Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 121 



black walnut). If these nuts are eaten, the child will have a horribly 

 broad nose. 



Salt is to be used as scantily as possible. No reason for this could 

 be given. W. said he thought it was "because salt makes meat 

 (and therefore also flesh) swell." (See p. 65.) 



No trace of the belief in the result of unsatisfied picae could be 

 found. 



Apart from the food taboos there are qidte a number of restrictions 

 and injunctions which a pregnant woman has to observe. 



She should not be visited by a menstrual woman. 



She should never loiter near the doorway. Whenever she has to go 

 in or out of the cabin she must do so briskly. If she loiters at the 

 doorway "the child will be slow in jumping down." 



Every morning she should go to a near-by creek or spring, accom- 

 panied by her husband, and both should wash their faces, hands, and, 

 some say, their feet. This custom has nothing to do with the cere- 

 monial going to water observed at every new moon, and is of a totally 

 different nature. It seems to be practiced solely for hygienic pur- 

 poses, although there is no telling but this might be a mere rationaUzed 

 explanation of an act that had formerly a religious significance. One 

 informant, Del., gave as a reason, that it was done simply to midtiply 

 the opportunities for going out of doors. (See p. 122.) 



She should not comb her hair backward, as the hair of the child, when 

 grown, would not fall smoothly along its head, but would grow brist- 

 ling and unkempt. 



She should not wear a neckerchief, nor a belt of cloth or bead work; 

 nor should she have an apron tied around her waist. If she disregards 

 any of these injunctions the child will have the umbilical cord twisted 

 round its neck, and will be suffocated. 



She should not see a corpse; but should she have to accompany a 

 burial, where at the graveyard everybody is supposed to cast a last 

 glance at the face of the deceased, any pregnant woman is given the 

 opportunity to precede all those present; for, should others look at the 

 corpse before she was given a chance, this would result in serious 

 obstacles for her delivery. 



"In the times of long ago," W. told me, "pregnant women were 

 not allowed to see masks; now they are no longer so careful about this. 

 But in olden times such powerful witches existed that they could make 

 the unborn child look as horrible as the mask its mother had looked at. 

 But now they are no longer so powerful." (PI. 13.) 



husband's taboos 



A considerable portion of the taboos that have to be observed by the 

 future father has probably been lost. Yet some of them still exist, and 

 are still observed by the more conservative members of the tribe. 



