The pagan tribes of Borneo - Get a Free Blog Here

VI AGRICULTURE 113
the beetles, calling to them to direct their movements.
The people crowd round deeply interested,
while the old man interprets the movements of the
beetles as forecasting good or ill luck with the crops
of the following season, and invokes the good-will
of Laki Ivong. Laki Ivong is asked to bring the
soul of xh^ padi to their homes. Juice from a sugarcane
is poured upon the water, and the women
drink the water, while the beetles are carefullyreturned
to the river. The beetles carry the
messages to Laki Ivong.
When these observances have been duly
honoured, there begins a scene of boisterous fun.
The women make pads of the boiled sticky new
rice, and cover it with soot from their cooking
vessels. With these they approach the men and
dab the pads upon their faces and bodies, leaving
sooty marks that are not easily removed. The
men thus challenged give chase, and attempt to get
possession of the rice pads and to return the polite
attention. For a short space of time a certain
license prevails among the young people ; and
irregularities, even on the part of married people,
which would be gravely reprobated at all other
times, are looked upon very much less seriously.
It is, in fact, the annual carnival. Each roomhold
has prepared a stock of burak from the new rice,
and this now circulates freely among both men and
women, and large meals of rice and pork are usually
eaten. All join in dancing, some of the women
dressed like men, some carrying /^^afz-pestles ; at
one moment all form a long line marching up and
down the gallery in step to the strains of the keluri ;
some young men dance in realistic imitation of
monkeys (dok\ or hornbills, or other animals, singly
or in couples. Others mimic the peculiarities of
their acquaintances. The women also dance
together in a long line, each resting her hands on
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