Note 240 — Chapter XI

This is one of the many supposed indications of a possible Asiatic origin of these peoples, “remnants of a race driven into the mountains by the present dwellers in the plains,” as Tylor says of the Miau-tsze, who also practice the couvade (op. cit. p. 295). The practice is as widespread as the performance of the medicine-man or shaman, though not invariably an accompaniment of so-called shamanism or kindred performances: for example the Arunta have medicine-men but do not practise the couvade, the Basque people have couvade but no medicine-man.