[72] Such a taboo sign is here known as _kanyau_. It is not always used at the conclusion of this ceremony, but is strictly observed following the cutting of the first rice. [73] That is, a premature child. [74] Ashes are used against evil spirits by the Peninsular Malay (_Skeat_, Malay Magic, p. 325). [75] Sagai is the sound made when scratching away the embers of a fire. [76] From _maysa_, one; _dua_, two; _talo_, three. [77] This is also used as mockery. It has no exact English equivalent, but is similar to our slang "rubber." [78] In Patok only the agate bead (_napodau_) is used. [79] The less pretentious gathering, held by the very poor, is known as _pólya_. [80] _Worcester_, The Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon (_Philippine Jour. of Science_, Vol. I, No. 8, 1906, p. 858). [81] It is necessary to use a shallow dish with a high pedestal known as _dias_ (Fig. 5, No. 5). [82] In Ba-ak the breaking and scattering of the rice ball is considered a good omen, as it presages many children. In San Juan the youth throws a rice ball at the ridge pole of the house, and the girl's mother does the same. In this instance, each grain of rice which adheres to the pole represents a child to be born. [83] The similarity of the Tinguian rice ceremony to that of many other Philippine tribes is so great that it cannot be due to mere chance. Customs of a like nature were observed by the writer among the Bukidnon, Bagobo, Bila-an, Kulaman, and Mandaya of Mindanao, and the Batak of Palawan; they are also described by _Reed_ and _Worcester_ for the Negrito of Zambales and Bataan; while _Loarca_, writing late in the sixteenth century, records a very like ceremony practised by a coast group, probably the Pintados. At the same time it is worthy of note that _Jenks_ found among the Bontoc Igorot a great divergence both in courtship and marriage. Among the Dusun of British North Borneo the marriage of children of the well-to-do is consummated by the eating of rice from the same plate. Other instances of eating together, as a part of the marriage ceremony in Malaysia, are given by _Crawley_. See _Cole_, The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao (Field Museum of Natural History. Vol. XII, No. 2, pp. 102, 144, 157, 192); _Reed_, Negritos of Zambales (_Pub. Ethnological Survey,_ Vol. II, pt. 1, p. 58 (Manila, 1904)); _Worcester_, _Philippine Journal of Science_, Vol. I, p. 811 (Manila, 1906); _Loarca_, Relacion de las Yslas Filipinas, Chap. X (Arevalo, 1580), translated in _Blair_ and _Robertson_, The Philippine Islands, Vol. V, pp. 157, _et seq_.; _Jenks_, The Bontoc Igorot (_Pub. Ethnological Survey_, Vol. I, pp. 68, _et seq_., Manila, 1905); _Evans_, _Journ. Royal Anth. Inst_., Vol. XLVII, p. 159; _Crawley_, The Mystic Rose (London, 1902), pp. 379, _et seq._ [84] In Manabo an old woman sleeps between them. Among the Bagobo and Kulaman, of Mindanao, a child is placed between the pair. See _Cole_, _op. cit_., pp. 102, 157.