8o PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



after some offensive object, e.g. tai (dung), in order 

 to render it inconspicuous, and thus withdraw it 

 from the attention of malign powers. After the 

 naming of a couple's first child, the parents are 

 always addressed as father and mother of the child ; 

 e.g. if the child's name is Obong, her father becomes 

 known as Tama Obong, her mother as Inai Obongy 

 and their original names are disused and almost 

 forgotten,^ unless needed to distinguish the parents 

 from other persons of the same name, when the old 

 names are appended to the new ; thus, Tama Obong 

 Jau, if Jau was the original name of Tama Obong ; 

 and thus Tama Bulan received this name on 

 the naming of his first child, Bulan (the moon), and 

 when it is wished to distinguish him in conversation 

 from other fathers of the moon he is called Tama 

 Bulan Wang. If the eldest child Obong dies, the 

 father, Tama Obong Jau, becomes Oyong Jau ; if 

 one of his younger children dies, he becomes 

 Akam Jau ; if his wife dies, he becomes Aban 

 Jau ; if his brother died, he would be called Yat 

 Jau ; and if his sister, Hawan Jau ; and if two 

 of these relatives are dead, these titles are used 

 indifferently ; but the deaths of wife and children 

 are predominant over other occasions for the 

 change of name. An elderly man who has no 

 children receives the title Lingo, and a woman, 

 the title Apa prefixed to his or her former name. 

 A widow is called Balu. The names of father and 

 mother are never assumed by the children, and 

 their deaths do not occasion any change of name, 

 except the adoption of the title Oyati on the loss 

 of the father, and Ihm on the loss of the mother. 

 These titles would be used only until the man 

 became a father. When a man becomes a grand- 

 father his title is Laki {e.g. Laki Jau), and this 



^ It is not rare to find that a child does not know the original names of his 

 parents, and even husbands may be found to have forgotten the original names 

 of their wives. 



