e. There is little real, reverential worship of
gods or spirits. It is true that food is offered to some higher powers,
but this is done as the mere observance of an ancient custom. There are
also long incantations made by men chosen for that purpose, who have
good memories and can recite in a monotonous chant the special hymns of
great length connected with each feast. But the guests do not share in
this as an act of religious worship. They are generally sitting round,
talking, and laughing, and eating. While these incantations are sung,
topics of common interest are discussed, and plans formed, and in all
Dyak feasts, sociability and the partaking of food and drink seem to
take a more prominent place than any religious worship.

The preparations for all these feasts are much alike. They extend over a
length of time, and consist for the most part in the procuring of food
for the guests. The young men go to their friends, far and near, and
obtain from them presents of pigs or fowls for the feast, and as
cock-fighting is loved by the Dyaks, they at the same time procure as
many fighting cocks as possible. The women busy themselves with pounding
out an extra amount of rice, both for the consumption of the guests, and
also for the making of _tuak_ or native spirit.

The special characteristics and religious aspects of these different
feasts must now be noticed.

1. _Feasts connected with Head-taking._ All these are given in honour of
Singalang Burong, who is the ruler of the spirit-world, and the god of
war. These feasts are not held as frequently as those connected with
farming, but when any of them take place, a great deal is made of the
event. The most important is the _Bird Feast_.

The _Bird Feast_. This feast is also called the _Head Feast_, because
part of the ceremony connected with it is the giving of food to some
human heads taken in war, or the _Horn-bill Feast_, because carved
figures of the horn-bill are used. It lasts three days whereas other
feasts only last one day. In the old days it was only held on the return
from a successful war expedition, when the heads of the enemy were
brought home in triumph. But in the present day this feast is organized
when they get a good harvest, and when the people of the Dyak house seem
so inclined, and if no new heads have been lately brought home as
trophies, some old smoked heads that have been in the house for years
are used.

Among the preparations for this feast