_Births._--After pregnancy is declared a ceremony takes place.[3] Two priestesses[4] attend, a fowl is killed, rice provided, and for two nights they howl and chant, during which time the apartment is “pamali,” or interdicted. The husband of the pregnant woman, until the time of her delivery, may not do work with any sharp instrument, except what may be absolutely necessary for the cultivation of his farm; he may not tie things together with rattans, or strike animals, or fire guns, or do anything of a violent character--all such things being imagined to exercise a malign influence on the formation and development of the unborn child. The delivery is attended by an old woman, called a “Penyading,” or midwife. A fowl is killed, the family tabooed for eight days, during which time the unfortunate husband is dieted on rice and salt, and may not go out in the sun, or even bathe for four days; the rice and salt diet is to prevent the _baby’s_ stomach swelling to an unnatural size. _Courtship._--Besides the ordinary attention which a young man is able to pay to the girl he desires to make his wife--as helping her in her farm work, and in carrying home her load of vegetables or wood, as well as in making her little presents, as a ring, or some brass chain work with which the women adorn their waists, or even a petticoat--there is a very peculiar testimony of regard, which is worthy of note. About nine or ten at night, when the family is supposed to be fast asleep within the musquito curtains in the private apartment, the lover quietly slips back the bolt by which the door is fastened on the inside and enters the room on tiptoe. He goes to the curtains of his beloved, gently awakes her, and she on hearing who it is rises at once, and they sit conversing together, and making arrangements for the future in the dark over a plentiful supply of sirih-leaf and betel-nut, which it is the gentleman’s duty to provide. If when awoke the young lady rises and accepts the prepared betel-nut, happy is the lover, for his suit is in a fair way to prosper, but if on the other hand she rises and says, “Be good enough to blow up the fire,” or to light the lamp (a bamboo filled with resin), then his hopes are at an end, as that is the usual form of dismissal. Of course if this kind of nocturnal visit is frequently repeated, the parents do not fail to discover it, although it is a point of honour among them to take no notice of their visitor, and if they approve of him matters take their course, but if not, they use their influence with their daughter to ensure the utterance of the fatal “please blow up the fire.” It is said on good authority that these nocturnal visits but seldom result in immorality.