[14] This is also the method of delivery among the Kayan of Borneo. See Hose and McDougall, The Pagan Tribes of Borneo, Vol. II, p. 154 (London, 1912), also Cole, The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao (Field Museum of Natural History, Vol. XII. No. 2, p. 100). Skeat (Malay Magic, p. 334, London, 1900) describes a similar method among the Malay.
[15] Among the Bukidnon and Bila-an of Mindanao a bamboo blade is always employed for this purpose. The same is true of the Kayan of Borneo. Hose and McDougall, op. cit., Vol. II, p. 155; Cole, op. cit., p. 143.
[16] Traditions of the Tinguian, this volume, No. 1, p. 185. It is also the belief of the Peninsular Malay that the incidental products of a confinement may be endowed with life (Wilkinson, Malay Beliefs, p. 30).
[17] The character ᴇ, which appears frequently in the native names, is used to indicate a sound between the obscure vowel e, as in sun, and the ur, in burrow.
[18] The number of days varies somewhat in different sections, and is generally longer for the first child than for the succeeding.
[19] The custom of building a fire beside the mother is practised among the Malay, Jakun and Mantri of the Peninsula. In India, the practice of keeping a fire beside the newborn infant, in order to protect it from evil beings, is widespread. See Tawney, Kathá Sarit Ságara, Vol. I, pp. 246, 305, note; Vol. II, p. 631 (Calcutta, 1880). According to Skeat (Malay Magic, p. 343), the Malay keep the fire burning forty-four days. The custom is called the “roasting of the mother.” The same custom is found in Cambodia (see Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, Vol. III, pp. 32, 164, 347; Vol. VIII, p. 32).
[20] This may be related to the Malay custom of fumigating the infant (see Skeat, op. cit., p. 338).
[21] The following names are typical of this last class. For boys: Ab'beng, a child's song; Agdalpen, name of a spirit; Baguio, a storm; Bakileg, a glutton; Kabato, from bato, a stone; Tabau, this name is a slur, yet is not uncommon; it signifies “a man who is a little crazy, who is sexually impotent, and who will mind all the women say;” Otang, the sprout of a vine; Zapalan, from zapal, the crotch of a tree. For girls: Bangonán, from bangōn, “to rise, to get up;” Igai, from nīgai, a fish; Gīaben, a song; Magīlai, from gīlai the identifying slit made in an animal's ear; Sabak, a flower; Ugōt, the new leaf.
[22] In Madagascar children are oftentimes called depreciative names, such as Rat, with the hope that evil spirits will leave tranquil an infant for which the parents have so little consideration (Grandidier, Ethnologie de Madagascar, Vol. II).
[23] In Selangor, a sick infant is re-named (Skeat, op. cit., p. 341).