266 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



informant knew that in the area in which she was reared, girls were 

 preferred to boys, because girls enhanced the income of their families 

 at marriage (referring to the bridal price). To which a woman 

 listening in remarked, "On the other hand, a son enhanced his father's 

 house not only with his bride but with all the gifts that both he and 

 his bride received" (referring to the exchange of gifts at marriage). 



SEX PREDICTION 



No manner of producing sex was known, but there were ways of 

 predicting the sex of an unborn child. A boy could be expected if the 

 fetus lay high in the mother's body, and the veins on the back of her 

 hands stood out prominently — "they say that her blood vessels are 

 excited" — and her complexion was clear and rosy, that is, if she looked 

 well in general. "People notice this and say, 'She is carrying a little 

 man.' " If the woman's hips were broad, the veins on her hands flat, 

 her face pale, and she gave the impression of not feeling well, persons 

 said, "She is carrying a little woman." 



The sex of the child to be born was also predicted from the first 

 word spoken by the last child born. If the child says "mother," it will 

 be a girl ; if "father," a boy. "And this always comes true." 



REBIRTH 



There is no belief in reincarnation. "When a person dies, it means 

 that that one is now gone forever." A child born with teeth is re- 

 marked about, but no one attaches any significance to it. 



PRENATAL FOOD AND CONDUCT TABOOS 



The father of an unborn child is in no way affected by food taboos 

 or food prescriptions ; his pregnant wife is. She must not eat grease, 

 for it will cause her baby to have a running nose. Also, she must not 

 eat brain of any animal — the effect of doing so was not known. 

 Eating speckled eggs did not cause a child to have freckles, something 

 the Chippewa believed (Hilger, 1951, p. 7). The pregnant woman 

 was to be provided with the food she craved, "like apples or chicha 

 (alcoholized cider), or anything at all, except grease and brain." Not 

 obtaining the craved foods might cause her to abort. Pregnant women 

 are known to differ in food habits. "One woman will want to eat, 

 another has no appetite; one can eat much and heavy foods, another 

 cannot." 



The father of an unborn child was not hampered by conduct taboos 

 or prescriptions. His pregnant wife was warned not to fall or to lift 



