Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

124 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 99
if they think they acted upon "a false alarm," the woman who raised
the patient sits down on a chair, and gently lets the woman down to
the floor in a sitting position; the patient's back is supported by the
seated attendant's legs.
(2) The parturient kneels on the ground, her legs wide open; she
clutches the back of a chair. The attendants assist her a posteriori.
(3) The woman sits on the lap of her husband, who sits on a chair
and holds his arms around his wife's waist.
(4) Parturition while lying down is almost unknown.
Whatever the position may be, the woman is always completely
dressed. This does not interfere so much with the operation as one
might think, as undergarments are all but unknown by the majority
of the people. The dress is merely tucked up when deemed necessary.
The women arrange among themselves what particular part of
the work will be performed by each of them.
The woman who first takes hold of the chUd, and who as a rule is
tacitly agreed upon as the one in charge, is supposed to care for the
chUd throughout the operation.
The woman standing by her side binds and cuts the navel string,
while the two other women look after the parturient.
The one who stands in front of the patient, ready to catch the
child, usually has a cloth spread out on her hands. Sometimes,
instead of actually taking the child from the mother it is allowed
to fall, with a most unhealthy sounding thud, on a cloth spread out
on the floor; a few handfuls of dry leaves may be put under the cloth
to mitigate the child's fall.
Prior to cutting the navel string, the blood is driven from the pla-
centa toward the child, by running thumb and index along the funiculus;
it is then bound off, about 2 centimeters from the child, and
cut about 4 centimeters from its body. An odd end of string or
yarn or a thin strip of calico is used for this. The cutting is now
done with scissors.
Both as a prophylactic and as a therapeutic measure, a species of
fungus, no.kwt.'si i;Dt*'GiDo''' (6^eas^er, puffball), is put on the navel
and left on it until the withered remains of the funiculus fall off.
v^Dfy9*'°Dair, navel.
i;*''DfyQ*'°Data', navel string (attached to child),
y^Dfy9*'''Dat9*no'i, navel string (severed from child).
No particular belief relating to the fontanel, nor any special treatment
referring to it, were noticed.
Nor does there seem to exist any lore pertaining to children born
with a caul.
The child is washed off with warm water and rolled in any piece
of cloth that may be available, and the woman who attends to it
squats down near the fire with it, her duties being now practically
completed.