in her weakness, and protects her from evil beings." She carries a
coconut shell filled with ashes, a basket and a jar, and thus equipped
she goes to the village spring. Arriving there, she cleans the dishes
"as a sign that her weakness has passed, and that she can now care
for herself;" then she sets fire to a piece of bark, and leaves it
burning beside the water, as a further sign of her recovery. When
she returns to the dwelling, the cleansed dishes and the staff are
placed above the spot, where she and the baby sleep.

On the 29th day the fire is extinguished, and the bamboo frame
is fastened under the floor of the house, below the mother's mat,
"so that all can see that the family has followed the custom." As
the frame is carried out, the mother calls to the _anito_ mother
(cf. p. 261) to throw out her fire.

In the mountain districts about Lakub, a ceremony in which the spirits
are besought to look to the child's welfare is held about the third
day after the birth. The mediums summon several spirits; a chicken
or a pig is killed, and its blood mixed with rice is offered up. At
the conclusion a small _saloko_ [65] containing an egg is attached
to one end of the roof. In Ba-ak this is generally a three to six day
event attended by all the friends and relatives of the family. Here,
in place of the egg, a jar containing pine-sticks is attached to the
roof, for the pine which burns brightly makes it plain to the spirits
what the people are doing.

In the light of the extended and rather complex procedure just
related, it is interesting to note that the Tinguian woman is one
of those mythical beings whom careless or uninformed writers have
been wont to describe as giving birth to her children without bodily