Children of Borneo

er with its constant wants, but yet loved greatly by her, and as it grows up, making its parents proud of it, and amusing them by its cunning little w

hild was the cause of the mother's death, and that there was no one to nurse and care for it. No woman would dare to nurse such an orphan, lest it should bring misfortune upon her own children. Therefore the poor child was often placed alive in the coffin with the dead mother, and

ring to the gods and spirits. This fowl is then killed, cooked

he the child. He wades into the river holding the child in his arms. A fowl is killed on the bank, a wing is cut off, and if the child be a boy this wing is stuck upon a spear, and if a girl it is fixed to the slip of wood used to pass between the threads in weaving, and this is fixed

rents are better off, the ceremony is held a few weeks after the birth of the child. Several witch doctors are asked to take part in this performance. A portion of the long open hall of the Dyak house is screened off by large hand-woven Dyak sheets, and within these the mother sits with the child in her arms. The witch doctors walk round and round singing an incantation. Generally there is a leader who sings by himself for a few minutes, then he

r relatives of the child are present. On the other hand, among those who are rich, this ceremony is made the occasion of holding a great feast, and inviting people from all parts

l to meet children of seven or eight years old who have not yet received a name. They are

n, if the child be liable to frequent attacks of illness, it is no uncommon thing for the parents to change the name two or three times in the course of a year. The reason for this is that all sickness and death are supposed to

ith rudely-carved wooden dolls, and little boys play with models of bo

dren have a great deal of liberty, but are not often unruly, disobedient or disrespectful. They are genera

oy is very proud when he has succeeded in making his first dug-out canoe, which he sometimes does at fifteen. I have often, when on a visit to a Dyak vill

When a woman is plaiting a mat of split cane, or of reeds, she often gives the short ends, which she has cut off, to her little girl, who sits b

s which they would constantly see in their Dyak homes. Many of these boys, after being at school for a few years, return to their own people, taking back with them the good lessons they have learnt, and in many cases influencing their friends and relatives for good, and leading some of them to become Christians. A few of these schoolb