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Of their Child-bearing , (src.
CHAP- XXVI-
Of their Child-bearing, and the Education
of their Children.
NE x T to Marriage it will be expedient to treat of their
Child-bearing, and their Children. Where we may note firft, that they
wiSh for nothing more, and that they take no greater pleSure in any thing
then fruitfull Matrimony. And hence it is , I fuppoSe, they are So prone
to luft, as is elSewhere Shown rbutaltho theydefire this So ardently, yet
they are very Seldome fruitfull in Children , for they can fcarce beget more
then eight , which number is the greateft, and uSually they beget but
one, two, or three. An occasion of this their barreneSs, Sam. Rheen
imagines their bad diet, as likewise the extreme coldneSs of the Country,
which I think may be very true. He moreover adds Gods anger, which he
collects from this, becaufe tho they are not worn away with War or Plague,
yet notwithstanding their Country is never the more populous,and their
Nation wafts rather daily. The motive of this anger he SuppoSes to be their
ob-ftinateneSs in maintaining their ancient impieties. They uSe indeed at this
v^ry day, not only in Child-bearing, but other aSfairs too, to be Solicitous
concerning the events, and to Search after them by their fuperftitious rites.
Their firft care is concerning the Sex, for as foon as they perceive the wife to
be big with child, they have an opinion that they can inform themfelves
whether it will prove a Boy ora Girl, after this manner: theyforrhwith view
the Moon( for they imagine that a Child-bearing woman bears fome
refem-blance to the Moon, as we (hall hear ) if there be a Star juft above the Moon,
they thence col left that the burden will prove of the male Sex, if below, of
the female. But I wonder they make a comparifon between the Moon and a
woman with child. For can there be any account given of their
refem-blance ? is it, that like the Moon , the grows big with her burden , and when
that is laid, leSfens again ? 1 rather fuppofe that thefe are the reliques of
their Pagan fuperftition, which made the Moon the tutelar Goddefs to
women with child. Forfo moft of the Pagans did account other, which
opinion being outdated, they yet pretend fome refemblance between them.
Their fecond care is touching the health or licknefs of the child, which thing
alfo they fuppofe the Moon will inform them in. For if a Star be juft
before the Moon, they take it for a Sign that the child will prove healthfull,
and grow up to be a man. But if it comes juft after her, they thence
pre-fage that the child will be a very fickly one, and not long lived.
The woman with child laies her burden in a hut, but ( which any body
may understand ) a fufficient incommodious one , especially if the time of
her delivery happen to be in the Winter, for tho they have a fire kindled
in the middle of the hut, yet that can give her but little warmth. After
her delivery , her firft reftorative and cordial, is a gcod draught of Whales
fat,
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