932 SEA DYAK RELIGION. 
thing happens, they test the omen by killing a pig, and divining 
from appearances of the liver immediately after death. If the pre- 
diction of the omen be strengthened, all the rice grown on that 
ground must be sold ; and, if necessary, other rice bought for their 
own consumption. Other people may eat it, for the omen only 
affects those at whom itis directly pointed. A swarm of bees light- 
ing on the farm is an equally dreadful matter. 
And there is another way of escaping the effect of omens less 
vicious than the foregomg. Some men, by a peculiar magic in- 
fluence, or by gitt of the bird spirits, are credited with possessing 
in themselves, in their own hearts and bodies, some occult power 
which can overcome bad omens, (penabar burong). These men are 
able, by eating something, however small, of the produce of the 
farm, to turn off the evil prognostication. Anything grown on it 
which ean be eaten, a bit of Indian corn, a little mustard, or a few 
cucumber shoots, is taken to the wise man; and he quietly eats it 
raw for a small consideration and thereby appropriates to himself 
the evil omen which in him becomes innocuous and thus delivers 
the other from the ban of the pemalz, or taboo. 
The burong malam is an insect so called because it is generally 
heard at night ; it is especially sought after on the war-path as the 
guide to safety and victory. It is altogether a good genius, as the 
nendak is among the birds. And in farming it is equally valued. 
A man heard it-on one occasion in a tree on his farm-land, late in 
the morning ; and dedicated an offering to it at the foot of the tree, 
which was afterwards regarded as sacred, and was not felled with 
the rest. And he had his reward in an abundant harvest. 
These omen-creatures are the regular attendants of the Dyak, 
not only in his farming, but in all his travels and works of every 
description. If he be only going to visit a friend a few miles off, 
a bad bird will send him back. If he be engaged in carrying tim- 
bers from the jungle for his house, and hear a kutok or a bejam- 
pong or a mbuas, the piece must be thrown down, and left until a 
day or two after, or it may have to be abandoned altogether. A 
man built a boat, and, when nearly finished, a kutok flew close 
across the bows; it was cast aside and allowed to rot. If at night 
they hear an owl make a peculiar noise they call sabut they will 
