164 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 34 



cine wliich produces the desired result. The attempt is always made 

 ill secrecy. 



Among the White Mountain Apache abortion is usually produced 

 by leaning on a rock or a stout stick, or by manual pressure applied 

 to the fundus of the uterus. 



Among the Mescaleros, according to information given to the writer 

 by Dr. W. McM. Luttrell (in 1900 the agent of the tribe), as well as 

 by others, abortion was not very rare. For this purpose the women 

 swallowed certain vegetal substances, particularly large doses of the 

 fermented acid juice of the inner bark of the pine ; or they tried to 

 destroy the fetus by violent pressure upon the abdomen. In a few 

 instances a stick or a bent wire was said to have been used, being 

 introduced by another woman into the uterus ; this practice was not 

 heard of elsewhere, and it is possible that it did not originate with 

 the Indians. 



Among the Jicarillas, according to Mr. Johnson, the agent, and 

 Doctor Murphy, the physician of the tribe, abortion is but seldom 

 practised, and only in the case of unmarried women. For this pur- 

 pose certain herbs and plants found in that part of the country are 

 used ; what they are is a secret with the old women of the tribe. It 

 is very probable that the herbs are aided by physical means. 



.Among the Navaho, Hopi, and other tribes manual or bandage 

 (sash) pressure is applied to the woman's abdomen with the object 

 of crushing or expelling the fetus. The Zuiii woman drinks some 

 decoctions, but if these fail, has recourse to pressure." 



Among the Pima, as with some other tribes, there are remark- 

 ably few half-breeds. It is said that this is partly due to the fact 

 that in most cases where a woman becomes pregnant by a white 

 man an abortion is induced. One well-known attempt of this nature 

 occurred very recently (see under Infanticide, p. 166). Mr. Alexander, 

 the agent, was told by the Indians of another case where abortion 

 was induced by burying the woman up to her waist in the earth. 



In an eighteenth century Pima confessionary are the following sug- 

 gestive questions: "Have you drank, from a desire to kill the child 

 within you, sanari or anything else?" "Or have you placed (with 

 the same object in view) a very hot stone upon your abdomen?" 

 "Or have you lain for a length of time upon your front?" "Or 

 have you lain a long time in the sun?" "Have you abstained for a 

 long time from eating, wishing that the baby in you dies of hunger?" 

 "Have you aided another woman to kill her unborn infant?" 



a A restraining influence in this tribe is the belief that the woman who induces abortion is likely to 

 lose the capacity of having more children. According to infonnation given to the writer by Dr. E. J. 

 Davis, the agency physician, so great is this fear that as soon as a mother becomes aware that her 

 daughter is pregnant with an illegitimate child she at once assures her that all will be well and that 

 she must not interfere with it. When the old women learn of a recent case of abortion on the part of 

 a young woman, they place her at once in warm sand for ten days to pievent her " drying up." 



A method favored in this tribe [Zuni] is for the woman to grasp her gravid uterus through the 

 abdominal wall and twist and squeeze it until she succeeds in detaching the fetal connections. 



