are wet from the rain; we
were wet in Inakban (a town of the spirits);" then placing two small
baskets in the _saloko_, he carries the child into the dwelling. Soon
the father appears and goes about inquiring for his wife and child;
suddenly spying the baskets, he seizes them and takes them into the
house, saying, "Here are the mother and the child."

The following morning, the women place rice cakes and betel-nuts,
ready to chew, in leaves, and tie them to a bamboo stalk with many
branches. This is then planted beside the spring, "so that the child
will grow and be strong like the bamboo." The sight of all these
good things is also pleasing to the spirits, and they will thus be
inclined to grant to the child many favors.

When the women return to the house, they carry with them a coconut
shell filled with water, and with this they wash the infant's face
"to keep it from crying, and to keep it well." This done, they tie
a knot of banana leaves to the house ladder as a sign that no person
may enter the dwelling until after its removal the next day. [72]

A ceremony, not witnessed by the writer, is said to take place when
evil spirits have persistently annoyed the mother and the child,
when the delivery is long overdue, or when an _anito_ child [73]
has been born to a human mother. The husband and his friends arm
themselves with long knives or head-axes, and enter the dwelling,
where they kill a rooster. The blood is mixed with rice; and this,
together with nine coconut shells filled with _basi_, is placed beneath
the house for the _anitos_ to eat. While the spirits are busy with
this repast, the mother, wrapped in a blanket, is secretly passed out
a window and taken to another house. Then the men begin shouting,
and at the same time slash right and left against the house-posts
with their weapons. In this way the evil spirits are not only kept
from noticing the absence of the mother, but are also driven to a
distance. This procedure is repeated under nine houses, after which
they return to the dwelling with the woman. As soon as they reach the
top of the ladder, an old woman throws down ashes "to blind the eyes
of the _anitos_, so that they cannot see to come up." [74] She likewise
breaks a number of small jars, "which look like heads," as a threat of
the treatment which awaits them if they attempt to return to the house.

Within the dwelling food and presents are offered to the good spirits,
and all who have partici