The Sia: (1894 N 11 / 1889-1890 (pages 3-158))Stevenson, Matilda Coxe
History
The Sia: (1894 N 11 / 1889-1890 (pages 3-158))
Stevenson, Matilda Coxe
Zia Indians
The only attempt made by the doctress to hasten the birth was an
occasional manipulation of the abdomen, after which she placed the ear
of corn at the head of the woman, and after blowing upon it passed it
down the middle of the body four times, as before, and the heating of
the person by heaping a few coals upon the floor and putting upon them
cobwebs, the woman standing over the coals while the mother held the
blanket close around her feet. This failing in its desired effect,
scrapings from one of the beams in an old chamber were placed on coals,
the woman standing over the coals. It is claimed by the Sia that these
two remedies are very old and were used when the world was new. After
a time a third remedy was tried—the fat of a castrated sheep was put
on coals heaped in a small bowl, the woman also standing over this—but
all these remedies failed. The woman occasionally assisted herself
with a circular stick 4 inches in length wrapped with cotton. After 2
o’clock a. m. the father became so fatigued that the sister-in-law,
instead of blowing upon the corn, stood back of him and supported his
forehead with her clasped hands. The ear of corn, when not in use, lay
beside the sand bed. As the night waned the woman gradually became
more and more exhausted, and at half past two the mother laid several
sheepskins upon the floor and on these a blanket, placing two pillows
at the head of this pallet, and then taking a pinch of meal from the
bowl which was at the right side of the bed, which had been prepared
for use after the birth, put it into the right hand of the woman, who
now knelt upon the sand bed, leaning upon her father’s shoulder while
he, in the deepest emotion, stroked her head. As the woman received the
meal she raised her head and the sister-in-law handed the ear of corn
to the father, who held it between his hands and prayed, then running
the corn from the crown of the woman’s head down the body in a direct
line and holding it vertically while the woman sprinkled the meal upon
it and prayed to Ût´sět that she might pass safely through the trials
of parturition. She was now so exhausted that she was compelled to lie
on the pallet; twice she raised from the pallet and took position for
delivery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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