106 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



The above harakia is still in use with the Arawa Tribe, and 

 another frequently used is called tuku (to let go). Tura, the 

 obstetric god, whose wife was the first woman delivered in the 

 natural way (< Cesarean section being previously always performed), 

 thus instructed his wife prior to her first confinement : " If your 

 child is not born soon you must call Ao-nui (great world) and 

 say, 'One to that world ' ; Ao-roa (long world), and say, 'One 

 to that world ' ; and Ao-tauira (world of the disciple), and say, 

 " One to that world.' If then the child is not born you must 

 call my name, and say, ' One to Tura.' ' 



" When there is much difficulty in parturition, the attendant, 

 squatting before the patient, will press or rub her bare knees, 

 with a downward motion, on the abdomen of the woman in labour, 

 in order to aid expulsion. In some such cases the child is ex- 

 tracted forcibly by traction by the attendant midwife. The 

 attendant was sometimes changed in cases of difficult birth, as 

 natives have a firm belief in lucky attendants. A woman's 

 husband sometimes attends her, but if the birth is not easy she 

 will tell him to retire and to send her a capable woman." 

 (Tuhoe.) 



" After parturition a woman often betakes herself to a river 

 or stream and immerses her body therein, lying on her back, 

 and her attendant passes her bare foot downwards over the 

 abdomen and uterus, so as to assist in the expulsion of any 

 fragments of whenua (placenta) or toto (blood-clots)." (Tuhoe.) 



In Fiji the midwives introduce the hand into the uterus, 

 and. flexing the fingers, clear out all the clots they find. 



There seems to have been no special treatment employed 

 in the morbid states wdiich sometimes follow parturition. The 

 Maoris did not seem to attribute such troubles to sorcery, as did 

 the Fijians. The latter often killed the child if the mother 

 showed any morbid symptoms after labour, so as to favour her 

 recovery. They kept a still-born child in the house for several 

 days so that the mother migb.1 speedily recover. 



The Maori woman after labour is sacred (la/m)- and remains 

 so until the time of baptism, or. if there is any morbid condi- 

 tion present, such as unusual pain or hoemorrhage, she remains 

 hi/i'i and lives apart in the sick-house until well. Generally, 

 however, only the wives of chiefs are subject to this rigorous 

 custom. Shi' is rendered n<>a, or the hi/m is removed, by the 

 pnest repeating the tuapana Jcarakia. 



Soon .i iter the hiit h of the child the woman is given a vapour 

 hath medicated with the three shrubs mangeo, kohutuku (Fuch- 

 ria excorticata), and i<iiitnn>it><i (Rubus fustialis). This is done 

 to promote the Lochia) discharge, or. to use their own expres- 

 sion, "to make the blood come from them."" Thev use this 



