Oct., 1903. Arapaho Traditions — Dorsey ani? Kroeber. 149 



pine quills, did not keep me at home. When I went out of the tipi 

 during the day, I would look around to see if I could identify my lover 

 in the distance, also I would make excuses to get out at night, but this 

 handsome young man never came near. A month passed, and it was 

 my time for menstruation, but it did not occur. 



■'Well, my husband was the cause of all this. I am sure that this 

 lover of mine would not have placed me in such a condition, because he 

 was not my real husband. From that time on, I have been obliged to 

 keep myself free from injury, and naturally, my complexion betrays 

 me, by having black spots on my face, like the face of the moon. 



"So my tim.e passed on, until about the seventh month my sides 

 above my hips began to have a severe pain. As was the custom, my dear 

 mother took me out to pick wild berries, for exercise, and made me 

 take early baths at the river. When I was about to sleep at night, I 

 would have sharp pain at different parts of my stomach, which felt 

 as if there was something winding around inside.- At times I got 

 scared and felt uneasy on account of the strange feeling, which became 

 more intense every day. About the ninth month I had suffered terri- 

 bly, and did not know who to depend on for treatment. Now since this 

 was my first experience in giving birth, I scarcely knew the way, but 

 women told me to keep up my courage." 



The sickness then came on and the mother of the girl hired two 

 other women nurses to wait on the sick woman. The woman became 

 very sick and at times unconscious, but the women kept preparing dif- 

 ferent kinds of teas from weeds and herbs, and gave to the sick woman 

 to drink ("to loose the baby"), while others made her vomit for action. 

 With all the medical assistance rendered, the sick woman was getting 

 weak all the time, until finally, the womb, with the baby inside, dropped. 

 Just as soon as this had happened the woman dropped dead instantly. 



The women removed her from her baby, which made its way and 

 burst out and rattled. The women, hearing the rattle, looked around 

 carefully and saw that the contents of the bag was a rattle-snake. 



The people were very much excited over the mystery. Of course 

 the husband returned from the war-path, as a good warrior, but a 

 widower. The story was explained to him and he was informed 

 that his wife had often wandered off on top of the hill to weep for his 

 absence, and that she would do a lot of quill work for her parents, 

 until she was changed in condition of body. The husband expressed his 

 sorrow, but calmly imagined that a mysterious being had worked on 

 her, and therefore suffered the consequence. 



Since the Indians had had other similar occurrences among men 



