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"-^1"- ■-:-- ' I, ^-^- • "» ■ ''•''-; ^ —« I'- ' ^^ I .. rf«\:. ^ i" r-- -x '. ■■ r •^ ■ I'-^-i' ■ X^ ;'.*■•".■ i,.^. \ - '■■'•*> ' :j -■'■■■ i. ■ ^...iif_ _>,■/■ ^|^.'W•<^w.-^:" \ V MaD rect ki of its 1 It is the wh Nation; and erf south, in orde Defo] desigue Columl practic Und< Mound occipiti infant ' Inb( in som< ' a'uDut. h,rw-:v^''::: ,.-'■■ .■■.:^*:;%^>.^^^f ■■:>■-; -■■ : -•rv:'-,,::'--'^^-:.:,- , ^■■. ■ .-- ^^.i:l:^.^-!^-:r i toslee] -i^^.;.^-?f- -P the ino dauglii ways deteru] Si«: •iJ^ F-: ■^■i4f>uj\.' ■'^, ■ ;'#^^K «!*# fj>7j-.- M^ 4-'-c * I wi and reft Afe^^^ fial'i- 'tT-f ■-,i«.^:.I■i.- '**^W^-*'"*- •'jVv--^' ■*' .«'■ f^ i^s'-f ^ 'ifi '•^'H'- P'i'A -r* ^:v :s& (■•■if5( ] ■"-i>V ^^? "■♦A !»*'',-■>».,■ v;M-:^f. :V-, ,.^^«..^ij. »• ■' f^ •'i^i CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN A13GRIG1NES.* ^" .y -:, I By Otis T. Mason. V • .K-'f ■.TW: ■V. * ■ ^m Many questions in anthropology depend for their answer upon a cor- rect knowledge of the manner in which the child passes the first year of its life. It is commonly believed that the shape of the head and, indeed, of the whole frame is modified by the cradle. From time to time the National Museum at Washington has come into possession of cradles and cradle-frames from the farthest north of their limit to the farthest south. A description of these with accurate drawings is herein given in order to throw further light upon the problem. Deformation of the head, as is well known, is both designed and un- designed. Among the Chinuks and other tribes near the mouth of the Columbia Kiver and northward, tlattening of the head was intentionally practiced in a manner to be hereafter described. , Undesigned head shaping is believed to have resulted among the Mound people as well as among our modern Indians, especially in the occipital region, from the contact of the soft and pliable head of the infant with the cradle board or frame, even with the downy pillow. In both Ameri(!a,' the majority of aboriginal children were confined in some sort of cradle from their birth until they were able to walk aLaut. The cradle during this period serves many iMirposes : (1) It is a mere nest for the holi)less infant. (2) It is a bed so constructed and manii)ulated {is to enable the child to sleep either in a vertical or a horizontal position. (3) It is a vehicle in which the child is to be transported, chiefly ou the mother's back by means of a strap over the foj ehead, but frequently dangling like a bundle at the saddle-bow. This function, of course, always modifies the structure of the cradle, and, indeed, may have determined its very existence among nomadic tribes. * I wish to expresa luy siiiccre* tluuiks to Dr. J. H. Porter for the vahiable notes and refereuces which acconipaiiy tliis paper. o.T. M. II. Mis. COO, pt. 2 11 ,, ,,. ., v«i ,i. i6l rv,..v* PROVINCIAL. LIBRARV VICTORIA, B. C. 162 REPORT OT NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. (4) It is indeed a cradle, to be hung upon the limbs to rock, answer- ing literally to the nursery rhyme : Rock a-byo baby upon the tree top, Whea the wind blows the cradle will rock, When the bough bends the cradle will fall, Down will come baby, and cradle, and all. (5) It is also a play-house and baby-jumper. On many, nearly all, specimens may be seen dangling objects to evoke the senses, foot-rests by means of which the little one may exercise its legs, besides other conveniences anticipatory of the Child's needs. (6) The last set of functions to which the frame is devoted are those relating to what we may call the graduation of infancy, when the pap- poose crawls out of its chrysalis little by little, and then abandons it altogether. The child is next seen standing partly on the mother's cincture and partly hanging to her neck or resting like a pig in a poke within the folds of her blanket. An exhaustive treatment of this subject would include a careful study of the bed and especially of the pillow, in every instance, as well as of the frame. But collectors have been extremely careless in this regard. Very few cradles in the National Museum are accompanied with the beds and pillows. Were it not that here and there a traveler or a coixsspondent had made observations on the field, a hopeless la- cuna would be in our way. Much remains to be done exactly at this point, and future investigators must turn their attention to this subject especially. In this investigation much depends upon the age at which the child is placed in the cradle, the manner of bandaging and of suspending. Also there are a thousand old saws, superstitions, times and seasons, formularies, rites and customs hovering around the first year of every child's life in savagery that one should know, in order to comprehend many things attached to the cradle and its uses. Indeed, no one but an Indian mother could narrate the whole story in detail. Awaiting information from these sources, we shall describe as faithfully as pos- sible the material now stored in the National Museum. The method pursued in this description is that adopted in the series already begun in the report of 1884. The design is to apply the rules and methods of natural history to the inventions of mankind. We fol- low up the natural history of each human want or craving or occupa- tion separately