ON THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 479 



the tips of her fingers four times successively if she desired to get stout or 

 fat, and if she wanted to become thin she must suck in the air from the 

 tips of her fingers the same number of times. Another practice she must 

 observe was to place tsutzctcai' c (spruce-boughs) under her bed, and also 

 hang some at the head of it. ' She must also eat her food off these boughs 

 for at least a month. The widow always accompanied the corpse of her 

 husband to the burial-place. Her blanket is painted for the occasion with 

 streaks of red paint, as is also the crown of her head. Excessive weeping 

 sometimes made her so weak that she had to support herself with a staff 

 (t'tcdtc) while walking to and from the graveyard. The customs to be 

 observed by the widower were simpler. He must likewise bathe every 

 morning at daybreak, and must also abstain from eating before his 

 children for the space of a month ; but his head was not painted, only his 

 blanket ; and he puts the tsutzctcai' e only at the head of his bed, and not 

 under it. Some three or four days after the burial all the relatives of the 

 deceased, except the widow or the widower, must cut their hair. The 

 severed hair is always carefully collected and buried. After the ceremony 

 of hair-cutting is over all those who have attended the funeral go in a 

 line to the river or the inlet, according to the locality, and walk down 

 into the water till it is up to their breasts ; then at a word they all dip 

 together once and come out again. If they are wearing blankets at the 

 time they cast these aside, but otherwise do not trouble to disrobe. 



It was customary for widows and orphans some time during the 

 mortuary rites to take a small white pebble and roll it in their mouths 

 four times. This was supposed to prevent the teeth from decaying. 



Birth Customs. 



It was customary among the Sk'qo'mic women to retire to the woods 

 when they were about to give birth to their children. Usually a woman 

 went quite alone or accompanied only by her husband. Midwives were 

 called in for the first child, but afterwards only in cases of difficulty or 

 when the labour was unduly prolonged. Usually the woman would fulfil 

 her daily duties to within an hour of the child's birth, and be ready to 

 take them up again a few hours afterwards. In the case of first children 

 parents of standing would engage three or four midwives or experienced 

 women for the occasion. Each had her own special duties to perform. 

 These were prescribed by long- established custom. It was the office of 

 one to sever the umbilical cord and dispose of the after-birth ; of another 

 to watch and care for the baby ; and of another to ' cook the milk ' and 

 generally look after the mother. They were paid for their services im - 

 mediately after the event by the husband with gifts of blankets. This 

 honoraiium was also prescribed by usage, the number of blankets given on 

 the occasion depending on the husband's social position. Immediately 

 after the birth of the child it is washed all o\er in cold water and then 

 wrapped in the softest slo'wi (inner bark of the cedar — Thui/a gigantea — 

 beaten till soft and fine) and placed in a cradle of cedar-wood. This 

 cradle was constructed in the following manner : — A piece of cedar-wood 

 about thirty inches long and ten or twelve inches wide, was first taken ; 

 a second, and shorter, but considerably broader, piece was then bent over 

 this in the form of an ai'ch, and fastened in this position to the longitudi- 

 nal edges of the other, thus forming a kind of pocket. The lower piece, 



' The object of this was to preserve her from her husband's sickness. 



