432 THROUGH CENTRAL BORNEO 



white bird) on a tributary of the same name; with hardly 

 a hundred full-grown persons, this is the largest. For- 

 merly the office of the chief, tjupi, was hereditary. When 

 he became old he was succeeded by his son. 



The woman bears her child in the house, surrounded 

 by women, her husband, and another man. She assumes 

 a lying position and is helped by being frequently lifted 

 up, and by stroking. The abdomen is rubbed with a 

 certain medicinal herb, first having been heated over 

 the fire, to facilitate the expulsion of the afterbirth, which 

 later is hung in a tree. Having tied a vine round the 

 umbilical cord near the abdomen they cut the cord with 

 a sharp piece of bamboo. The assisting women wash 

 the baby as well as the mother. 



For two days after childbirth she does no work, and 

 for some time she must not eat the fat of pig or fish. In 

 case of twins being born, they are welcome if the sex is 

 the same, but if one is male and the other female, one 

 is given away, the father exercising his preference. Two 

 months after birth a name is given by the father. Should 

 the mother die, no other woman willingly suckles the 

 child unless the father has a daughter who can do it. 

 However, by paying from one to three gongs a woman 

 may be induced to undertake the duty. 



ORANG BAHAU 

 (On the Mahakam River) 

 Bahau is the name of a river in Apo Kayan, where 

 the tribes of the Mahakam River lived before they mi- 

 grated to their present habitations, a hundred and fifty 