with a view to combining them into a comparative psy- chology as revealed in things. Again, Eastian's study of " great areas " finds a beautiful illustration at this point in the fact that the cradle-board or frame is the child of geography and of meteorology. In the frozen North the Eskimo niotlier carries her infant in the hood of her parka whenever it i3 necessary to take it abroad. If she used a board or frame the child would perish with the cold. Indeed, the settled condition of the Eskimo does away with the necessity of such a device. I CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 163 t- It is somewhat difficult to mark the southern limit of the cradle frame owiog to the great elevations in Mexico and middle America. The Na- tional Museum does not possess a cradle frame of any tribe living south of the northern tier of Mexican Stafes until we cross the equator. The most southern tribes of Mexic from which specimens have come, are the Pimas, Yumas, and Yaquis. It is not here denied, however, that tribes farther south use this device. No attempt is here made to exhaust the study of child life in sav- agery. All who read this paper arc doubtless familiar with the work of Dr. Plosa, entitled " Das Kirnl."* The most exhaustive analysis of the subject will be found in the treatise of Dr. E. Pokrooski, of Moscow, published in the fourteenth volume of the Transactions of the Society of Friends of Natural Sci- ence, Anthropology, etc. The work is devoted especially to the differ- ent peoples of Russia. The table of contents is here appended because the volume is likely to be overlooked, and in order to show the ramifi- cations of this interesting theme : Chapter i. Attention paid to the protection and development of the embryo, heredity, relations of the sexes, condition of woman, consangniuo marriages, polygamy and polyandry, marriage in classical antiquity, care taken of pregnant women among ancient and modern i)eoples. Chapter II. Abortion and infanticide; motives; superstitions, fear of monsters, misery, etc.; legislation relative to abortion and infanticide. Chapter in. Parturition and the condition of the new born. Chapter iv. Care relative to the umbilical cord. Chapter v. Dwelling of the infant in the family of the parents. Chapter vi. Care of the skin. Chapter vii. Bathing of infants. - Chapter viil. Cold baths and bpptism, in Europe, in Thibet, etc. Chapter ix. Dressing of infants among ancient peoples and modem savages. Chapter x. Dressing of Russian children. Chapter xi. Enameling (emmaillotement). Chapter xii. Kneading and rectification of the body of the - fant. Chapter xiii. Artificial deformation of the skull, ancient macrocephals, deformation among modern peoples, especially in Russia, Caucasia, Poland, Lapland, etc. Chapter xiv. Influence of the infant's posture in its bed upon the deformation of the occiput, custom of bedding children among the Tbraciaus, Macedonians, Ger- mans, and Belgians of the sixteenth century, and among the modern Asiatics. The form of the occiput in Russians of the Kourgans, from the craniological col- lections of Moscow. Chapter xv. The cradle among different peoples. Chapter xvi. The cradles of the Russians. Chapter xvii. Cradles among other i)coples of Russia, Tsiganis, Fins, Esths, Livon- ians, Laps, Poles, Jews, Lithuanians, Tchercmis, Bashkirs, Nogai, Sarts, Kirghiz, Kalmnks, Yakuts, Buriats, Tunguses, Soiotes, Woguls, Samoides, Goldoi, Koriaks, Kamchadales, Caucasians, etc. Chapter xviii. Methods of putting children in their beds, of carrying them and trans- porting them, dependence on climate, mode of life ; bearing them on the arm, back, neck, head, hip; in bags, paniora, chests, skins, etc.; customs of the Chinese, Negroes, Hottentots, American Indians, Kamchadales, Japauese.etc, in this regard. *Dr. H. Ploss. Das Kind in Branch und Sitte dt^r Viilker. Anthropologische Stu- dien. Leipzig (1884), Griebon, 2 vols., 8vo, _ , ^ „ , « J;e»■^<^r^/ OnDtt 32069 >is., 8V0 v-Aip^lr- ^^ ^-■^'^' PROVINCIAL. U> VICTOR*^, B. o. 164 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Chapter xix. Amusement of tke child by the mother in Russia. Chapter xx. Accustoming the child to sit and to go on all fours. Chapter xxi. The upright petition aud walking. Chapter XXII. Importance of food. Chapter xxiii. Suckling among various peoples, ancient aud modern. Chapter xxiv. Among the Russians. Chapter xxv. Among other peoples of Russia. Chapter xxvi. Ethnic mutilations of children : tattoo, depilation, pieroiup the nose, the ears, the lips, or the cheeks; tiling and removing the teeth, castration, cir- cumcision, and similar mutilations ; corset, Chinese feet, high-heeled boots, etc. Chapter xxvii. Ganios, sports, and amusements of children. Chapter xxviii. Treatment ot' the maladies of children among diflferent peoples. Popular child medicine in Russia, Germany, England, Switzerland, Dalmatia, Kalmucks, Kirghiz, Caucasians, ancient Hindoos, Iranians, etc. Chapter xxix. Care relative to the corporeal development of children and the means employed to toughen and fortify them ; seclusion of children, asceticism, horse- manship, physical and warlike training of children among savages, etc. Chapter xxx. R61e played by animals in the education of man— cows, goats, dogs, she wolves, apes, etc. Chapter xxxi. Physical education among the children of Russian peasants, and the results. Chapter xxxii. Conclusions. ESKIMO CRADLES.