Page:Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - The Achehnese - tr. Arthur Warren Swete O'Sullivan (1906).djvu/408

 labour be difficult, nor must she be allowed to see monkeys for fear the child should resemble them. If her husband goes out for the evening (outside the gampōng) he must not return direct to the house, but must first go and sit for a time in some other place, as for instance the meunasah. Should he neglect this rule, the dreaded burōng, the Achehnese pontianak (of which more anon) will most likely follow him into the house. Superstitions of this sort are very numerous. In Java the husband is forbidden to slaughter animals during his wife's pregnancy, for fear the child should come into the world mutilated; but in Acheh disregard of this prohibition is supposed only to affect the meat, causing it to have a nauseous smell (hanyi).

The relations and friends of the woman also pay her occasional visits at this period, bringing her dishes of food (mè bu); but these visits are not so ceremonious as that of her mother-in-law. Women in this condition are much given to organizing picnic-parties (meuramiën). They go with a crowd of friends to the seashore or some other suitable place out in the country, or else to a mosque. There they pass the day in gossip and enjoy a feast, the food being either cooked on the spot or brought ready prepared from home.

In the seventh month the mother of the woman summons the midwife and makes a preliminary engagement of her services. "Should God will," she says "that my daughter should fall ill, I leave it all in your hands." After this the midwife pays no more visits till the confinement, unless she considers occasional massage (urōt) necessary.

All expenses of the first confinement fall on the parents of the woman. The husband may evince his good will by contributing some fish, oil and tobacco towards the housekeeping, but he gives no money save in the form of fees or presents.

The confinement generally takes place in the back verandah (sramòë likōt). At the beginning of labour the woman simply lies down on the plank floor, or on a mat if the flooring be of bamboo. Fastened to the ceiling above her head is a rope which she employs to raise herself slightly during labour; she leans against another woman and holds