[54] 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.

[55] 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).

[56] The character e, 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.

[57] The number of days varies somewhat in different sections, and is generally longer for the first child than for the succeeding.

[58] 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, Katha Sarit Sagara, 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 Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, Vol.  III, pp. 32, 164, 347; Vol.  VIII, p. 32).

[59] This may be related to the Malay custom of fumigating the infant (see Skeat, op. cit., p. 338).

[60] 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:  Bangonan, from bangon, “to rise, to get up;” Igai, from nigai, a fish; Giaben, a song; Magilai, from gilai the identifying slit made in an animal’s ear; Sabak, a flower; Ugot, the new leaf.

[61] 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).

[62] In Selangor, a sick infant is re-named (Skeat, op. cit., p. 341).

[63] Reyes, Filipinas articulos varios, 1st ed., pp. 144-5 (Manila, 1887).

[64] The Malay of the Peninsula bathe both mother and child morning and evening, in hot water to which certain leaves and blossoms are added.  It is here described as an act of purification (Skeat, op. cit., pp. 334-5).

[65] Also called salokang (cf. p. 310).