Note 205 — Chapter VII · EDUCATION, MARRIAGE, CONCUBINAGE, CHILDBIRTH, AND BAPTISM.

The Teochichimec husband undertook the office of midwife when the birth took place on the road. He heated the back of his wife with fire, threw water over her in lieu of a bath, and gave her two or three kicks in the back after the delivery, in order to promote the issue of superfluous blood. The new-born babe was placed in a wicker basket, and thrown over the back of the mother, who proceeded on her journey. Sahagun, Hist. Gen., tom. ii., lib. vi., pp. 191-203; also Torquemada, Monarq. Ind., tom. ii., pp. 445-6; Clavigero, Storia Ant. del Messico, tom. ii., p. 86; Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. iii., pp. 560; Carbajal Espinosa, Hist. Mex., tom. i., pp. 551-2, 673, etc. The utensils which served at the birth of the child were, according to Las Casas, Hist. Apologética, MS., cap. clxxix., offered at the fountain or river where the mother washed herself.