Usually the contents of the cherana are enclosed in small brass receptacles, but on such occasions as the present no receptacles are used, the usual accessories of the betel-chewing ceremony being deposited in the cherana itself. The Bidan, on receiving the cherana, and charming the contents, inverts it, pouring out (di-chorahkan) its contents upon the floor, and taking omens for the coming event from the manner in which they fall. [552] She then commences to chew the betel-leaf, and when she has taken as much as she requires, she generally performs some species of divination (tengo' dalam petua) in order to ascertain the nature of the child's horoscope. This object may be achieved in several ways; e.g. by astrological calculations; by casting up (palak or falakiah) the numerical values of the letters of both parents' names, in accordance with the abjad, or secret cipher alphabet; [553] by observance of a wax taper fixed upon the brim of a jar of water (dian di tepi buyong ayer); and by observance of a cup of "betel-leaf water" (ayer sirih). [554] When the time arrives the Bidan is sent for and escorted to the spot, where she points out the luckiest place in the house for the child to be born. Such a spot must not be under the ends of the slats of the palm-thatch, but between them, the exact spot being discovered by repeatedly dropping the blade of a hatchet or cutlass haft downwards into the ground below the raised floor of the house, until a spot is found wherein it sticks and remains upright. A rattan loop (tali anggas) to enable the patient to raise herself to a sitting posture, is suspended from the rafters over the spot selected, [555] while just exactly beneath it under the floor of the house (which is raised on piles like the old Swiss lake-dwellings) are fastened a bunch of leaves of the prickly pandanus, the "acid" egg-plant, [556] and a lekar jantan, which is a kind of rattan stand used for Malay cooking-pots. The leaves of these plants are used because it is thought that their thorns will prick any evil spirit [557] which tries to get at the child from below, whilst the circular cooking-pot stand will act as a noose or snare. Over the patient's head, and just under the rafters, is spread a casting-net (jala), together with a bunch of leaves of the red dracæna (jenjuang or lenjuang merah) and the "acid" egg-plant. [558] A big tray (talam) is now filled with a measure of uncooked husked rice (b'ras sa-gantang), and covered over with a small mat of screw-palm leaves (tikar mengkuang). This mat is in turn covered with from three to seven thicknesses of fine Malay sarongs (a sort of broad plaid worn as a skirt), and these latter again are surmounted by a second mat upon which the newly-born infant is to be deposited.