claimed that this causes the muscles to
relax so that they allow an easy delivery. The umbilical cord is cut
with a bamboo knife and as soon as the child has been bathed it is given
to the mother. The afterbirth is placed in a specially prepared basket
and is either hung against the side of the house or in a nearby tree.
For a few days the midwife assists about the house and then, if all is
well with the child, she takes her payment of rice, chicken, and fish,
and returns to her home. Should the child be ailing she will return, and
having placed rice and betel-nut on banana leaves she carries these to
the top of the house and there offers them to the _asuang_,[136]
meanwhile asking those spirits to accept the offering and to cease
troubling the child. No ceremony takes place at the time of naming or at
the age of puberty, but at the latter period the teeth are filed and
blackened so that the young person may be more beautiful and, therefore,
able to contract a suitable marriage.

[136] See p. 176. [Transcriber's note: This is page 192.]

MARRIAGE

Frequently parents arrange matches for their children while they are
still very young, but in the majority of cases the matter is left until
after the age of puberty when the wishes of the young people are taken
into consideration. The youth or his father having chosen a suitable
girl takes or sends a spear, knife, or other acceptable present to her
father. If this offering is accepted it indicates approval of the match,
and soon thereafter a feast is prepared to which friends of both
families are invited. At this feast the price to be paid for the girl
and the time of marriage are agreed upon, and at least partial payment
is made. As is the case with the neighboring tribes, a part of the value
of this gift is returned. Following the agreement the boy enters the
service of his fiancee's father and for a year or more lives as a member
of the family. Even after the marriage a considerable amount of service
is expected from him at the time of planting, harvesting, or building.

The marriage ceremony proper follows a feast, and consists of the young
couple feeding each other with rice and drinking from a common cup.

Should anything occur to prevent the marriage, after the payment for the
girl has been made, the gifts must be returned or service equal to their
value must be rendered.

Unfaithfulness on the part of the woman seems to be the one cause for a
separation and thi