s is uncommon, for unless her admirer purchases her
for a sum equal to the amount her husband spent in obtaining her, the
divorced woman remains as a slave in the home of her former husband.

Polygamy is permitted and is quite common, but a man may not take a
second wife until a child has been born to the first. In addition to his
wives a man may have as many concubines as he can afford to purchase.

It is said to be a grave offense for a man to embrace a married woman,
or even to touch the breasts, elbows, or heels of any woman he does not
intend to marry. An unmarried woman who permits such familiarities is
considered as good as married. Despite this assertion, the writer knows
of several cases where young people openly lived together without being
considered married, and later the parents arranged marriages between
these girls and other suitors.

According to several informants, incest is punished by the sacrifice of
the guilty parties. They are tied to a tree with their hands drawn
backward around the trunks and are then speared to death. This seems to
be the one and only occasion when human sacrifice is practiced by
members of this tribe.

SICKNESS AND DEATH.

When a person is seriously ill a _ballyan_ is summoned and she, after
securing prepared rice, betel-nuts, and a live chicken, enters into
communication with the spirits. First she converses with the dead father
or other deceased relative of the sick person and requests his aid in
effecting a cure, next she presents food to Diwata and implores his aid,
and finally calls upon the _asuang_ to whom she offers the live fowl on
the condition that they will cease trying to injure the patient. Having
thus done all in her power to influence the spirits she may administer
some simple remedy, after which she begins to dance contra-clockwise,
around a bamboo pole on which leaves and betel-nut have been hung.[137]

[137] This ceremony usually takes place in the house, but if the man was
taken ill in the forest or in his field it may be conducted there.

If this treatment proves to be of no avail and the patient dies his body
is placed in the center of the house and for two days and nights is
guarded by relatives and friends. During the time that the body remains
in the dwelling the family is required to fast and all the people of the
settlement are prohibited from playing on agongs, from singing or
indulging in other signs of merriment. Finally, the body is wrapped