[Note: this transcription was produced by an automatic OCR engine]

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RITES OF BIRTH AND INITlATI6N 235
It is his duty to walk rapidly up and down outside, and in this
way to assist in the delivery. Meanwhile, his wife's female
relatives and other women who are themselves mothers crowd
into the hut to Watch and help. The woman in labour squats
upon her haunches, raised a little from the ground, so that the
child shall fall down. Deacon was not told of any manipulation
on the part of the onlookers to assist her, but if she is in great
pain and the birth is slow, the attendant women'make an infusion
from a leaf called nimbwunar and give it to her to drink. It is
said that when the unborn infant smells this leaf it wants to come
quickly. As soon as the child is safely delivered, it is washed by
one of the women attending on the mother.1 Concerning thc
treatment of the placenta and the umbilical cord the notes are
not in agreement. According to o'ne, the after-birth is buried
in a hole in the house, and a ï¬Åre lighted on top of this over which
the child is rocked to and fro that its body may be hot; the
umbilical cord on the other hand is said to be put up in the roof.â€ù
The other note on this subject makes no mention of the after-
birth, but states that the cord (namlmn) is cut and buried inside
the hut close to the bed on which the mother is lying, and a ï¬Åre
lighted over this spot. This is said to be done in order to keep
the cord warm. It also serves to keep the mother and child
warm, for they both sleep close beside it. In Mewun also the
umbilical cord is buried inside the hut after having been severed
by means of a bamboo knife, but no mention is made of the
lighting of a ï¬Åre. Later, when the stump has dropped off from
the infant, the mother wears it hung round her neck. How the
after-birth is disposed of We are not told. According to Seniang
tradition the moon (nemil) is closely associated with child~birth.
The marks on its surface, “ the man in the moon ", are supposed
to be the after-birth, and at the ï¬Årst full moon after delivery
people will point to it and say to the mother : “ Look, there is
the placentaâ€ù. The moon is also supposed to form the features
of children. It seems that, in Seniang, the new-born infant
and its mother remain inside the hut for some time,“ and that
1 According to one note the child is not washed until some months later,
when it is named. This is probably a n1istake,—C, H. W.
* Deacon was told that in Espiritu Santa (the district ms not speciï¬Åed)
the placenta and blood are cooked into a pudding which is eaten by the father
of the new-born child.
' According to one note this seclusion lasts for several months, but the
accuracy of this statement seems questionable.—C. H. W.
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