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Should the omens be unfavorable, one or more fowls will be sacrificed, until it seems certain that the help of the spirits is assured, after which the flesh is cooked and eaten. Late in the afternoon, this is carried through the village, while one or more drummers keep up a din to frighten evil spirits away.
Just as in the case of omens derived from infants, so here the parts of the body are taken up one after the other. All possible, and one is inclined to add various impossible, variations from the normal types are noted. The omen varies as the female throws off one, two, three, or whatever number of young ones up to ten. For example:
With this event commenced a new era in his existence: he was no longer an outcast and a wanderer; out of alien ties he had wrought the link of a close and even paternal friendship; life, brilliant in its prospects and elevated in its ascent, opened flatteringly before him; and the fortune and courage which had so well provided for the present were the best omens and auguries for the future.
If one of the flashes which light up this tent so incessantly, like a living stream of light were to strike you, or me, and all of us I should not wonder. Terrible terrible things hang over us! It requires some courage under such omens as these, to keep an untroubled gaze and not to quail."
He feels his weakness and the need of some guidance from unseen powers. He has no knowledge of God and the revelation He has made in the Bible, and so he has devised for himself a system of omens. There are seven birds in Borneo whose native names are: Katupong, Beragai, Kutok, Embuas, Nendak, Papau and Bejampong.
Numbers of the warriors now ascribed their recent disasters to the neglect of various omens, or the omission of certain propitiatory observances of their ancient religion, or the perpetration of deeds known to be adversely regarded by the ruling spirits of war.
The sight caused some disorder and excitement, but as the omens were now favourable, and the emergency required prompt action, Manius Curius led out his men, attacked the first troops of Pyrrhus's army whom he met, routed them, and dismayed the whole force, so that many were slain and several elephants captured.
"And behold, the title fits a dweller on the earth whom you must also worship, for such omens do not come by chance," cried the same voice, but from another quarter of the crowded hall. "I ask pardon," broke in Aziel, "and leave to speak.
So universal was the belief in these prodigies and omens, that they were sometimes formally reported to the senate, committees were appointed to inquire into them, and solemn sacrifices were offered to "expiate them," as it was termed, that is, to avert the displeasure of the gods, which the omens were supposed to foreshadow and portend.
In Polynesia, the belief in witchcraft, in the appearance of spiritual beings in dreams, in possession as the cause of diseases, and in omens, prevailed universally. Mariner tells a story of a woman of rank who was greatly attached to King Finow, and who, for the space of six months after his death, scarcely ever slept elsewhere than on his grave, which she kept carefully decorated with flowers:
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