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

48 MANNER OF LIFE
lads turn out immediately with axes and choppers to cut
down the trees of the jungle, which are then left to dry.
Another meeting is then held to decide who is to be the
tuai, or headman, of the new house, and to settle the size
and the sequence of the rooms. The next move is to
appoint a time for all the people to meet at the site of
the new village. The ground is then cleared. All the
timber is carried off, as it is considered unfortunate to
burn it. The ground is measured out for the different
rooms belonging to the different families, and pegs are
put in where the posts have to stand. A piece of bamboo
is then stuck in the ground, filled with water and covered
with leaves. A spear and a shield are placed beside it,
and the whole is surrounded by a wooden rail. The rail
is to prevent the bamboo from being upset by wild
animals, and the weapons are to warn strangers not to
touch it. A few people remain to keep watch, and to
make a great deal of noise with brass gongs and drums to
frighten away the evil spirits.
If in the early morning
they find there is much evaporation, the place is considered
unhealthy, and is abandoned. If all be well, the
building of the house is begun. Each family must kill a
fowl or a pig before the holes for the posts can be dug,
and the blood must be smeared on the sharpened ends and
sprinkled on the posts to propitiate Pulang Gana, the
tutelary deity of the earth. They begin by making the
holes for the headman's quarters, and then work simul-
taneously to left and right of it. The posts,
of which
there are a great number, are about twelve inches or less
in diameter, and are of bilian or other hard wood so as not
to rot in the earth. A hole four feet deep is made to
receive each post. They must be planted carefully and
firmly, for if one were to give way subsequently it would