So PRIMITIVE PATERNITY 



Beam, to which' women who desire to become mothers 

 go to bathe. 1 At Lanty near Luzy, and at the spring 

 of the Good Lady at Onlay (Nievre), they wash their 

 breasts and then go and pray in the church. Some 

 of the French, and especially Breton fountains, as 

 well as a brook near Morlaix, have the reputation of 

 assuring fecundity to mares and other domestic animals 

 by outward application. 2 



In Sardinia, as we have seen, women are recom- 

 mended to bathe in the sea. In Aglu, Morocco, a 

 Schluh woman "desirous of knowing whether she will 

 be blessed with a child or not," goes to the sea-shore 

 on Midsummer Day and the two following days, and 

 " lets seven waves go over her body each time ; then 

 she knows that, if she is going to have a child at all, 

 she will have it very soon." In this case, as Dr. 

 Westermarck observes, " magic has dwindled into 

 divination." 3 In Southern Mexico " there are special 

 streams in which [Tlaxcalan] women bathe to ensure 

 fecundity. Such a stream is the Sawapa. ... It is 

 also believed that bathing in the temasccU" or sweat- 

 bath, generally found in the enclosure of a dwelling- 

 house " aids to fecundity," 4 



In India the practice of bathing for this purpose is 

 well known. The well into which Puran, that Panjabi 



1 Chauvet, 57 note. For other cases in which the rite is not 

 specified see Sebillot, Petite Leg. Doree, 213; Cuzacq, no. 



2 Sebillot, F. L. France, ii. 233, 381; iii. 79; Id. Paganisme, 

 228. In the Frick valley (Canton of Aargau, Switzerland), at 

 certain times a jocular tribunal is held upon unmarried women over 

 twenty-four years of age, and wine is poured into their laps. 

 Probably this is to be explained in the same way (Hoffmann-Krayer, 

 Schyueiz. Arch. f. Volkskunde, xi. 265). 



3 F. L. xvi. 32. 4 Starr, Ethnog. S. Mexico, i. 22. 



