126 BYAK CEREMONIES. 



notice that in the case of nearly all these restrictions there 

 are ways in which the above limitations may be circumvented 

 and no evil effects follow. For example, though a man may 

 not kill an animal yet if he does kill anything and runs away 

 immediately then returns a few minutes afterwards and make 

 some remarks aloud of this nature, " I wonder who killed 

 this animal?" he has nothing to fear. A nail may not be 

 driven into a board, but if a man drives a nail in gently a little 

 way and then pulls it out again, he may drive the nail in all 

 the way, and no law is broken. 



The whole period of a woman's pregnancy is passed in 

 the deepest anxiety and fear lest the antus (spirits) may assault 

 her and her innocent babe. An ill dream or a small accident 

 such as a fall is considered a portent signifying imminent 

 danger to the child or perhaps it may be a portent signifying 

 coming danger during her delivery, and therefore a sacrifice of 

 a fowl must invariably be made to propitiate the spirits. It is 

 not unusual to hear of a woman talking about another and 

 telling how many fowls have been killed to save her during her 

 pregnancy. 



It is considered to be a fineable offence if the husband 

 should wilfully violate any restrictions. The wife's relations 

 would immediately bring him to justice. 



When the time of delivery is come and while she is in 

 travail, two or three midwives are called to her assistance to 

 accelerate the birth of the child. Nature is not allowed to 

 pursue its own course but force is applied. 



As soon as the child makes its appearance into the world, 

 a signal is given by beating a bamboo receptacle with a stick, 

 or a brass gong is struck, or maybe a gun is fired to announce 

 that a child is born in the house. Immediately follows a 

 religious ceremony a fowl being waved over the heads of all 

 present, including the infant and its mother. The fowl is then 

 killed and the blood is smeared on the foreheads of those present. 



After the mother and the child are washed and dressed, the 

 afterbirth is deposited in a plaited bag and hung on a tree 

 either in their cemetery or in their tembawai the site of their 

 former house. The infant is sprinkled with a compound of 



Jour. Straits Branch 



