78 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



general and strong ; but sterile marriages seem to 

 be known among all the peoples and are common 

 among the Kenyahs. When a woman has remained 

 infertile for some years after her marriage, the couple 

 usually seek to adopt one or more children. They 

 generally prefer the child of a relative, but may take 

 any child, even a captive or a slave child, whose 

 parents are willing to resign all rights in it. A child 

 is often taken over from parents oppressed by 

 poverty, in many cases some article of value or a 

 supply oi padi being given in exchange. Not in- 

 frequently the parents wish to have the child returned 

 to them when their affairs take a turn for the better, 

 owing to a good harvest or some stroke of luck, and 

 this is a frequent cause of dissensions. Usually the 

 adopted child takes in every way the position of a 

 child born to the parents. 



Some of the Klemantans (Barawans and Lelaks 

 in the Baram) practise a curious symbolic ceremony 

 on the adoption of a child. When a couple has 

 arranged to adopt a child, both man and wife 

 observe for some weeks before the ceremony all 

 the prohibitions usually observed during the later 

 months of pregnancy. Many of these prohibitions 

 may be described in general terms by saying that 

 they imply abstention from every action that may 

 suggest difficulty or delay in delivery ; e.g. the hand 

 must not be thrust into any narrow hole to pull 

 anything out of it ; no fixing of things with wooden 

 pegs must be done ; there must be no lingering on 

 the threshold on entering or leaving a room. When 

 the appointed day arrives, the woman sits in her 

 room propped up and with a cloth round her, in the 

 attitude commonly adopted during delivery. The 

 child is pushed forward from behind between the 

 woman's legs, and, if it is a young child, it is put 

 to the breast and encouraged to suck. Later it 

 receives a new name. 



