. The weddings of couples of less exalted station 

 are correspondingly less elaborate in all particulars. 



When the appointed time draws near, the bride- 

 groom sends a trusted friend (his " best man ") to 

 open negotiations with the bride's parents. The 

 emissary carries with him a number of presents whose 

 value accords with the status and wealth of the 

 bridegroom's parents. For some time the fiction 

 is maintained that the object of his visit is not even 

 suspected by the family, who make enquiries into 

 the nature of his business. After some fencing 

 he comes to the point and asks on behalf of his 

 friend for a definite date at which he may marry 

 the daughter. The parents raise objections and 

 difficulties of all sorts, and perhaps nothing is 

 settled until a second or third visit. If the parents 

 accept the proposal, the best man hands to them 

 five sets each of sixteen beads, the beads of each 

 set being of uniform shape and colour, namely 

 (i) small yellow beads {utek)\ (2) black beads 

 {medak) ; (3) a set known as habarani which may 



^ The omen birds are not consulted in the hope of obtaining favourable 

 omens ; but rather special events are regarded as of evil omen ; such are any 

 outbreak of fire in the house, any fatal accident to any member of the house, 

 the repeated crying of the muntjac (the barking deer) about the house. In one 

 instance known to us the attractive daughter of a Kenyah chief had three times 

 been compelled by series of bad omens to break off the betrothals. 