* The Hyperboreans or Eskimos skirt the Arctic coast in Greenland, Labrador, the islands north of Canada, at the mouth of the Mackenzie River, all around Alaska to Mount St. Elias. In all of these areas the mother has the hood of her skin robe or parka made very large, so as to carry therein her babe, which nestles around the mother's neck secure from the cold. (Figs. 1 and 2.) The home life of the Hyperbo- reans is more permanent in its character than that of the southern Indians. There is provision made in the huts of the Eskimo for any babies that may be present. The Indians contiguous to the Eskimo in Alaska and northeastern Canada belong to the great Tinn^an or Athapascan stock. They are called Kutchin in Alaska, and in the basin of the Mackenzie Eiver have names ending with tena or dene, or an equivalent vocable. In the lan- guage of the Hudson Bay fur traders they bear various titles, most of * Lyon, Capt. G. F. (Private Journal, ». e. of Parry's Arctic Ex., London, 1824, 8vo), remarks that the Eskimo women of Savage Islands had large hoods for the pur- pose of carrying their young children stark naked against the back (p. 20). Of the Eskimo in general he says that they have " slightly bowed " legs (p. 318). Their feat- ures of the face are diversified in an extraordinary manner (p. 309). About a sixth part * * * had high Roman noses (p. 310). Everywhere the hood answers the purpose of a child's cradle (p. 315). Rink, Dr. Henry (Danish Greenland, London, 1877, 13mo) asserts that the exter- nal curvature of the legs is general among Eskimo women of middle age, and that it is due to the cramped position in which they sit on the ledge in the hut (p. 154). Heriot, G. (Travels through the Canadas, London, 1807, 4to) describes the"E8ki- m»nx" woniea of Newfoundland as having "their capuchins * * » much larger <1 If CRADLES OF THF AMERICAN ABORIGINES. lb*5 them terms of derisiou.* The classJication of the Tinn^ of Alaska is ^iven by Dall. Eskimo "Woman op Point Barkow, cab14ying child. (From photograph.) Fijj. 2. Eskimo "Woman op Point Baruow, carrying slkki'ino child. (From photograph.) The Tinn^an tribes use some sort of device in which to lash their children during the first year. One should expect, however, to find these Indians also copying the Eskimo cradle hood.t Strachan Jones, towards their shoulders" than those of the men, " in order to cover their children ■when they wish to carry them on their backs " (p. 23). Franklin, Capt. J. (Narrative of Second Expedition, London, 1828, 4to): The same kind of hood, for the same purpose as that among the Loucheux, was seen in use among the Eskimo women naar the mouth of the Mackenzie, on the Arctic coast (p. * Contributions to N. A. Ethnology, Bur. Ethnology, i, 24 ; also The Native Tribes of Alaska, A. A. A. S., Ann Arbor, 1885. t Cradles (Dixon's Voyage, p. 239) : It might be imagined that the children of these savages would enjoy the free and unrestrained use of their limbs from their earliest infancy. This, however, is not altogether the case. Three pieces of bark are fastened together, so as to form a kind of chair. The infant, after being wrapped in furs, is put into this chair, and lashed so close that it can not alter its posture, even with struggling, and the chair is so contrived that when a mother wants to feed her child, or give it the breast, there is no ocasion to release it from its shackles. Soft moss is used by the Indian nurse to keep her child clean ; but little regard is paid to this article, and the poor infants are often terribly excoriated ; nay, I have frequently seen boys of six or seven years old whose posteriors ha-ve borne evident marks of this neglect in their infancy. Franklin, Capt. J. (Narrative of Second Expedition, London, 1828, 4to): The hood of the dr 38 among the Lower Loucheux women is "mad« sufficiently wide to admit of their carrying a child on their bade" (p. 28). 166 REPORT 01-^ NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Cllin-EWYAN Child-fkamk. (From Ndtf!* ni) the Tinne liidinns. By Striulian Jdnff*. ) ill his Note« on th- Timie or ChippeNvyaii IndiaiKS, gives the figure of an infant Bitting on a diininutivo "bedstead," having a soft fur seat. The body of the child is bandaged to the liigh back of tlie seat. (Fig. 3.) The same observation just made concerning the Eskimo is true of the Iruliaus on the Upper Yukon. Dr.Dall informs me that theirhomes are permanent, and tliat tliere tlierefore is no need of the cradle- frame. The infant, if lashed at all, is fastened in a kind of coal scuttle-shaped cradle, and at night sleeps in a hammock or on the banquette. E. W.Nelson Ims sent to the Smithsonian Insti tution,among the many thousands of specimens col- lected throughout the entire western Eskimo area, the model of a trough-shaped cradle of birch bark, made from three pieces, forming, respectively, the bottom, the top and hood, and the awning. (Fig. 4.) The two pieces forming the bottom and the hood overlap an inch and a half, and are sewed together with a single basting of pine root, with stitches lialf an inch long. Around the bor- 118). In Dr. Ricbardsou'Hiiarr.itivt' of his expedition eastward from the mouth of the Mackenzie, he speaks of coast Eskium women wlio "draw their children out of their