Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 21, 1910.djvu/61

Rh from the father to the wife's brother, the money being first placed on a pudding and then put over the right shoulder of the expectant mother to be given later to her brother. The act of divination consists in the pinching of a leaf-cup containing water brought from a spring used only for this purpose. If the child is to be a boy, the water will squirt out, but, if it is to be a girl, this will not happen. A formula is uttered during this rite by the sister of the husband, the future paternal aunt of the child.

When the birth is about to take place, the woman who is to take the leading part in looking after the mother is chosen by the husband's sister, and this means much more than the mere choice of a midwife, for in Mota it is the act of payment to this woman which determines the parentage of the child for social purposes. In this island it is the man who pays this woman chosen by the father's sister who becomes the father of the child. As a general rule the payment is made by the actual father, but, if he is away or has no money, or if another is more anxious than himself to own the child, he may be forestalled in this payment and lose his right to his own child.

When the piece of umbilical cord separates from the child, it must first be offered by the father to his own sister, who will, however, usually refuse it, because its acceptance would make it necessary later for her brother to prepare a great feast in her honour. When she has refused it, he gives it to some other woman whom he calls sister by the classificatory system, who puts it in a leaf which is covered with string so that it is not visible and hangs it on her neck. She keeps this on her neck till the child is two years old, and then the father of the child has to give her a feast. The father's sister may also ask for some of the nail-parings of the child, and keep them on her neck in a similar way, and this has also to be