264 OMAHA SOCIOLOGY. 



of these roots at the Kaw Agency, Indian Territory. It is used by 

 the Kansas. The doctor never comes of his own accord. After hav- 

 ing given this medicine two or three times without success, he says, "I 

 have failed, send for some one else." Theu another doctor comes, and 

 tries his medicine. Very few Omaha girls die in childbed. 



After delivery the patient is bound tightly about the abdomen, to 

 reduce the size, as is the custom among civilized nations. Then is she 

 washed in cool water if it be summer time, but in tepid water if it be 

 cold weather. She must bathe twice a day. Mr. Hamilton was told 

 that "the flow of blood ceased then to a great extent, especially after a 

 lew days ; seldom lasting beyond ten days." La Fleche said that the 

 women do not tell about the cessation of the flow. When the woman 

 is strong she may go to work on the following day; but if she be weak 

 she may require a fortnight or three weeks for recovering her strength. 



When the husband asks about the infant, and they reply "It is a 

 boy," or "It is a girl,'* he is very glad. Sometimes the husband treats 

 a girl infant better than a boy, saying, " She caunot get anything for her- 

 self, whereas a son can take care of himself, as he is strong." Mr. Ham- 

 ilton says, "I have heard of cases of severe labor. Women act as 

 midwives, and with some skill, removing the placenta when adhering 

 to the uterus, and iu the usual manner." 



Soon after birth the child is washed all over, wrapped in clothes, 

 which are bound loosely around it. About two or three days after birth 

 the infant's father or grandfather gives it a name, which is not always 

 a nikie name. (See the account of the ceremony in the j,ada gens, 

 when a child is four days old, § 65.) Sometimes it is put into the 

 cradle or board in two or three days; sometimes in about a week. 



Nursing. — Another woman serves as wet-nurse till the mother's 

 breasts are full of milk. Mammary abscess is very rare. 



§91. X umber of children.— In IS 19-'20 Dougherty wrote thus: "Ster- 

 ility, although it does occur, is not frequent, and seems to be mostly 

 attributable to the husband, as is evinced by subsequent marriages 

 of the squaws. The usual number of children may be stated at from 

 four to six in a family, but in some families there are ten or twelve. 

 Of these the mother has often two at the breast simultaneously, of 

 which one may be three years of age. At this age, however, and 

 sometimes rather earlier, the child is weaned by the aid of ridicule, 

 iu which the parents are assisted by visitors." In 1SS2 La Fleche and 

 Two Crows declared that there are many cases of barrenness. Chil- 

 dren are not very numerous. While some women have seven, eight, 

 nine, or even ten children, they are exceptional cases. And when a 

 woman gives birth to so many, they do not always reach maturity. 

 There are women who have never borne any children, and some men 

 have never begotten any. One woman, who is of Blackfoot origin, is 

 the wife of James Springer, an Omaha, and she has borne him twelve 

 children ; but no other woman has had as many. 



