188 
ETHNOLOGICAL NOTES. 
3. “ The beard of the prawns.” 
4. “ The claws of the prawns that live in the river.” 
5. “ The musical instruments made with a comb used 
in the head-waters of the Mugang.” 
6. “ The insect munyun blows on the leaves.” 
7 & 8. These lines are in the old language. The 
Dayaks themselves do not know the meaning. 
9. “ Shaking sanyan , shaking only.” 
10. “ The place of the dragon, the place of the python.” 
11. “ The place of the cobra.” 
12. “ The large circle made of them can be seen.” 
13,14,15,16. “ Before they were only in love ; 
“ Now they are married to one another.” 
W. B. Barry Gifford. 
“ IJlid Puoad ” and “ Pasang Salang ”; Customs observed 
at Death among the Bisayas of Sarawak. 
The following notes were collected on some recent visits 
up the Limbang Kiver, Northern Sarawak:— 
“ Ulid Puoad.” 
The corpse is laid on a bier resting on six gongs, which 
in turn rest on another bier supported by four cannon lying 
on the ground. 
The feet of the corpse must point towards the West, as 
the Bisayas believe that the souls of the dead abide in the 
place where the sun sets; they point the feet of the dead 
in that direction so that the soul, on leaving the body, shall 
have a straight road to travel on ; the body is also buried in 
this position.* 
The husband of the dead woman (or vice versa) may not 
leave the house for forty t days, i. e. may not sleep in any 
other house; this, however, is mitigated slightly in 
this way:— 
“For fourteen! days the mourner may not leave the 
* [Compare the Christian custom of burying the dead in the opposite 
direction, so that on rising they may face the East, where, from a westerner’s 
point of view, Christ appeared. Like many other customs in the Christian 
religion, it has been borrowed, probably, from older Pagan ideas and adopted 
to suit the requirements of the newer religion. As a relic of sun-worship we 
may remember that Christ is called “ the Sun of Righteousness.”—E d.] 
f I am informed that the number of days has no particular significance 
nowadays; it is simply the old custom. 
