86 Journal of the F.M.S. Museums. [Vor IX, 
evil and envious influences that may molest a person on any 
great occasion. The couple are bathed (mandi bangkar Perak), 
a white cloth spread over their heads, cocoanut palms waved 
seven times above them, and they are drenched with water 
charmed to avert evil and procure well-being, as at the lustra- 
tion practised after marriage. The cloth is removed and ap- 
propriated by the midwife as her perquisite. A thread (bénang 
pelulut di-pasang pada kédua-nya lalu di-alin) is passed round 
the pair and a mirror lit by candles waved before their 
faces, at which they must stare with direct glances to avoid 
any chance of their child being squint-eyed ! Then the pro- 
cession returns to the house, where the couple sit together 
(bévsanding) as at a matriage. Shawls are spread on the 
floor ; if the patient is a raja, seven shawls must be spread : 
the pregnant woman lies on her back, so that the shawls are 
under her waist: the midwife seizes the ends of the first 
shawl and rocks her patient slowly as in a hammock, removes 
it, seizes the ends of the next shawl and repeats the perform- 
kerchief, like the female pawang in the btrhantu ceremony 
described by Swettenham (“ Malay Sketches,’ XIV), A 
rattan, round which cloth has been twisted, is slung for the 
patient to cling to in her throes. If delivery is difficult, re- 
course is had to the old magic, to bizarre charms, to ejacula- 
tions of orthodox belief. A medicine-man will be called to lift 
the end of the woman’s hair and blow down it: the husband 
will be summoned to step to and fro across his wife’s body - 
open (b¢/ah) the child’s mouth, which he does by giving the 
child a ring smeared with siveh and cocoanut extract (santan) 
to suck. The mother is put to roast (bérdiang). A gantang 
of rice is poured into a tray, covered with clothes and the 
