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

BURIAL RITES 135
of the corpse and sings her song of mourning. She calls
upon the different parts of the house, beginning at the
roof-ridge and proceeding downwards, and blames them
for not keeping back the soul of the dead man. Then in
highly figurative language she speaks of the journey to
Hades, and asks the spirits to guide his soul in the right
direction, so that he may not lose his way.
While the body is laid out in the public part of the
house none may step over the corpse. There is no special
reason against this except the general belief that if such
a thing were done the dead man would not live happily
in Hades, but would continually visit his former home
and trouble the living.
At sunset a fire is lit by the side of the corpse. All
through the long hours of the night
the sad watchers sit
around, and the loud sustained cry of the professional
wailer mingles with the sobs and spasmodic utterances of
those who feel most the loss of the dead man.
Early on the following morning food is given him to
strengthen him for that long journey to Hades, and a little
cotton-wool is placed as a pillow for his head. The food is
given
to the dead in a curious manner. Rice is dashed into
his mouth, and the earthen cooking-pot is then broken
in pieces — it may not be used for the living, having once
been used for the dead. The pillow of cotton-wool is
about the size of a pigeon's egg, and, as far as can be
gathered from the Dyaks, it in some way insures the
comfort of the dead man in the other world.
Then the body, wrapped in mats and covered over with
a light framework of wood,
is carried on the shoulders
of four men. As they descend the ladder ashes from the
fire burnt near the corpse are thrown after them by the
people who are left in the house. This is done in order