THE KAYAKS OF THE NORTH-WEST OF BORNEO. 14 / 
one of tlie attending chiefs gave me a small sharp pointed 
piece of bambu with which I made a slight incision in the 
right fore-arm of the chief, and the blood drawn was put on a 
leaf. The chief then with a similar instrument drew blood 
from my left fore-arm, which was put on the same leaf and 
mingled with the other. 1 he blood was then mixed with 
tobacco and made up into a large cigar which we puffed alter¬ 
nately until it was finished, when my new friend delivered 
himself of a long and eloquent speech invoking the r 
god Tanangan, the sun, moon, and stars, and rivers, the 
woods and mountains to witness his sincerity. Three times 
during this declamation he sprinkled, the arrack on the 
ground towards the river. My speech being delivered, se¬ 
veral of the principal chiefs present held forth both long and 
loud enough. We afterwards returned to tire had and the 
cheering beverage went round more merrily than before, 
calling forth their good nature and social disposition. Al¬ 
though no toasts were given, still each successive bumper was 
accompanied by a merry and noisy chorus. The feast came 
afterwards, and the whole affair was wound up by music and 
dancing which lasted until about midnight. The varied war 
dances of the men were amusing, the slow andmeasured pa¬ 
cing of the women monotonous, but still far from ungraceful. 
The custom of drawing omens from the direction of the 
flight of birds, is common to most of the tribes of Bor¬ 
neo, but with the Kay&ns it is not connected with their 
ideas of the deity. The birds that are held as ominous by 
them are about ten in number. From the flight of tlie 
rhinoceros horn-bill they draw omens of success or the 
reverse in war, and any of the ominous kind flying from the 
right to the left bank of the river, is considered inauspici¬ 
ous; but the reverse is favourable and a prognostic of success. 
Journeying on the rivers, should one of the ominous sort 
cross from the right, they immediately halt, kindle a fire on 
shore, smoke their leafy cigars and generally wait till a 
bird, less vindictively inclined, crosses from the opposite di¬ 
rection, If this does not happen, they very often return to * 
the place from which they started. n instance of this I 
experienced through the whim of a pretty little bird, called 
Lukut from its being spotted or streaked, taking its flight 
from the right to the left bank of the river. I was obliged to 
retrace a considerable distance to the place we slept at the 
previous night, and recommence our journey on the following 
morning. On another occasion in descending the upper 
part of the Tatau river, one of the birds of fate crossed from 
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