Every mistake, every awkward move was a bad omen among this people. The priest who made a mistake in the order of the items of his ritual stopped the service at once. A misdirected stroke by a workman, a tool used on the wrong side, a hole bored in the wrong direction was enough not only to stop an operation instantly but to cause the abandonment of the construction of a house or a boat, etc., even if the accident happened at the moment of its completion.²

²Moerenhout, J.A.n/an/an/an/a, , 1: 501, note.