STEVENSON] RITES WITH CHILDBIRTH. 137 



one ft'oin his right foot only. The newly arrived ho'naaite sent the sis- 

 ter in-law for a small bowl of water, and into this he sprinkled a pinch 

 of medicine (a specimen of this root was obtained) and then requested 

 the woman to drink the water. It was with difiBcnlty that she stood 

 while she drank the medicine, and allowed the ho'naaite to practice his 

 occult power, blowing upon the head and then blowing in a straight 

 line down the center and in front of the body. The blowing was 

 repeated four times, when the ho'naaite, standing back of the woman, 

 put his arms around her, ijressing hard upon the abdomen. After 

 repeating a short prayer he replaced his moccasin and left the room, 

 and the woman sank exhausted to her pallet, where she lay in a semi- 

 conscious condition until half past 5 in the morning. 



Fetiches of Quer'riinna and of the cougar had been placed irnder 

 her pillow and a third fetich (a concretion) in her right hand. The 

 father kept a constant vigil, while the anxious mother moved quietly 

 about seeking to relieve the woman by many little attentions. The 

 mental agony of the parents was great, the more intense sufferer being 

 the father, whose devotion to his daughter through her entire illness 

 seemed without precedent. At half past 5 the woman opened her 

 eyes and, raising herself, clasped her father's neck and made another 

 great eflbrt, and failing, she returned to her pallet, weeping from sheer 

 discouragement. After a time the mother induced her to sit up and 

 take food; a basket of waiavi and a piece of jerked meat which had 

 been broiled over the coals in the same room were jjlaced by the bed, 

 when the mother hastened to another room for the corn-meal gruel she 

 had prepared. (During the time this gruel is boiling it is dipped with a 

 gourd and held high and poured back into the pot; after it is removed 

 from the fire it is passed through this same process for some time. 

 When it is ready to drink it is light and ttothy. 'J"he mixture is com- 

 posed of corn meal and water.) The woman ate quite heartily and 

 drank two bowlfuls of the gruel. She had hardly finished her meal 

 when she requested her father to hasten to his seat, and kneeling upon 

 the sand bed she clasped his neck as before; the pain lasted but a 

 minute and she returned to her bed. She was scarcely down, how- 

 ever, when she jumped up aiul knelt beside the pallet, the child being 

 born by the time the woman's knees had reached the floor, the birth 

 occurring at half jjast 6 o'clock. The excitement was great, as the 

 birth at this moment was a surprise. The father was too absorbed in 

 his daughter to tliink much of the infant, but the old mother was 

 frantic for fear the child would be smothered. The writer was called 

 to hasten and rub the father's moccasin down the woman's back; the 

 toe of the moccasin must be downward. This was to hasten the pas- 

 sage of the placenta, which promptly followed. A sheepskin was with 

 difficulty gotten under the child, and finally the skin was pushed for- 

 ward as the woman raised herself, and tlie child was taken by the 

 doctress. The woman stood while the doctress raised the child and 



