237 



grudge against the younger, and beats her. The husband at" 

 tempts to maintain an armed neutrality with his stick. This 

 sometimes causes the elder *one to leave, which the husband al- 

 lows, until he wants her, when he goes for her. This is usually 

 when the younger one is far advanced in pregnancy, and is re- 

 siding mostly at the lukara. As long as the husband does not 

 reclaim her, the wife is considered to be a widow. Some married 

 couples agree very well together, live frequently quite alone in 

 solitude, and together provide for their wants. If a man has two 

 or three wives, and one of them is troublesome, he will present 

 her to one of his friends who belongs to the same class. 



These natives believe that the souls of the infants dwell in the 

 foliage of the trees, and that they are carried there hy the good 

 mountain spirits, tuanjiraka, and their wives, laelhata. The 

 nearest tree to a woman when she feels the first pain of parturi- 

 tion, she calls ngirra, as they are under the impression that the 

 guruna, or soul, has then entered from it into the child. Such a 

 tree is left untouched, as they believe that whoever should hap- 

 pen to break off even a single branch would become sick. But if 

 the tree should be injured or broken down by winds or floods, 

 that person would get ill whose ngirra the tree was. 



When the infant is about to be born, the mother usually goes 

 aside into the bushes, away from the hut. Her mother and 

 sisters go to see her there from time to time, but especially the 

 children, who are very inquisitive. The latter are not ordered 

 off, and are often the only human beings present. When the 

 babe is born, the mother cuts off the placental cord by means of 

 two stones, at a length of several inches, rubs a little dirt on to 

 it, and puts the infant in a trough beside herself. Water is 

 never applied, and only the grossest impurities removed with 

 some sand. Usually deliveries are easy ; no fatal cases have ever 

 been reported to us. As soon as the woman feels herself 

 sufficiently recovered, perhaps in an hour or two, she gets up and 

 walks about with the child in the trough under her arm. If 

 twins be born of the same sex the youngest is killed, but if not, 

 the boy is spared. Miscarriages occur very rarely. The mother 

 waits several days before showing the father the child, by which 

 time it has become somewhat dusky in color. Mothers suckle 

 their children often until the third or fourth year, and if she is 

 absent, another suckles it for her. 



Of a proper training of the children they have no idea at all. 

 They allow them to grow up wild. If the children are unruly, 

 the mothers try to quiet them with fair words, or may scold them 

 a little, or even slap them gently, but never take any extreme 

 means. If children quarrel, and one mother ventures to strike 

 the child of another ever so slightly, there is sure to arise a 



