278 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



Strong constitution. An instance was related in which one of twin girls 

 refused to nurse from its mother, and so the mother's sister, who was 

 nursing a child at the time, nursed it for a month ; after this the baby 

 was taken back to its home and fed cow's milk, "but it never seemed 

 to fit into its home and so later the grandmother took it to her home 

 and reared it," A nursing mother was given no herbal decoction to 

 increase the milk flow, but she ate much nourishing food, such as 

 chicken and mutton. She avoided beef, since that was thought to make 

 her sick. 



A child was nursed whenever it became restless, whimpered, or 

 indicated that it was hungry. During one 2-hour interview, a i ^-year- 

 old child nursed about every lo minutes. It did so standing at the side 

 of its mother (my informant) who was seated on the ground, resting 

 in its mother's arms, or squatting in her lap. Successive nursings were 

 from dififerent breasts. In general, a child was probably not nursed 

 after it was two years old. "Nursing a baby longer than two years 

 makes it mean," said a 60-year-old woman. 



One informant, now 60 years old, made certain, when she had a 

 nursing child, that there was no snake in the place. "We believe that 

 if there is a snake around it will come at night to where a mother will 

 be nursing her child. Should the mother inadvertently fall asleep, the 

 snake will push the baby from the breast, put its tail into the baby's 

 mouth, and itself suck the milk from the mother." 



When the child is capable of holding something, usually when 

 3 or 4 months old, it is given a piece of meat — raw, cooked, 

 broiled, or roasted — from which to suck the essence. If adults were 

 having apoll (sheep lung filled with chili, salt, and coagulated blood ; 

 P- 363), the child was given a piece of it to suck. Today a 4-month-old 

 child is given cow's milk thinned with water, and thin soups. I saw 

 a young mother give her child of that age cow's milk in which she 

 had cooked oatmeal bought at a store. 



When a mother knew that the child could swallow foods thicker 

 than soup, probably when 6 months old, she masticated meat for it. 

 "This is still done today. I saw a mother recently chew araucaria 

 nuts and give them to her child." The child's first solid food — a 

 favorite — was cooked meat of rhea. It was also given mutton, lamb, 

 and fowl, but never beef, which was thought to make the child sick. 

 As soon as a child has its teeth, it is expected to eat all foods eaten 

 by adults. 



Children were generally weaned between the ages of one and two 

 years. Some mothers weaned a child gradually by accustoming it to 

 food other than mother's milk; some did it abruptly. "I usually 