wide boots, where they are accustomed to carry them naked" (l, p. 22(5). Franklin, Parry, Back, Richardson, and the more modern explorers, speak cf the flat nose of the Eskimo. As in Oceanica this may bo the result of compression, since Sir John Ross (Voyage to Badin's Bay, London, ldl9,4to) found "small straight " noses and "large aquiline" noses among the Arctic Highlanders of Prince Regent's Bay (pp. 126, 127). Holmberg says of the Koniagas (Eskimos), that the posterior part of the head is "not arched, but flat." The descript" their huts and sleeping places suggests that this may bo the effect of hard pilh ' head-rests on an incompletely ossifled skull. (Bancroft, Nat. Races of Pacific Suu' u, vol. i, p. 72.) Ledyard, -who accompanied the expedition of Captain Cook to the North Pacific, noticed the bowed legs of the Aleuts, and attributed it to their i)ositiou in the boats, in which they spend so much of their time. (Bancroft, Nat. Races of Pacific States, vol. I, p. 88.) Hall, C. F. (Life with the Eskimo, London, 1864, 12mo) : Fac-simile of an Es- kimo wood-cut showing mother and child, with position of latter in hood (vol. i, p. 53). Plate of child in what he calls (p. 98, vol. i) "the baby pouch" (vol. i, p. 159). " The infant is carried naked in the mother's hood, yet in close contact with the parent's skin " (vol. i, p. 189). Compression of head (vol. ii, p. 313). This is lateral, made by the hands, and by a skin cap. But no cap could exert lateral pressure, and the words " a little skin cap placed lightly over the compressed head, which is to be kept there one year" (vol. ii, p. 313), may not convey this idea. Hearne, Samuel, in the narrative of his journey from Prince of Wales Fort, in Hud- son Bay, to the Northern Ocean (Loudon, 1795), informs us that no cradles are in use among the northern Indian tribes between 59° and 68° north. He says that the nuijor- ity of the children are bow-loggcd from the way in which they aie carried. Portlock, in his Voyage Round the World (London, 1789), nuikes observations on the general distortion of the logs among Indians of Prince William's Sound (p. 248). Kerr, Robert (OoUoction of Voyages and Travels, London, 18 ornatuentatiou, and nursing (pp. 316, ;U7). Mackenzie, Sir \.. (Voyagis from Tdontreal to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, Lon- don, 1801, 4to): Descriptive of the "swaddling-board" used by the Beaver Indians (p. 149). N. B. — This board, about 2 feet long, covered with a bed of moss, to which it (the child) is fastened by bandages "was iu use in a sub-arctic climate"! Equally op- l)osed to Hearuo's statement concerning tho absence of cradles in these regions is Mackenzie's full description of a board cradle " in which the child, after it had been swatliod, In placed on a bed of moss." Head compression i)racticed here, i. c, near Northwest coast; tribe not named (p. 371). It is to be remarked that Mackenzie speaks of this last as a '^ncw kind of cradle," the inference being that the Beaver "swaddling-board" was used by tho Chippewa, Kuisteneaux, Assiniboiues, etc. Fitz William (Niu'thwest Passage by Land, p. 85) says that tho cradle is "a board with two side Haps of cloth, which lace together up the center. The child is laid on its back on the board, packed with soft moss, and laced firmly down with its arms to its sides, and only the head at liberty. Tho cradle is slung on the back of the mother when traveling, or reared against a tree when resting in camp, the child being only occasionally released from bondage for a few moments. The little prisoners are re- markably good ; no scxualliug disturbes an Indian camp." Whymper (Alaska, p. 229): "Tho Tenan Kutchin (Tinneh) children are carried in small chairs made of birch bark." Richardson (Journal i, 384) makes the same statement. Bancroft (Nat. Races, etc. i, I'M) says: "Tho women carry their infants in a sort of bark saddle, fastened to tho back ; they bandage their feet in order to make them small." * Smithsonian Report, 185G, p. 302. CRADLES OF THK AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 169 take the breast until three days have ohipsed ; it is considered to \> -^aken the infant if permitted to take the breast before that time. The mother prepares splia^num moss by beating it uutil it becomes quite soft and fluffy. A portion of this moss is plaeed about the chihl, and it is then wrapped in clothes or skins. The swaddling process begijs at the feet and wraps the lower limbs close tojjether ; the trunk is also swathed as far as the neck, until the child resembles a cocoon. At earliest infanej* the arms are wrapped next the body, but vhen several months old those limbs are free, except at nijjht. The reason of this is to make thera grow strjiight and afford the mother convenience in handliug them when on a journey, or to prevent them from rolling about the tent and into the fire. The bandages are removed once a day and a clean quantity of moss su)>plied. Water is never given to the child to drink until it is old enough to help itself — an occasion of remark among the women — for it marks an event in the infant's life. Figure 5 is from a sketch in the Century Magazine, taken at Cape Breton, and gives us an excellent example of the combinations which 'J*'i Fip. r.. Child in Hammock. Cai'e Breton. (From BkPtch in Centur]/ Magaiini,) civilization