62 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 34 



lontjed interruption in the pains. There are hut few cases in which 

 lahor is atypical and really difficult. Among nearly 50 cases in which 

 he assisted, Doctor Alderman, the principal informant of the writer 

 among this tribe, had but one feet presentation. In labor the woman 

 usually kneels or squats with knees apart. She is attended by her 

 nearest female relative, but other women and even men and children 

 may be present. The event is not considered one requiring great 

 secrecy. A light shawl is tied about the woman's abdomen, over the 

 fundus, and tightened as much as "two women can draw," or a large 

 pad of cloth is laid over the uterus and bound there tightly with a 

 bandage. During the pains (at any period of the labor) a helping 

 woman takes the patient, who has assumed a kind of sitting posture, 

 by the hips and shakes her quite forcibly to and fro. This manipu- 

 lation is repeated at intervals until the child is born. Sometimes 

 two women, one on each side, alternate in pressing strongly on the 

 fundus. The placental portion of the cord, after severing, must be 

 fastened in someway to the mother's thigh, otherwise, it is believed, 

 it might recede and be lost within, when the mother could not be 

 delivered of it and the afterbirth. The placenta, however, seldom 

 causes trouble.^ The toilet of the mother is restricted to drying 

 with pieces of cloth, washing being delayed until the period of the 

 "dieta" has passed. 



After delivery the woman usually remains four or five days in bed, 

 but she observes a diet for forty days, during which time she must 

 not wash or comb her hair. Under the "dieta" chile, beans, fresh 

 meats, and certain other articles may not be eaten. The woman sub- 

 sists solely on a little dried meat, chicken, eggs, and a few other 

 simple nonstimulating foods, with but a small allowance of salt. It 

 is probable that this limited diet is in ])art, though not wholly, the 

 result of Mexican influence. 



Among the Tepecano parturition is generally accomplished with 

 the aid of one or more related or friendly older women. There are 

 no professional helpers and the woman in childbirth is not secluded 

 from her family or friends. The ordinary labor lasts about twelve 

 hours, but there are not a few cases in which the duration is less and 

 some in which it is greater. The woman is delivered squatting on 

 her knees and toes, or on knees, toes, and hands, with the lower limbs 

 well separated. In difficult labor the husband or brother or helping 

 woman encircles the patient's abdomen from behind with the arms 

 antl tries to expel the child by pressure, which is continued without 

 intermission as long as possible. If this treatment does not accom- 

 plish its purpose, a medicine-man is called and proceeds with the 

 woman in labor much as with any other patient; that is, prays and 

 exerts his magical powers in his wonted way, but gives her at the 



o It is buried with no special care or secrecy. 



