THE PENYAHBONGS i8i 



her future husband being twenty at that time. Upon 

 reaching womanhood she did not Uke him at first, and for 

 five years decHned to share the mat with him. Re- 

 cently, however, she had begun to associate with him, 

 and they had one child. The children are not beaten, 

 are left to pick up by themselves whatever knowledge is 

 necessary, and when the boy is ten years old he can kill 

 his babi with a sumpitan. The parents of young girls 

 do not allow them to be too intimate with young men. 



A pregnant woman must not eat durian which, in 

 falling from the tree, has broken, or stuck in a cleft with- 

 out reaching the ground, nor any kind of fruit that does 

 not fall straight to earth, nor sago from a palm tree 

 which chanced to become entangled by a branch instead 

 of falling directly to the ground, nor the large hornbill, 

 nor snakes, nor pigs, nor fish that were killed by being 

 struck on the head, or by any other means than with 

 spear or parang, nor land turtle, nor the scaly ant-eater. 

 She must not make a house or take part in making it, 

 and therefore if a pole has to be put in place she must 

 call another woman to do it. 



Further, she must not eat an animal which has lost 

 one or both eyes, nor one the foot of which has been 

 crushed, nor an animal of strong odour (like civet cat, 

 skunk, etc., not an off^ensive smell to these natives); 

 nor are she and her husband permitted to gather rubber, 

 nor may wood be gathered for fire-making which has roads 

 on it made by ants. She must not drink water from a 

 back current, nor water which runs through a fallen tree. 

 A pig may be eaten, but if it has a fcEtus inside that must 



