had been used in the ritual previous to the birth, and, holding his eagle plumes in his right hand, repeated a prayer. Two loosely twisted cords of native cotton, which had been prepared by the father of the infant immediately after the birth of the child, were placed under the mother’s pillow, to her right side; these were afterwards tied around the ankles of the infant, to indicate that it was a child of Sûs´sĭstinnako and that it might know this father. After the prayer the grandfather touched the head, either side and foot of the cradle, and the child’s body, with a spear point of obsidian; this was repeated four times for strength of body, limbs, heart, and mind of the child; and the spear was passed over the mother’s limbs and body for the same purpose. The grandfather then gave the child its first food by placing in his own mouth a pinch of a specially sacred and valuable medicine composed of the pollen of medicinal and edible plants and transferring it into the infant’s mouth from his. He then placed a bit with his fingers in the mother’s mouth. The medicine was given to the child that he might know all the medicines of the earth, and to the mother that her milk which was to nourish the infant might be good, so that the child’s heart and mind would be good. No attention was given to the woman by the doctress for two hours after the birth, when a fresh gown was put on, the gown being changed every morning and evening for four days, the one worn in the evening having been washed and dried the same day. The sheepskin on the bed was changed daily. About 9 o’clock a. m. the grandmother prepared a bowl of tea made from freshly gathered cedar twigs steeped in water, and the woman drank two gourdfuls. This tea is constantly drunk for a designated period, which differs with different clans; some drinking it regularly for four months, others taking it but three, and some only two months. No water is drunk during the time this liquid is used, and continency is observed for the two, three, or four months; the husband, however, sleeps during this time in the same room, and in this particular case the husband slept by his wife’s side. Should a woman break the continency, an animal would enter her abdomen and she would surely die, for so said the first mother of her clan. After the first draft of the tea the woman ate a hearty breakfast of tortillas, jerked meat, and corn-meal gruel. Her female relatives and friends called to see her and the baby during the day, and she chatted as merrily as if nothing had happened.