12 Hnttoii JVcbstcr 



planting and harvesting; sometimes, also, at mid-harvest. The 

 taboos observed among the Kayans of the Baram River district 

 have been well described by a recent traveller whose picturesque 

 narrative deserves an extended notice.'' " During the days de- 

 voted to search for omens in reference to the sites of the rice- 

 fields, and also again in reference to the planting, the Kayans re- 

 frain from their usual daily occupations, and neither leave their 

 houses themselves nor allow strangers to enter. These days of 

 seclusion are termed peniiaiifoiig padi, or lali padi, and cor- 

 respond very closely to taboo elsewhere."^ 



The rude agricultural methods of the Dayaks start with the 

 preliminary process of clearing off a site in the dense jungle. 

 The work is extremely tedious, and if, after all the heavy labor, 

 the crops should fail or be destroyed by monkeys, birds, or 

 beetles, the entire household feel that some act has been com- 

 mitted whereby the displeasure of the spirits is aroused. Ac- 

 cordingly, before beginning so arduous a task it is essential to 

 take omens from the actions of certain birds, mammals, and 

 reptiles — the ainau, who are supposed to be in the confidence of 

 the spirits.^ A patch of jungle having been tentatively selected, 



" W. H. Furness, 3d, Home Life of the Borneo Head Hunters. Phila- 

 delphia, T902, pp. i6o-6g. For earlier accounts see Spenser St. John, in 

 Transactions of the Ethnological Society, 1863, n. s., ii. 243 ; idem, Life 

 in' the Forests of the Far East, London, 1862, i. 175 sqg.; Hose, in Journal 

 of the Anthropological Institute, 1893, xxi. 170. For a very interesting 

 description by a native Dayak see Leo Nyuak, in Anthropos, 1906, i. 

 176 sqq. 



' Permantong is the term used by the Kayans of the Baram district; 

 among the Kayans in the valley of the Kapnas River, Dutch Borneo, the 

 word is pantang. Both these forms are possibly derived from the ^lalay 

 hantn, a word meaning demon or evil spirit, with the prefix per and the 

 affi.x an. The Malay word in full would, thus be per-hantit-an, meaning 

 " possessed by spirits " or " bewitched." Lali is probably a pure Kayan 

 word with much the same significance (Furness, op. cit., 160). 



* On these omen animals see further, St. John, Life in the Forests of 

 the Far East, i. 191 sqq.; Perham, in H. L. Roth, A'afives of Saraivak 

 and British North Borneo, London, 1896, i. 191-201 ; A. C. Haddon, Head- 

 Hunters, London, 1901, pp. 384 sqq.; Hose and ]\IcDougall, "The Rela- 

 tions Between Men and Animals in Sarawak,'' Journal of the Anthro- 



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