In each district there are one or two mid wives, known as managámon. They are women past middle life who are versed in the medicines and rites which should be employed at the time of birth. They are not considered as ballyan, yet they talk to the spirits upon certain occasions.
When a pregnant woman is about to be delivered the midwife crushes the bark of the dap-dap tree and makes a medicine called tagaúmo, which she gives to the patient. It is 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 this is uncommon, for unless her admirer purchases her for a sum equal to the amount her husband spent in obtaining her, the divorced woman remains as a slave in the home of her former husband.
Polygamy is permitted and is quite common, but a man may not take a second wife until a child has been born to the first. In addition to his wives a man may have as many concubines as he can afford to purchase.
It is said to be a grave offense for a man to embrace a married woman, or even to touch the breasts, elbows, or heels of any woman he does not intend to marry. An unmarried woman who permits such familiarities is considered as good as married. Despite this assertion, the writer knows of several cases where young people openly lived together without being considered married, and later the parents arranged marriages between these girls and other suitors.