84 PAGAN TRIBES OF BORNEO chap. 



It happens not infrequently that one son or 

 daughter, remaining unmarried, continues to live in 

 the household of the parents and to look after them 

 in their old age. To such a one some valuable 

 article, such as a string of old beads or costly jar, is 

 usually bequeathed. 



Among the Sea Dayaks the old jars, which 

 constitute the chief part of a man's wealth, are 

 distributed among both sons and daughters ; if the 

 jars are too few for equal distribution, they are 

 jointly owned until one can buy out the shares of 

 his co-owners. 



The members of a Kayan household are bound 

 together, not merely by their material circumstances, 

 such as their shelter under a common roof and their 

 participation in common labours, and not merely by 

 the moral bonds such as kinship and their allegiance 

 to one chief and loyalty to one another, but also by 

 more subtle ties, of which the most important is their 

 sharing in the protection and warning afforded to 

 the whole house by the omen-birds or by the higher 

 powers served by these. For omens are observed 

 for the whole household, and hold good only for those 

 who live under the one roof. This spiritual unity 

 of the household is jealously guarded. Occasionally 

 one family may wish for some reason, such as bad 

 dreams or much sickness, to withdraw from the 

 house. If the rest of the household is unwilling to 

 remove to a new house, they will oppose such with- 

 drawal, and, if the man insists on separating, a fine 

 is imposed on him, and he is compelled to leave 

 undisturbed the roof and all the main structure of his 

 section of the house ; though the room would be left 

 unoccupied. Conversely Kayans are very unwilling 

 to admit any family to become members of the 

 household. They never or seldom add sections to 

 a house which has once been completed ; and young 

 married couples must live in their parents' rooms, 



