When childbirth approaches, the medicine-men are always summoned. Nothing can give a better idea of the medicine rites on such an occasion, and of the use of sacred pollen, than a description of a maternity belt procured by the writer and here illustrated. So far as can be learned, this belt is very old, so old that its painted symbolic figures have been three times renewed. Belts of this kind are very rare, and are hired whenever their use is required. The owner of this particular belt, a widow, did not care to dispose of it; as she expressed it, "it is like a husband": the remuneration from granting its use was sufficient to support her. The belt is made from skin of the mountain lion, the black-tail deer, the white-tail deer, and the antelope—animals which give birth to their young without trouble. Medicine-men are called in to pray to the spirits of these animals when a woman approaching confinement puts on the belt. It is worn for a day or so only, but constantly during the critical period, not being removed until after the child is born. Prayers are made, first by a mother or father for their daughter, then by a medicine-man, and lastly by the patient to the gods and elements depicted on the belt. These figures are all connected with lightning lines. The first one to the left is Stĕnátlĭhăn; on the same portion is the Snake Girl, Klĭshcho Nalí̆n; the next is Nayé̆nĕzganĭ, the third Tubadzĭschí̆nĭ, and the last Yólkai Nalí̆n. The sharp points around the circular abodes of the two goddesses represent barricades for protection. At the real homes of these deities, none can pass through these barriers. Each of the gods from left to right is prayed to successively, and _hádĭntĭn_ is sprinkled around them afterward. Stĕnátlĭhăn is the first to be addressed by the prospective mother: "We are your children. When you gave birth to your children, it caused you no trouble. Make me like yourself, that my child, soon to be born, may come into this world easily and quickly, without pain to me." Next the Snake Girl is prayed to: "Klí̆shcho Nalí̆n, you came into this life with ease. Do what you can for me now, that my child may come in like manner." Then to Nayé̆nĕzganĭ: "Help my babe, soon to be born, to come as you did—quickly, easily, and without pain." The belt in Nayé̆nĕzganĭ’s left hand represents the one worn by his mother, Stĕnátlĭhăn, when he was born. There was a time when skirts, too, having the same magic power the belt is supposed to possess, were worn by women at childbirth. One such is shown in the hand of Tubadzĭschí̆nĭ, next pictured, to whom the woman addresses a prayer much the same as the last. The skirt also is the one worn by Stĕnátlĭhăn when the two brothers were born. [Illustration: Medicine Cap and Fetish - Apache] Medicine Cap and Fetish - Apache _From Copyright Photograph 1907 by E.S. Curtis_