National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

86   MARCO POLO.   VOL. II. BK. II.

Vinson, etc. We may also mention : De la" Covada " en Espana.

Por el Prof. Dr. Telesforo de Aranzadi, Barcelona (Anthropos,

T.V., fasc. 4, Juli-August, 191o, pp. 775-8).

L., p. 92 n.

I quoted Prof. E. H. Parker (China Review, X I V., p. 359),

who wrote that the " Langszi are evidently the Szi lang, one

of the six Chao, but turned upside down." Prof. Pelliot (Bul.

Ecole franc. Ext. Orient, IV., July-Sept., 1904, p. 771) remarks :

" Mr. Parker is entirely wrong. The Chao of Shi-lang, which

was annexed by Nan Chao during the eighth century, was in the

western part of Yun Nan, not in Kwei chau ; we have but little

information on the subject." He adds : " The custom of Couvade

is confirmed for the Lao of Southern China by the following text

of the Yi wu chi of Fang Ts'ien-li, dating at least from the time

of the T'ang dynasty : ` When a Lao woman of Southern China

has a child, she goes out at once. The husband goes to bed

exhausted, like a woman giving suck. If he does not take care,

he becomes ill. The woman has no harm.' "

L., pp. 91-95.

Under the title of The Couvade or " Hatching," John Cain

writes from Dumagudem, 31st March, 1874, to the Indian

Antiquary, May, 1874, p. 15 I :

" In the districts in South India in which Telugu is spoken,

there is a wandering tribe of people called the Erukalavandlu.

They generally pitch their huts, for the time being, just outside

a town or village. Their chief occupations are fortune-telling,

rearing pigs, and making mats. Those in this part of the Telugu

country observe the custom mentioned in Max Müller's Chips

from a German Workshop, Vol. II., pp. 277-284. Directly the

woman feels the birth-pangs, she informs her husband, who

immediately takes some of her clothes, puts them on, places on

his forehead the mark which the women usually place on theirs,

retires into a dark room where is only a very dim lamp, and lies

down on the bed, covering himself up with a long cloth. When

the child is born, it is washed and placed on the cot beside the

father. Assafcetida, jaggery, and other articles are then given,

not to the mother, but to the father. During the days of

ceremonial uncleanness the man is treated as the other Hindus

treat their women on such occasions. He is not allowed to

leave his bed, but has everything needful brought to him."