entails. The wigwam is to the manner born, the hammock reminds one of the far south, whih^; the baby, ensconced in fur and blankets, without a pretense of lashing, points to Eskimo as well as white man's methods. Dr. Dall's remark about the Alaska Indian fash ion of the hammock may be recalled here. On the Pacific side of the Rocky Mountains appear in turn the Kolo sban, the Haidan, Hailtzukan (Quackiool), Salishan, Wakashan, or Nutkan stock. All of these people are more or less the slaves in all 170 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. tlieir arts to tho splendid forests of pine and cedar which cover their lands. The Bollachoola or Bilkhula belong- to the great Salishau stock. Their home is in the vicinity of Bentiuck Arm. The cradle of this peo- ple is probably a fair sample of that used by the stocks north and south of the Bilkhulas (Fig. G). It is a trough-shaped frame of cedar wood made in two pieces, as follows : The t ottom and head-board are in one piece about one-half or three-quarters inch thick. The two sides and foot are also in one pi;>ce. The angles and the bends near the child's knees are effected by scarfing the wood almost through on the inside and boiling and bending it into shape. In this art these Indians are ve'y expert, making great numbers of boxes for food and clothing, with Fig. 6. .BKLLACoOI.A TROIinilCHADLE. (Cat. No. 805M, I'. S. \. M. BHIn Kella, B. C. Collectedby »lariie8 G. Swan. } FiR. 7 Dugout Cradle, with ITkao-flatiknino] Ari'AKArus. (Cat. No. J574 B, V. S. N, M. Cliinnk Indiana. Collected bf (ieoris Ciitlin. ) joints invisible on the outside. The joints of this cradle are united by means of small withes of willow. The characteristic marks are a flat bottom; head-board, like a little grave-stone, painted in red and black with conventional symbol of a totem. Two streaks of red paint skirt the upper margin of the sides. The change in the angle of convergence of the sides near the child is effected by scarfing and bending. The bed consists of a mass of finely shredded cedar bark. This is overlaid with some kind of sheet of cloth or fur, and the lashing passes through CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 171 holes ill flaps of raw -hide, in place of the series of eyelet loops occun'ng on cradles farther Houth. In the coiumenceiiieut of this article two kinds of deformation were mentioned, the designed and the undesigned. The iirst- mentioned method is found in British Columbia, on its western border, and in our domain along the coast of Washington and Oregon. On the extreme north- west corner of Washington live the Makahs, a people associated with the Ahts on Vancouver Island, and belonging to tiie Nutkau or Waka- shan stock. Living as they do in the great cedar region, their cradle would naturally be similar to those of the Indians living farthor north. It is a trough rudely hewed out of cedar wood. ( l*'ig. T.) A low bridge is left across the trough to strengthen it. Slats are {fflt, across to level of height of bridge. The bedding consists of mats of cedar bark. On the lower end of the cradle is a handle. Around the sides are fastened strings. The compress is fastened to head of cradle. It curves over and is tightened by means of cords to the sides of the cradle. It is woven of, and stuffed tightly with, cedar bark. These cradles are sus- pended by strings to pliant poles, swung by the mother with her hand or great toe. Another cradle-trough in the National Museum, said to have come from Oregon Territory, is a block of cedar wood ^50 inches long and 12 inches square, roughly hewn in shape of a boat, with bulging sides. At the foot, on the outside, is carved a handle, function not known. The bed is shredded cedar bark, and the covering a quilt of the same mate- rial, roughly held together by twined weaving; a long pad is hinged to the head-board, and so arranged as to be drawn down over the child's forehead and lashed to either side of the trough. There is evident con- nection between the boats of the Northwest aiul the cradles. An inter- esting feature about this form of cradle is the appliances for lashing the child : (1) A series of holes along the side, just below the margin, parallel with the border most of the way, but sloping quite away from it at the head. (2) A cord of coarse root laid along over these holes on the outside of the cradles. (3) On either side the standard series of loops for the lacing-string is formed by passing ii twine through the first hole, around the root cord on the outside, back through the same hole np to the middle of the cradle to form a loo;,, back through the next hole in the same manner. (i The lacing-string runs through these loops alternately from bot- tom to top. The ornamentation of this type of cradle is cliietiy by means of particolored basketry and furs. The ('hinuks were an ad- vanced people in art, and many of their cradles were very prettily adorned. Mr. Catlin figured one in which the process of head-flattening is going forward. In Mayne's "British Columbia and Vancouver's Island" wo road that 172 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. the child lies at full length, and the sides of the cradle are suffi- ciently high to enable the mother to lace it in by a cord passed from side to side, a small block being put at one end as a pillow. When the mother