Seventeen years among the Sea Dyaks of Borneo; a ... - Sabrizain.org

CHILD-BIRTH AND CHILDREN 97
They must under no circumstances tie up anything with
a string, or drive a nail into a board. Neither parent
may eat anything while in the act of walking. If the
neighbour in the next room should hand anything through
the small window in the partition wall, the hand that
receives it must not be passed through the window, so
as to be on the other side in the next room, but must be
kept on its own side of the wall. The man may not nail
of a boat. Nor
up a wall or fasten together the planks
must he plant a post in the earth, nor dig a trench. Plait-
ing a basket or mat-work must not be done by the woman.
It is unfortunate if the cord of the water-gourd, used by
the women, break when carrying water, but in case of
such an accident, evil consequences may be averted if
the woman step astride over the gourd or other vessel
three times backwards and forwards. To do any of these
forbidden things would hinder the wife's parturition.
There are many prohibitions which, if disregarded by
the parents, would result in some harm to the child. They
must not pour out oil, lest the child should suffer from
inflammation of the ears ; or fix the sword (duku) in its
hilt, lest the child be deaf ; or break an egg, lest the child
be blind ; or plant a banana-tree, lest the head of the
child should be abnormally large ; or kill any animal,
lest the child be deformed or its nose bleed ; or scrape the
shell of a cocoanut, lest the child's hair should not grow.
It is also forbidden to eat anything in a mosquito curtain,
lest the child should be still-born ; to carry stones, lest the
child should be paralyzed ;
to bend into a circle any piece
of wood, lest the child should not prosper.
There are a great many other matters of a similar
sort forbidden, but in the case of nearly all their re-
strictions, there are ways by which they can be circum-
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