The basket containing the split pieces of betel-nut is then brought in and uncovered, and the contents examined to ascertain the will of the gods. Should the pieces of betel-nut by some mystic power increase in number, the marriage will be an unusually happy one; but should they decrease it is a bad omen, and the marriage must be postponed, or relinquished altogether. But as a matter of fact, they neither increase nor decrease, and this is interpreted to mean that the wedding is one upon which the spirits have pronounced neither a good nor a bad verdict. This action gives the name to the marriage ceremony. The Dyaks call marriage _Mlah Pinang_—“splitting the betel-nut.” The contents of the little basket used to discover the will of the higher powers are chewed just as other _pinang_ and _sireh_, and the marriage ceremony is over; the young couple are lawfully man and wife. The married couple stay for three days in the house which is to be their future home. On the fourth day a visit is paid, lasting for three days, to the family with whom the alliance has been made. Then the young couple return to settle down in their new home. [Illustration: A DYAK WEDDING The bride is seated in the middle with a large filigree silver comb in her hair. The bridegroom is seated on her right, and her mother on her left. The old man on the right is the “Master of Ceremonies.” Before him, covered with a native cloth, is the basket containing the pieces of split betel-nut, which are examined to see if the marriage will be a happy one.] On the occasion of the first visit of the bride to the house of her husband, she must not enter her mother-in-law’s room, but must be led in either by that much dreaded relative herself, or by some woman deputed by her to perform that office. The bride, therefore, goes into the room of some female friend living in the house, and there awaits the coming of her mother-in-law; the husband meanwhile sits down on a mat in the open veranda outside his mother’s room. The lady, having ascertained the whereabouts of her daughter-in-law, goes and fetches her, and brings her into the room. She bids her sit down on a mat spread for the purpose. Then she goes out to her son in the veranda, and leads him in, and tells him to sit by his wife’s side. When they are seated side by side, the mother waves a live fowl over her son and daughter-in-law with a hastily muttered invocation for future health and prosperity. The respect that Dyaks are required to pay to the father-in-law and mother-in-law is far greater than they have to pay to their own parents.