STEVENSON] RITES WITH CHILDBIRTH. 135 



brought ii cloth to the point where the ceremouy had been held and 

 emptied tlie contents (saud) upon the floor, and with her hands flat- 

 tened the mound into a circle of 20 inches in diameter and some 5 

 inches deep. On this she laid a small black sheepskin, the sister-in- 

 law placed a bowl of water upon coals iii the fireplace, and the mother 

 afterward brought a vase of water and gourd and set it by the side of 

 the fireplace. A urinal was deposited beyond the center of the room, 

 and still beyond was a vase of fresh water. The mother spread a wool 

 mattress at the south end of the room and upon it a blanket, and in 

 the center of the blanket a black sheepskin, and a wool pillow was laid 

 at the head; a rich Navajo blanket was folded and laid by the side of 

 this bed. Now, all was in readiness and an early delivery was evi- 

 dently expected. The woman would sit for a time either upon a low 

 stool or a chair, and then pass about in evident pain, but no word of 

 complaint escaped her lips; she was majestic in her dignity. But few 

 words were spoken by anyone; all minds seemed centered on the im- 

 portant event to come. •' It was a sacred hour, too sacred for spoken 

 words, for Sils'sistiunako was to bestow the gift of a new life." 



The whole affair was conducted with the greatest solemnity. At 11 

 o'clock the woman, whose sufl'ering was now extreme, changed the small 

 blanket which she wore around her for a larger one, which fell from her 

 shoulders to the floor, and stood before the fireplace while the doctress 

 standing behind her violently manipulated her abdomen with the palms 

 of her hands. (The Zuni observe a very different mode of manipulation.) 

 The ho'naaite, who no longer acted professionally, but simply as the 

 devoted father of the woman, took his seat upon a stool on the far side 

 of the sand bed from the fireplace, the woman kneeling on the sand 

 bed with her back to the fireplace and the doctress sitting on a low 

 stool back of the woman. The woman clasped her hands about her 

 father's neck iind was supported at the back by the doctress, who, 

 encircling the woman Mith her arms, pressed upon the abdomen.' The 

 father clasped his hands around his knees, holding a stone fetich of a 

 cougar in the palm of the right hand, and the sister-in law, standing to 

 the left of the woman, placed the ear of corn to the top of the sufferer's 

 head and blew upon it during the periods of pain, to hasten the birth 

 of the child. The prayer that was blown into the head was supposed 

 to pass directly through the passageway of life. After each paroxysm 

 the woman rose and passed about the room in a calm, quiet way. Some- 

 times she would sit on a low chair; again she would sit in front of the 

 fire toasting her bare feet, and then leaving the extremely warm room 



'After the religious services it is usual for tlie ho'naaite to absent himself, even though he be the 

 woinan's husband or father; his remaining being an evidence of unusual devotion. The mother-in- 

 law may be present at childbirth, but not the father-in-law unless he be the chosen ho'naaite for the 

 occasion, and his affection for the daughter-in-law prompting him to remain, this, however, being very 

 rare. "Should the expectant mother fail to bend her thoughts upon the event to come the child would 

 not care to be born and would lie .still and die." It i.s rare fora Sia woman to die in childbirth; or for 

 a child to be stillborn. 



