230 SEA DYAK RELIGION. 
as birds he he has heard, and he takes these to the land selected 
for farming, and puts them in the ground, says a short form of 
address to the birds and Pulang Gana, cuts a little grass or jungle 
with his parang, and returns. The magic virtue of the birds has 
been conveyed to the land. 
For house-building, the same birds are to be obtained, and in the 
same way. But for a war expedition, birds on the right hand are 
required, except the nendak, which, if it make a certain peculiar 
eall, can be admitted on the left. 
These birds can be bad omens as well as good. If heard on the 
wrong side, if in the wrong order, if the note or call be of 
the wrong kind, the matter in hand must be postponed, or aban- 
doned altogether; unless a conjunction of subsequent good omens 
occur, which, in the judgment of old experts, can overbear the pre- 
ceding bad ones. Hence, in practice this birding becomes a most 
involved matter, because the birds will not allow themselves to be 
heard in a straightforward orthodox succession. After all it is 
only a balance of probabilities ; for it is seldom that Dyak patience 
is equal to waiting until the omens occur according to the standard 
theory; but this just corresponds to the general ebb and flow of 
good things in actual life. 
There are certain substitutions for this tedious process, but I 
believe they are not muchin vogue. Thus for farming, it is said, 
that a bit of gold in any shape may be taken and hidden in the 
ground ; and the result will be as though the proper birds had been 
heard. This looks like a case of bribing the spirits. Or the mat- 
ter may be compounded for by sacrifice. A fowl may be killed so 
that the blood shall drop into a hole in the earth, in which also the 
fowl must be buried. Or the augural function may be shortened 
by using an egg newly laid, which must be taken and broken on 
the ground. If it should turn out to be rotten, it is a bad omen; 
if quite fresh, it is good. This is to be recommended, for it would 
certainly always secure the desired result. So on the occasion of 
a war expedition. Jf an offering be prepared and some tuak 
(drink), and the sacrifice be offered with beating of gongs and drums 
on starting from the house, no birds need be listened to on the 
way. But these ceremonies are supposed to fall short of the real 
