182 



A NATUIiALISTti WANDEItJNOS 



* Megang I came on their burial -gr<nin<], laid out in the forest 

 by the pathside — a great elevatetl qnatlranguhtr inoimd, in 

 length just enungli to admit a full-grown body. A rough 

 stone at head and loot indicated Mhere eaeh person lay side 

 by side with his neighbour. Only the married people are 



I interred in this common burying-placo, in the right, perhaps, 

 of their being parents of the people; all others, youths 

 and infants— useless off-shwts of their raee — are buried any- 

 where in the forest, and always some distance from where 

 their eldei-s lie. An unmarried woman about to give birth to 



I a child is compelled to leave the village and retreat to the 

 forest, whence after some forty days of solitary sojourn she 

 returns — never with her offspring — and the village is purified 

 by tlie sacrifice of a bnflahi. Their most sacred oath is sworn 

 by placing a hand over the grave of their forefathers amid 

 the incense of benzoin, or in a circle drawn on the ground : 

 " Sfay the spirit of my forefathers afllict me if I have sjwken 

 falsely," Ijieing the formula. The same manner of swearing 

 obtains, I am told, among the inhabitants of the Slalcakan, 

 Komering (Muara-dua), iHemindo, and Blalau (Hoodjoong) 

 regions. The Kisam people swear also b^ drinking- the. 

 water in which a kriss hm been dipped, as well as by the 

 spirit of Tuan Raja Gnawo, who has his dwelling-place on 

 Blount Dempo. 



