As
soon as the navel is healed a name is given to the child. Both Penihing
and Saputan, if asked, are allowed to give their own names. Marriages are
contracted while the woman is still a child. There are no marriage
ceremonies and divorces are easily obtained. If a married woman is at
fault with another man the two must pay the injured husband one gong, as
well as one gong for each child. In case the husband is at fault, the same
payment is exacted by the injured wife.
The Penihings have a game called ot-tjin which I also observed in other
Bornean tribes, and which to some extent is practised by the Malays. This
game, generally known among scientific men by the name mancala, is of the
widest distribution. Every country that the Arabs have touched has it, and
it is found practically in every African tribe. It is very common in the
coffee houses of Jerusalem and Damascus. A comprehensive account of the
game mancala is given by Mr. Stewart Culin, the eminent authority on
games, in the Report of the U.S. National Museum for 1894, pages 595-607.
With the Penihings the complete name is aw-li on-nam ot-tjin, meaning:
playon-nam fish. An essential of the game is an oblong block of heavy wood
which on its upper surface is provided with two rows of shallow holes, ten
in each row, also a larger one at each end.
