BIRTHS 
m 
kuns I questioned on the point declared to me that they were not at 
all aware of that practice ; which proves that if the story is true, it 
must he referred to a few tribes only. No marriage is lawful without 
the consent of the father. Conjugal faithfulness is much respected 
amongst the Jaktins; so that adultery is punishable by death. It is 
peculiarly remarkable that the Jakuns, though surrounded by Mahom- 
medans and heathens, who all are so much addicted to polygamy, 
have yet keep marriage in the purity and unity of its first institution ; 
it is not allowed to them to keep more than one wife; I met only 
one who had two, and he was censured and despised by the whole 
tribe. I was much surprised to find such a custom amongst these 
wild tribes: a custom which can scarcely be found to exist in any but 
' ¥ * 
Christian nations; but nevertheless with this difference, that amongst 
them a man can divorce his wife and take another. The form of di¬ 
vorcing is, that if the divorce is proposed by the husband, he loses the 
dowry he has given to the woman ; if the woman ask the divorce, she 
must return the dowry she received. The children follow the father 
or the mother according to their wishes; if they have not yet the use 
of reason, they follow the mother. 
BIRTH. 
No assistance is ordinarily given to lying-in women ; therr phy¬ 
sicians or Pawangs are not permitted to appear in such circumstances, 
and midwives are not known amongst them. It is reported that in 
several tribes, the children, as soon as born, are carried to the near¬ 
est rivulet, where they are washed, then brought back to the house, 
where a fire is kindled, incense of kamunian wood thrown upon it, 
and the child then passed over it several times. We know from his¬ 
tory that the practice of passing children over fire was in all times 
much practised among heathen nations ; and that it is even now 
practised in China and other places. A few days after the birth of 
the child, the father gives him a name, which is ordinarily the name 
of some tree, fruit or colour. 
