SEA DYAK RELIGION. 229 
their nativenames:—Katupong, Beragat, Kutok, Mhuas, Nendak, 
Papan, Bejampong. Mostare, I believe, beautiful in plumage; all are 
small, and, like most tropical birds, have nothing that can be called 
song; but their calls are sometimes shrill and piercing. The reason 
why these are the birds selected, andonly these, willappear in the end. 
But in practice, the system goes beyond birds, and embraces the 
rusa (deer), pelandok (mouse-deer), the kijang (gazelle), tenggiling 
(armadillo), rioh (insect). rejeh (insect). burong malam (insect), 
tuchok (lizard), sandah (bat), the python and cobra, and some- 
times even the rat: all these may be omens in various ways and 
circumstances, and therefore, in this connection, they are designated 
burong (birds), and to augur from any of them is beburong. 
But these other creatures are subordinate to the birds, which are 
the foundation upon which the superstructure of good luck is to be 
raised ; and from which alone augury is sought at the beginning 
of any important undertaking, 
The yearly rice-farming is a matter of much ceremony as well 
as of labour to the Dyak, and must be inaugurated with proper 
omens. Some man who is successful with his paddy will be the augur 
and undertake to obtain omens for a certain area of land which 
others beside himself will farm. Sometime before the Pleiades are 
sufficiently high above the horizon to warrant the clearing the 
erounds of jungle or grass, the man sets about his work. He will 
have to hear the nendak on the left, the katupong on the left, the 
burong malam and the beragai on the left, and in the order in 
which [I have written them. As soon as he has heard the nendak, 
he will break off a twig of anything growing near, and take it home 
and put it inasafe place. Butit may happen that some other omen 
bird, or creature, is the first to make itself heard or seen; and in 
that case the day’s proceeding is vitiated; he must give the matter 
up, return and try his chance another day; and thus sometimes 
three or four days are gone before he has obtained his first omen, 
When he has heard the nendak, he will then go to listen for the 
katupong and the rest, but with the same labilty to delays; and it 
may possibly require a month to obtain all those augural predic- 
tions which are to give them confidence in the result of their 
labours. The augur has now the same number of twigs or sticks, 
