as a protection
against harm," and also touches the other members of the family. [50]
She next directs her attention to the liver, for by its condition it
is possible to foretell the child's future (cf. p. 307).

While the medium has been busy with the immediate family, friends
and relatives have been preparing the flesh for food, which is now
served. No part is reserved, except the boiled entrails which are
placed in a wooden dish and set among other gifts intended for the
superior beings.

Following the meal, the mediums continue summoning spirits until
late afternoon when the ceremony known as _Gipas_--the dividing--is
held. [51] The chief medium, who is now possessed by a powerful spirit,
covers her shoulder with a sacred blanket, [52] and in company with
the oldest male relative of the expectant woman goes to the middle of
the room, where a bound pig lies with a narrow cloth extending along
its body from head to tail. After much debating they decide on the
exact center of the animal, and then with her left hand each seizes a
leg. They lift the victim from the floor, and with the head-axes, which
they hold in their free hands, they cut it in two. In this way the
mortals pay the spirits for their share in the child, and henceforth
they have no claims to it. The spirit and the old man drink _basi_,
to cement their friendship; and the ceremony is at an end.

The small pots and other objects used as offerings are placed on the
sacred blanket in one corner of the room, where they remain until
the child is born, "so that all the spirits may know that _Gipas_
has been held." A portion of the slaughtered animals and some small
present are given to the mediums, who then depart.

In San Juan a cloth is placed on the floor, and on it are laid
betel-nuts, four beads, and a lead sinker. These are divided with
the head-axe in the same manner as the pig, but the medium retains
for her own use the share given to the spirits.

In the better class of dwellings, constructed of boards, there is
generally a small section in one corner, where the flooring is of
bamboo; and it is here that the delivery takes place, but in the
ordinary dwellings there is no specified location.

The patient is in a kneeling or squatting position with her hands on a
rope or bamboo rod, which is suspended from a rafter about the height
of her shoulders. [53] She draws on this, while one or more old women,
skilled in matters pertaining to childbirth, k