man. I once asked a Tarahumare where he was
born, expecting him to give me the name of some ranch; I was rather
amused when he pointed to a big stone a little farther on along the
slope. That was his birthplace.

The mother may lie down for that day, but the following morning she
works as usual, as if nothing had been the matter with her. The husband
does not work for three days, because he thinks his axe would break,
or the horns of his ox would fall off, or he would break a leg. The
third day he takes a bath.

When the baby is three days old the shaman comes to cure it. A big
fire is made of corn-cobs, the little one is placed on a blanket, and
with the father's assistance the shaman carries it, if it is a boy,
three times through the smoke to the four cardinal points, making
the ceremonial circuit and finally raising it upward. This is done
that the child may grow well and be successful in life, that is, in
raising corn. Then the shaman takes a burning corn-cob from the fire
and with the charred end makes three parallel lines lengthwise over
the child's head and three across them. He also sprinkles tesvino
on the head and other vital parts of the body to make them strong,
and cures the umbilical cord. He may, too, anoint the child with the
fat of the rattlesnake mixed with herbs, and leave it in the sun,
that the light may enter its heart. For his services the shaman gets
a little maize, beans, salt, etc.

On the fourth day the mother goes down to the river to bathe, and
while bathing leaves the little one naked, exposed to the sun for
at least an hour, in spite of all its wailings, that Father Sun may
see and know his new child. The baby is not washed until it is a year
old. Then it is cured again, by the shaman, who on various occasions
throughout its life repeats his curing, that the child may grow well
and that no sickness or bad accidents may befall it. To protect
it still further, pieces of palo hediondo or the chuchupate root,
the strong smell of which is supposed to avail against disease,
are wrapped in a piece of cloth and tied around the child's neck.

The mother nurses the child until it is three years old. In some
instances she begins to give it once in a while a little pinole when
it is only six months old. When two years of age a child begins to
walk and to talk. Sometimes when the mother is busy, for instance
at the metate, and will not stop to nurse him, the little rascal may
take a stick and in