26 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 92 



they did not suit each other, be it for whatever reason it might be and 

 after whatever period of time might have elapsed, if they did not suit 

 each other, as I said, they got divorced at once and each one took 

 his [own] road, and they got married again to others. 



My way of thinking is, and I believe I am right, that their marriage contracts 

 were not absolute, but conditional ones, that although at the time of getting 

 married this was not explained verbally, tacitly it was understood, for the reason 

 that it was their custom. This is my way of feeling, Sak'o ineliori, it is obvious 

 to us through experience, and it is confirmed by the exhortation which the 

 parents gave to their daughter when she departed with her husband : That if 

 the husband did not treat her well, she should return to her home. Therefore 

 they were not true marriage contracts, for conjngimn is to unite two together, 

 under a perpetual yoke. 



They had the custom that the first time that the woman found her- 

 self pregnant, all the people of the rancheria held a feast, eating and 

 dancing, and this for one night only. This feast was held with the re- 

 joicing that another one was coming to them, and in the song of the 

 dance they asked their God Chinigchinix to guard for them that child, 

 the mother being a good woman, since she was about to give them 

 children, for they considered a sterile woman to be a bad omen. When 

 the time of childbirth arrived, they did not do anything special, but 

 after she had brought forth and the baby had been cleaned off, they 

 showed it to the people, and if it was a male the grandfathers named 

 it saying : N., thus this child will be called, and if it was a female the 

 grandmothers named it ; and it was always the name of themselves 

 [the grandfathers or grandmothers], of their parents, or of their 

 ancestors, unless at the time of the birth something rare and peculiar 

 might have happened, from the significance of which they gave the 

 name. 



The oddest custom of these Indians (although the Ancients [the 

 ancient Mediterranean peoples] also had it) was that at every child- 

 birth, from the time the woman brought forth, the husband had to go on 

 diet like the woman herself, and this consists mainly in his not being 

 able to leave the house except to bring wood and water, [and] in not 

 eating meat or fish or other foods forbidden by them. This diet usually 

 lasted for some 15 days, although in many cases it lasted during the 

 entire period of the lochia of the mother, in the case of others a shorter 

 time, according to the love which they had for the child, and now that 

 they are Christians they still observe it, for they are of the belief that 

 if they break or do not observe this diet, chiefly by eating meat or fish, 

 the baby will die, and it is to be noted that in order for the child to 



