swASTOSl SOCIAL CUSTOMS 429 



not keep going into someone else's house to ask for things, but be sin 

 independent man so that I shall not be ashamed of you." 



Sometimes a man did not get ahead, and his wife went about with 

 other men. This brought shame to botli sides, and so people alwa^ys 

 instructed their sons and daughters that it might not so happen. And 

 so, if a man's hand "looked like an eagle's" (i. e., was rough from 

 work), he was taken for a son-in-law quickly. "As soft as a mat (or 

 carpet) " was said of the hand of one who did no work. 



Before a woman gave birth to a child she did certain things to make 

 her delivery easier. Slaves also had to hold her and ease her pains. 

 It would bring a man ill luck to have a child born inside of his house, 

 so a hole was always dug for the woman behind the house, inside of 

 a little hut or shelter made of branches. There she was obliged to go 

 for her confinement, regardless of the weather. The person employed 

 to dig this hole and the nurse who attended on the woman in addition 

 to the slaves nuist belong to the opposite phratry. 



If a very dear relative had passed away, people often took the nail 

 from the little linger of his right hand and a lock of hair from the 

 right side of his head and put them into the belt of a young girl of his 

 clan just reaching maturity. Afterwards she had to lead a verj^ (juiet 

 life for eight months and fust for as many days, unless she were deli- 

 cate, when half as many sufficed. In the former case she fasted 

 steadily for four days, rested two days, and then fasted for the remain- 

 ing four. After her fast was over, and just before she ate, she prayed 

 that the dead person would be born again from her and also that she 

 would marry well and live a good life. 



As soon as he entered the world a child's navel-string was cut oil', 

 placed in a bag made especially for it, dried inside of this, and hung 

 about the child's neck until he was eight da3's old. In the case of a 

 boy the navel-string was placed under a tree on which was an eagle's 

 nest, so that he might be brave when he grew up. 



The minute a child cried its breath was caught in a bag. Then the 

 bag was carried to a place where many people were passing, so that it 

 might be trodden under foot. This prevented the child from crying 

 much when it grew older. 



If a woman wanted her girl l)aby to become neat in later life, she 

 put on her breast the borings that come out of a woodworm's burrow 

 and let the child suck tliis sut)stance along with her milk. Red paint 

 was put on a child's nose to make it strong. 



As soon as a person died his body was set up in the house, and his 

 friends showed their respect foi- him l)y cutting or singeing off their 

 hair just below the ears and b\' piling their property around the corpse. 

 They said, metsiphoricall}', that the}' gave it away or "burned it" for 

 liini because they loved him so much. (luards were placed around the 

 house all night, so that no wizard could get in to him. When the dead 



