L., [p. 90.]
Mr. H. A. Ottewill tells me in a private note that the Kachins or Singphos did not begin to reach Burma in their emigration from Tibet until last century or possibly this century. They are not to be found east of the Salwen River.
L., [p. 91.]
COUVADE.
There is a paper on the subject in the Zeitschrift für Ethnologie (1911, pp. 546–63) by Hugo Kunicke, Das sogennante “Männerkindbett,” with a bibliography not mentioning Yule’s Marco Polo, Vinson, etc. We may also mention: De la “Covada” en España. Por el Prof. Dr. Telesforo de Aranzadi, Barcelona (Anthropos, T. V., fasc. 4, Juli–August, 1910, pp. 775–8).
L., [p. 92 n.]
I quoted Prof. E. H. Parker (China Review, XIV., p. 359), who wrote that the “Langszi are evidently the Szi lang, one of the six Chao, but turned upside down.” Prof. Pelliot (Bul. Ecole franç. Ext. Orient, IV., July–Sept., 1904, p. 771) remarks: “Mr. Parker is entirely wrong. The Chao of Shi-lang, which was annexed by Nan Chao during the eighth century, was in the western part of Yun Nan, not in Kwei chau; we have but little information on the subject.” He adds: “The custom of Couvade is confirmed for the Lao of Southern China by the following text of the Yi wu chi of Fang Ts’ien-li, dating at least from the time of the T’ang dynasty: ‘When a Lao woman of Southern China has a child, she goes out at once. The husband goes to bed exhausted, like a woman giving suck. If he does not take care, he becomes ill. The woman has no harm.’”
L., [pp. 91–95.]
Under the title of The Couvade or “Hatching,” John Cain writes from Dumagudem, 31st March, 1874, to the Indian Antiquary, May, 1874, p. 151:
“In the districts in South India in which Telugu is spoken, there is a wandering tribe of people called the Erukalavandlu. They generally pitch their huts, for the time being, just outside a town or village. Their chief occupations are fortune-telling, rearing pigs, and making mats. Those in this part of the Telugu country observe the custom mentioned in Max Müller’s Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. II., pp. 277–284. Directly the woman feels the birth-pangs, she informs her husband, who immediately takes some of her clothes, puts them on, places on his forehead the mark which the women usually place on theirs, retires into a dark room where is only a very dim lamp, and lies down on the bed, covering himself up with a long cloth. When the child is born, it is washed and placed on the cot beside the father. Assafœtida, jaggery, and other articles are then given, not to the mother, but to the father. During the days of ceremonial uncleanness the man is treated as the other Hindus treat their women on such occasions. He is not allowed to leave his bed, but has everything needful brought to him.”