is traveling she carries the cradle on her back in nearly an up- right position, with the head appearing just above her shoulders. But if she is working she suspends the infant from the pliant branch of a tree, or, sticking the pole in the ground at a slight angle, hangs the cradle, sometimes upright, sometimes horizontally, on the end of it. They move pole and cradle so as to keep it near them, and every now and then give it a swing so that it rocks up and down. It is said that when children die they are put in some lake or pool, in their cradle, and left to float, the water being regarded as sacred ever after. Swan, in his "Indians of Cape Flattery ,"• says: "The practice of flattening the heads of infants, although not universal among the Ma- kahs, is performed in a manner similar to that of the Ohinuks and other tribes in the vicinity of the Columbia River. As soon as a child is born it is washed with warm urine, and then smeared with whale oil and placed in a cradle made of bark, woven basket fashion, or of wood, either cedar or alder, hollowed out for the purpose. Into the cradle a quantity of finely separated cedar bark of the softest texture is first thrown. At the foot is a board raised at an angle of about 25 degrees, which serves to keep the child's feet elevated, or when the cradle is raised to allow the child to nurse, to form a support for the body, or a sort of seat. This is also covered with bark (he-s^-yu). A pillow is formed of the same material, just high enough to keep the head in its natural position, with the spinal column neither elevated nor depressed. First the child is laid on its back, its legs properly extended, its arms put close to its sides, and a covering either of bark or cloth laid over it; and then, commencing at the feet, the whole body is firmly laced up, so that it has no chance to move in the least. When the body is well se- cured, tf padding of he-s6yu is placed on the child's forehead, over which is laid bark of a somewhat stiffer texture, and the head is firmly lashed down to the sides of the cradle; thus the infant remains, seldom taken out more than once a day while it is very young, and then only to wash it and dry its bedding. The male children have a small opening left in the covering, through which the penis protrudes, to enable them to void their urine. The same style of cradle appears to be used whether it is intended to compress the skull or not, and that deformity is accom- plished by drawing the strings of the head-pad tightly and keeping up the pressure for a long time. Children are usually kept in these cradles till they are a year old, but as their growth advances they are not tied up quite so long as for the first few months. The mother, in washing her child, seldom takes the trouble to heat water ; she simply fills her mouth with waler, and when she thinks it warm enough spirts it on the child and rubs it with her hand." •Smithsonian Cont. to Knowledge, No. 220, pp. 18-19. f!RADLE8 OP THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 173 luhabiting the lower parts of the Columbia are a small tribo who cor- rectly come under the name of Flat Heads, as they are almost the only people who strictly adhere to the custom of squeezing and flattening the head. The process of flattening consists in placing the infant on a board, to which it is lashed by means of thongs to a position from which it can not escape, and the back of the head supported by a sort of pillow, made of moss or rabbit-skins, with an inclined piece (as seen in the drawing), resting on tbe forehead of the child, being every day drawn down a little tighter by means of a cord, which holds it in its place until it at length touches the nose, thus forming a straight line from the crown of the head to tbe end of the nose. This process is seemingly a very cruel one, though I doubt if it causes much pain, as it is done in earliest infancy, while the bones are soft and easily de- pressed into this distorted shape, by forcing the occipital up and the frontal down. Fig. 8. Flat Head Woman and Child. (Showing the inauiier in which the hemU oi the t-hildren tiro Htittened. ) The skull at the top in profile will show a breadth of not more than 1^ or 2 inches, when in front view it exhibits a great expansion on the sides, making it at the top nearly the width of one and a half natural heads. ? . .« < By this remarkable operation the brain is singularly changed from its natural shape, but in all probability not in the least diminished or injured in its natural functions. This belief is drawn from the tes- timony of many credible witnesses who have closely scrutinized them and ascertained that those who have the head flattened are in no way inferior in intellectual powers to those whose heads are in their natural shape. 174 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. , ! 