The Dyak pays heed to these omen creatures, not only in his farming, but
in all his journeyings, and in any kind of work he may be engaged in. If
he be going to visit a friend, the cry of a bird of ill omen will send
him back. If he be engaged in carrying beams from the jungle to his
house, and hear a _Kutok_, or a _Bejampong_ or an _Embuas_, he will at
once throw down the piece of timber. So great is the Dyak belief in
omens, that a man will sometimes abandon a nearly-finished boat simply
because a bird of ill omen flies across its bows. The labour of weeks
will thus be wasted. I have myself seen wooden beams and posts left half
finished in the jungle, and have been told that some omen bird was heard
while the man was at work on them, and so they had to be abandoned.

There are many omens which make a house unfit for habitation. If a
_Katupong_ fly into it, or a _Beragai_ over the house, or an armadillo
crawls up into it, the Dyaks leave the house and build another for them
to live in. Sometimes, however, they sacrifice a pig, and examine the
liver, and only abandon the house if the liver is considered by experts
to be of bad omen.

DREAMS

The Dyaks place implicit confidence in dreams. Their theory is that
during sleep the soul can hear, see and understand, and so what is
dreamt is what really takes place. When anyone dreams of a distant land,
they believe that his soul has paid a flying visit to that land.

In dreams, also, the gods and spirits are supposed to bring charms to
human beings. The story is often told of how a man falls asleep and
dreams that a spirit came to him and gave certain charms, and lo! when
he awakes, he finds them in his hands. Or else he is told in a dream to
go to a certain spot at a special time and pick up some stone there,
which will have some mysterious influence for good over his fortunes.

Dreams are looked upon by the Dyaks as the means the gods and spirits
use to convey their commands to men, or to warn them of coming danger.
Houses are often deserted, and farming land, on which much labour has
been spent, abandoned on account of dreams. Newly married couples often
separate from the same cause. It is no unusual thing for a man or a
woman to dream that the spirits are hungry and need food. In that case
the inmates of the Dyak house organize a feast, and offerings are made
to the hungry spirits.

CHAPTER XIII

MARRIAGES AND BURIALS

Marriages in all countries are