l6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



substantial meal prepared for the family and those who assisted at the 

 birth. Neither mother nor child is fumigated. 



The Chilean law obliges the father to record the birth of his child 

 at a government office in the province in which the child is born. 



STILLBIRTHS 



"My fifth child was born dead. It was harvest time, and I believe I 

 worked too hard in the fields and caused the baby to put itself into 

 a wrong position, and that is why it was born dead. My seventh 

 child was stillborn too. But why it was so born, I do not know. Maybe 

 it would have lived if I had had the help of someone. When it was 

 about to be born, there was no one at home except my little boy — he 

 was only a baby himself. I had no one to send for help. I was so sick 

 that I thought I must die, I cooked some flaxseed and drank a liter 

 of it. Then the child was born ; but it was dead. I have often thought 

 that when children grow up they need to be told how much their 

 mothers suffered giving them birth," 



NAVEL CORD 



In Coiiaripe area the midwife or another woman present (the 

 woman herself, if she is alone when the birth occurs) cuts the um- 

 bilical cord a handstretch from the navel. In Alepue area the measure 

 is three times the distance from tip of thumb to its first joint. The 

 cord is cut with a knife — formerly one of flint. 



The woman who cuts the cord drains the fluid from the section ad- 

 hering to the navel (away from the navel) "until it [the cord] is as 

 thin as a string," and then either coils it (clockwise) around the navel 

 so that all of it will rest flat upon the baby's body, or piles it into a 

 little heap alongside the navel. Then she covers it with a small wad of 

 wool and puts on top of this a paste made of leaves. In Alepue area 

 the cord is generally greased to keep it from sticking to the body. 

 Very recently several women had used commercial talcum powder in 

 place of grease. All is kept in position by a band, similar to a man's 

 belt, tied around the baby's body. 



At intervals the mother peeks under the band to see if the cord has 

 dried and fallen off. Ordinarily it does so within 10 days. Should it 

 be oozing, she cleans it and treats it as before. If it does not drop off 

 within another 10 days, a preparation is applied of ashes of wood 

 mixed with scrapings off the smaller end of a corncob. The corncob 

 is dried near the fire until almost scorched. If no corncob is at 

 hand, the powdered scrapings off the edge of a piece of pottery or, 



