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and accession of dirt they become quite 
useless. ‘The old nests are of no value, 
and the natives destroy them, so that the 
birds may build new ones in their place. 
The nests are collected four times a 
year. The natives say that the birds will 
lay four times a year if their nests are 
collected often, but if there are only two 
collections, then the birds only lay twice 
in the year. The best time for collecting 
nests is when the eggs are just laid. 
One would imagine that there would be 
a danger of over-collecting, and that the 
number of birds would diminish, but the 
natives say there is no danger of this, as 
the birds carry on their breeding in 
nooks and crannies inaccessible to the 
collectors. 
THE ORDEAL BY DIVING 
The practice of referring disputed 
questions to supernatural decision is not 
unknown to the Dyaks. They have the 
trial by ordeal, and believe that the gods 
are sure to help the innocent and punish 
the guilty. I have heard of several dif- 
ferent methods, which are seldom re- 
sorted to nowadays. The only ordeal 
that I have frequently seen among the 
Dyaks is the ordeal by diving. When 
there is a dispute between two parties in 
which it is impossible to get any reliable 
evidence, or where one of the parties is 
not satisfied with the decision of the 
headman of the Dyak house, the diving 
ordeal is often resorted to. 
Several preliminary meetings are held 
by the representatives of both parties to 
determine the time and place of the 
match. It is also decided what property 
each party should stake. This has to be 
paid by the loser to the victor. The va- 
rious articles staked are brought out of 
the room and placed in the public hall of 
the house in which each litigant lives, 
and there they are covered up and 
secured. 
The Dyaks look upon a diving ordeal 
as a sacred rite, and for several days 
and nights before the contest they gather 
their friends together, and make offer- 
ings and sing incantations to the spirits, 
THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 
and beg of them to vindicate the just 
and cause their representative to win. 
Each party chooses a champion. ‘There 
are many professional divers who for a 
trifling sum are willing to undergo the 
painful contest. 
On the evening of the day previous to 
that on which the diving match is to take 
place each champion is fed with seven 
compressed balls of cooked rice. Then 
each is made to lie down on a fine mat, 
and is covered with the best Dyak 
woven sheet they have; an incantation 
is made over him, and the spirit inhab- 
itants of the waters are invoked to come 
to the aid of the man whose cause is just. 
Early the next morning the champions 
are roused from their sleep and dressed 
each in a fine new waist-cloth. The ar- 
ticles staked are brought down from the 
houses and placed upon the bank. A 
large crown of men, women, and chil- 
dren join the procession of the two 
champions and their friends and sup- 
porters to the scene of the contest at the 
riverside. As soon as the {place as 
reached, fires are lit and mats are spread 
for the divers to sit on and warm them- 
selves. While they sit by their respect- 
ive fires the necessary arrangements are 
made. 
Each party provides a roughly-con- 
structed wooden grating to be placed in 
the bed of the river for his champion to 
stand on in the water. These are placed 
within a few yards of each other, where 
the water is deep enough to reach the 
waist, and near each a pole is thrust 
firmly in the mud for the man to hold on 
to when he is diving. 
The two men are led out into the river, 
and each stands on his own grating 
grasping his pole. At a given signal 
they plunge their heads simultaneously 
into the water. Immediately the specta- 
tors shout aloud at tne top of their 
voices, over and over again, “Lobon— 
lobon,’ and continue doing so during 
the whole contest. What these myste- 
rious words mean I have never been able 
to discover. When at length one of the 
champions shows signs of yielding, by 
