In each district there are one or two mid wives, known as _managamon_.
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 _tagaumo_, 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.]