128 DYAK CEREMONIES. 



It must not be omitted thaff after a woman has given 

 birth to a child and before she is bandaged, ground ginger is 

 placed on the abdomen and is changed once or twice a day. 

 This process continues for a month or perhaps less, as the case 

 may be, while the woman is still drinking the ginger-tea. 



The husband or whoever takes away the afterbirth to 

 bury or hang on a tree is solemnly warned by the mother not 

 to look to the right or to the left as he leaves the room, lest 

 the child might squint. 



As the mother sits with her back to the fire in the room 

 holding in her hands the handle of a native adze (bliong) she 

 presses it to her stomach to assist the course of nature. For 

 twenty-four hours she is not allowed to drink water, but if she 

 does, it must be very little and first warmed lest fever should 

 set in. Her food is light and simple. The husband goes out to 

 get certain kinds of fish which is first smoked before it is 

 eaten. 



The mother is not allowed to sleep for twenty-four hours 

 after giving birth to a child, nor is she even allowed to he 

 down. One would think that after such a fatiguing time, a 

 rest was most essential and to be deprived of it would be 

 detrimental to health. Strange to say it is not so. 



The period of a Dyak woman's confinement is doubtful. 

 It depends entirely on the strength of the woman. I have 

 known several cases of women going out three days after their 

 confinement to the paddy fields. 



The person who takes away the afterbirth brings back 

 with him a young shoot of a kind of fern (Kreniong) for his 

 spear, a leaf of a kind of fern (Kalindu) for his shield, and a 

 kind of grass (Kejejuni) for his plume on the head. These 

 things are stuck up in the room. 



It is interesting to know of other restrictions which come 

 into force after a woman has given birth to a child. It is 

 forbidden to eat prawns lest the child beats a retreat when 

 he is on the war-path ; to eat eggs lest the child should have 

 sores on the head ; to eat the fern called paku, lest the child 

 be exhausted on the war-path. Pork can only be eaten when 

 the child begins to bite or suck its toe. It is forbidden to 



Jour. Straits Branch 



