Two, three, four, or five stones of a small fruit may be put in each hole; I noticed they generally had three; pebbles may be used instead. Let us suppose two have been placed in each hole; the first player takes up two from any hole on his side. He then deposits one in the hole next following. Thus we have three in each of these two holes. He takes all three from the last hole and deposits one in each of the next three holes; from the last hole he again takes all three, depositing one in each of the next three holes. His endeavour is to get two stones in a hole and thus make a "fish." He proceeds until he reaches an empty hole, when a situation has arisen which is called gok—that is to say, he must stop, leaving his stone there.
His adversary now begins on his side wherever he likes, proceeding in the same way, from right to left, until he reaches an empty hole, which makes him gok, and he has to stop.
[Illustration: THE GAME MANCALA AS USED BY THE PENIHINGS.]
To bring together two stones in one hole makes a "fish," but if three stones were originally placed in each hole, then three make a "fish"; if four were originally placed, then four make a "fish," etc., up to five. The player deposits the "fish" he gains to the right in the single hole at the end.
The two men proceed alternately in this manner, trying to make "fish" (ára ot-tjin). The player is stopped in his quest by an empty hole; there he deposits his last stone and his adversary begins. During the process of taking up and laying down the stones no hole is omitted; in some of them the stones will accumulate. On the occasion of the game described I saw two with eight in them.
When one of the players has no stones left in his holes he has lost. If stones are left on either side, but not enough to proceed, then there is an impasse, and the game must be played over again.
OMA-SULINGS
(On the Mahakam River)
To marry the daughter of a noble the man must pay her father twenty to thirty gongs (each costing twenty to forty florins). The price of the daughter of a pangawa is from one to three gongs, and to obtain a wife from the family of a pangin costs a parang, a knife, or some beads. Women assist at childbirth, which takes place within the room, near the door, but generally no blian is present.
When a girl has her first menstruation a hen or a pig is killed, and in the evening the blood thus obtained is applied to the inside of a folded leaf which the blian wafts down her arms—"throwing away illness," the meat of the sacrifice being eaten as usual. The same treatment is bestowed upon any one who desires good health.