140 THE SIA. 



break the continency, an auimal would enter her abdomen and she 

 wouhl surely die, for so said the first mother of her clan. 



After the first draft of the tea the woman ate a hearty breakfast 

 of tortillas, jerked meat, and corn-meal gruel. Her female relatives 

 and friends called to see her and the baljy during the day, and she 

 chatted as merrily as if nothing had happened. 



The Sia infant is noiu'ished regulai-ly from the time it is born; and in 

 this particular case the infant was nursed by a woman whose child was 

 three months old, until the third morning, when the mother took it in 

 charge. Though the door of the room could not be left open until the 

 chUd should have passed out the fourth mf)rning to see its sun father, 

 and the two small windows being stationary, the most fastidious could 

 have found no fault with the purity of the atmosphere. The father of 

 the woman scarcely left her during the four days. He sat by her bed- 

 side, weaving garters, and showing her the teuderest care, and her 

 mother did little else than look after the wants of the invalid and infant 

 and admire and caress the latter. The woman's husband was absent 

 all day working in tlie fields, but upon his return in the evening he 

 could be found by his wife's side admiring the baby and saying pleas- 

 ing words to the woman of his choice. The family all slept in the same 

 room as usual with the addition the first two nights of the woman 

 engaged to furnish iioiu'ishnient to the child, who also had her infant 

 with her. 



By half-past 4 on the fourth morning the woman had donned her 

 woolen dress and belt and sat upon the bed awaiting the arrival of the 

 doctress, who soon came, and after a greeting handed ashes from the 

 fireplace to the woman, who receiving the ashes in her right hand 

 rubbed her legs and breast for purification, and then jjut on her moc- 

 casins. The grandmother took the infant from the cradle and wrapping 

 it in its blanket handed it to the doctress, while the father of the woman 

 gave her the two stone fetiches from under her pillow, which she jjlaced 

 in her bosom. The doctress then took from the fireplace a bit of char- 

 coal and put it into the woman's mouth that the cold winds might not 

 enter through her mouth and congeal her blood and prevent its flow, 

 for should this occur the Momau would surely die. The father then 

 handed sacred meal to his daughter and the doctress, and again helping 

 himself he gave some to the writer. The doctress led the way, carrying 

 the infant in her arms and pressing to its breast the ear of corn which 

 had played such an important part during parturition, and had since 

 lain by the side of the child ; the woman followed, also carrying an ear 

 of corn, a companion of the first ear (everything associated with life 

 must have its dual, and " corn is life itself, for it comes from the heart 

 of IJt'set; were it not for the mother corn none could live." These two 

 ears of corn are afterwards wrapped together and laid under the child's 

 cradle, where theynuist remain until the next corn-i)lanting time, when 

 it is sown in two or four rows, apart from the main field, and when ri^je it 



