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

L56 OMENS AND DREAMS
heard on the right hand is very bad, and in order to
insure a good harvest, the unlucky man must not work
on his farm for five days. The cry of the beragai acts as
an antidote, and destroys the bad effects of the cries of
birds of bad omen. For instance, the kutok and katupong
are both birds of bad omen, but if after hearing them the
cry of a beragai is heard, no evil effects need be dreaded.
If the cry of a deer, a gazelle, or a mouse-deer be heard,
or if a rat crosses the path of a man on his way to his
farm, a day's rest is necessary, or he will either cut
himself, or become ill, or suffer by failure of his crop.
When a remarkably good omen is heard— one which
foretells a plentiful harvest— the man must go to his
farm at once, and do some trifling work there, and then
return, and in this way clench the foreshadowed luck
and at the same time reverence the spirit who promises
it. Should a deer, a gazelle, or a mouse-deer come out of
the jungle to the farm when a man is at work there, it is
an exceptionally good omen. It means that customers
will come to buy the paddy, and that therefore the crop
will be very good in order that there may be paddy to
sell. They honour this omen by resting
from work for
three days.
But the worst of all omens is to find anywhere on the
farm the dead body of any animal, especially
if it be
that of any animal included in the omen list. It infuses
a deadly poison into the whole crop, and one or other of
the owner's family will certainly die within the year.
When such a terrible thing happens, the omen is tested
by killing a pig, and divining from the appearance of its
liver directly after death. If the liver be pronounced to
be of good omen, then all is well, but if not, then all the
rice grown on that ground must be sold or given away.