4' u I r i \ ^ In the process of flattening the head there is anothc form of crib or cradle into which the child is placed, much in the form of a small canoe, dug out of a log of wood, with a cavity just large enough to admit the body of the child and the head also, giving it room to expand in width, while from the head of the cradle there is a sort of lever, with an elastic spring, that comes down on the forehead of the child and produces the same effect as the one I have described. The child is wrapped in rabbit-skins and placed in this little coffin-like cradle, from which it is not in some instances taken out for several weeks. The bandages over and about the lower limbs are loose and repeatedly taken off in the same day, as the child may require cleansing. But the head and shoulders are kept strictly in the same position, and the breast Fig. 8a. THF CllINUK METHOD OE FLATTENING THE HKAU. (I'lnte 210>si. Vol. u, Catlin's Eijht Years.) SI given to the child by holding it up in the cradle, loosing the outer end ot the lever that comes over the nose and raising it up or turning it aside so as to allow the child to come at the breast without moving its head. The length of time that the infants are ca Tied in these cradles is three, five, or eight weeks, until the bones are so formed as to keep their shape. This cradle has a strap that passes over the woman's forehead whilst the cradle rides upon her back, and if the child dies daring its subjection to this rigid mode its cradle becomes its colhn, forming a little canoe, in which it lies floating on tlie water in some sacred pool. (Catliu, vol. U, p. 110.) CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 175 From the Oregon coast the Wilkes Expedition • brought a cradle whicli is shown in Fig. 9. The frame board is trowel or spade shape. The whole back aud front are covered with buckskin. At a proper distance from the edges, the buckskin is sewed or lashed down, and the flaps form the inclosing wrappings of the child. A triangular " fly " covers the lower extremities. Compare this i)ortion of the cradle with the Nez Percys (Sa- haptian) cradle described further on. The hood is of rawhide, overlaid with a cover of beaded buckskin. It can readily be seen that this hood may be drawn to any tension across the forehead of the infant. The ornamf n- tation and the head-band or carrying- strap are similar to the same parts in other cradles. Wilkes (Explor. Exped., IV, 388) says: "At Niculuita Mr. Drayton obtained a drawing of a » Iiild's head that had just been released from its bandages, in order to secure its flattened appearance. Both parents showed great delight at the success they had met with in eflfect- ing this distortion." (See Fig. 10.) *Marchaud (Voyages) reports that among the Thinkeets, infautsare ''so excoriated by fermented filth, and so scarred by their cradle, that they carry the niarks to the grave." (Bancroft, Nat. Races of Pacific States, vol. i, p. 112.) Lord (Nat., vol. ii, p. 232), Scouler (Lond. Geog. Soc. Jour., vol. xi, pp. 218, 220, 223), Schoolcraft (Arch., vol. ii, p. 325) mention the custom of flattening the head in infancy among the Haidahs (Columbians). (Bancroft, Nat. Races, etc., i, 158.) In their platform houses they slept on " cedar mats" (p. IGl). Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. i) : '' The custom of flattening the head is practiced by the Nootkas in common with the Sound and Chinook fan '- ^s, but is not universal" (p. 180. See, also, note, p. .58). Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. i, note, p. 177) quotes the accounts of Cook, Meares, Mofras, Macfie. Poole, Sutily Mexicana, Mayne, and Scouler, to the etfect that the Nootka Indians are bow-legged and intoed from boat work, and have deformed limbs from the effect of garters. Swan, J. G. (Indians of Cape Flattery, Smithsonian Contributions, No. 220): Description of the process of head-flattening among the Indians of Vancouver Island (pp. 18, 19). Heriot, G. (Travels through the Canadas, London, 1807, 4to) : " In the latitude of fifty-two degrees, on the northwest coast of America, there exists a tribe whose heads are molded into a wedge-like form" (p. 303). Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. i) : The custom of head-flattening, apparently of sea-board origin and growth, extends * * * across Fig. 9. Cradle of Oregon Indians. (Cat. No. 2575, U. S. N. M. Cllected by Wilkes' Ex- ploring Expedition. ) ife. ' n 176 REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Governor Stevens (Ind. AflF. Rep., 1854, p. 227) says: "The women at Walla Walla sit astride iu a saddle made with a very high pommel aud Fig. 10. SHOWniO THB EFFECT OF HEAD-FLATTENIKO. (From drtwiof by Mr. Drnyton, published in Wilkea' Exploring Expedi- tion, IV, p. 368.) cantle, and iu traveling carry their infants either dangling by the cradle strap to the former or slung iu a blanket over their shoulders." The tbo Cascade barrier, and is practiced to a greater or less extent by all the tribes of the Sahaptian family." They merely depress slightly the forehead of infants, and this disappears at maturity " (p. 256). Macfte, M. (Vancouver Island and British Columbia, London, 1865) : Between lat. 53° 30' N. and lat. 46° N. the Indians of the northwest coast of America flatten the head, under the impression that the distortion is becoming (p. 441). Macfie (idem., p. 441) gives the following account of the process of head-flat- tening among the coast tribes: "The child, as soon as born, is placed in a cradle scooped out of a log of timber. This rude ark is flat at the bottom, and raised at the point where the neck of the child rests. A flat stone is fastened to the head of the infant in this posture by thin strips of twisted bark. In the situation indicated the child is kept till able to walk, and its forehead has been molded into the required shape." In the Quatsino district the skulls of the women have " a tapering or coni- cal form" » * • produced by artificial means. Only the families of chiefs (tenass) and "gentlemen commoners" (tyhees) are permitted to modify the form of the head. Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. i) : The Sound In- dians, among the Columbians, flatten the head, " but none carry the practice tosooh an extent as their neighbors on the south " (p. 210). Bancroft (Nat've Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. i): Among the Chinooks the " legs are bowed and otherwise deformed by a constant squatting posi- tion in aud out of their canoes" (p. 224). Head-flattening "seems to have origi- nated • * * about the mouth of the Columbia," and the Chinooks carry the cus- tom to an excess of deformity (p. 226). Bancroft remarks that "the Chinook ideal of facial beauty is a straight line firom the end of the nose to the crown of the head. The flattening of the skull is effected by binding the infant to its cradle immediately after birth, and keeping it there from three months to a year. The simplest form of cradle is a piece of board or plank, on which the child is laid upon its back with its head slightly raised by a block of wood. Another piece of wood, or bark, or leather is then placed over the fbrel^ead and tied ^:) the plank with strings, which are tightened more and more each day nntil the skull is shaped to the required pattern. Space is left for lateral expansion, and, under ordinary circumstances, the child's head is not allowed to leave its position an- til the process is complete. The body and limbs are also bonijd to the cradle, bat more loosely, by bandages, which are sometimes removed for cleansing parposes." (Native Races, etc., vol. i, p. 227.) 1 i CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 177 same authority says that the Clallams, and in fact.all the Sound Indiana, flatten the head (243).* Mr. William Meinold, in sending to the National Museum the pkull of a Flathead Indian from northwest Montana, writt'S as follows: '* When the child is about one week old it is put on a board and tied hand and foot. A small bag of sand is tied over the forehead and remains in this position eight or ten days. It is then taken off for a siiort rest and afterwards fastened to the board again. This continues from six weeks to six months. The head then has its shape and grows in the right di- rection. The skull mentioned belonged to Eedgrass, a chief, who died about forty years ago. His body was deposited on posts G feet high. In his canoe were found beads, and a General Harrison badge of 1841.t • Meares, J. (Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America, Loudon, 1791, 8vo), de- scribes the compression of head into the form of a "sugar loaf" among Indians of Nootka Sound by bandages. Says the process flattens the nose (vol. ii, p. 37). Wilkes, Commander (U. 8. Exploring Expedition, Philadelphia, 184.'), 4to, vol.iv): Two plates illustrating head-flattening among the Indians of Nicnluita (Wallawalla), observed, by Mr. Drayton (p. 415). Flower quotes Kane's description of the process of bead-compression in Vancouver (p. 13). He refers to evident distortion in the case of an order of Chinese mendicants, as indicated by plate 131, vol. ii, Picart, Histoire des Religions. He quotes Townsend's account of head-flatteniug among the Walla- mets (p. 14). tCatlin, George. (Illustrations of the Manners, etc., of the N. Amer. Indians. Lon- don, 1876, 8vo, vol. I.) Head of Crow chief distorted into semi-lunar shape, with com- pression of forehead (p. 50). Vol. ii. Head-flattening among Chinooks. Descrip- tion of cradle and process (pp. 110, 111). Statement concerning the former preva- lence of tuis custom among Choctaws and Chickasaws (p. 112). The evidence af- forded by this and other works dealing with the detail.s of life points to the fact that bead distortion is less practiced now th,m formerly. It exists at present sporadically. Cox, R. (The Columbia River. London, 1832, 3d ed. 8vo.) On the Lower Columbia all beads were distorted; and there was a perfect uniformity in their shape (vol. i, pp. 105, 106). Speaking of "Flatheads," says, their " heads have their fair proportion 01 rotundity" (i, pp. 219-222). Gathlamahs, Killymucks, Clatsop8,,Chiuooks, Chilts, at mouth of Columbia, flatten the head. Cradle oblong, with pillow. Pad and slab on forehead held by cords. Time, a year. No pain (vol. i, page 276). Among this group of tribes the body and limbs among the men well shaped, but the women's legs are "quite bandy," owing to the tight ligatures they wear on the lower part of the legs (vol i, p. 276). Wood, J. G. (Uncivilized Races of Men. Hartford, 1871. 8vo.) Description of the process of head-flattening among the Columbia Indians (pp. 1319, 1320). Lewis and Clark. (Expedition to the Sources of the Missouri, etc. Philadelphia, 1814. 8vo.) On the Kimooenim, an affluent of the Columbia, "the Soknlk women " had "their heads flattened in such a manner that the forehead is in a straight line from the nose to the crown of the head " (vol, ii, p. 12). The tcomen of the Pishquit- paws, on the Columbia, had " their heads flattened " (vol. ii, p. 23). Among the Euee- shurs and Elcheloots " the heads of the males, as well as of the other sex," were flat- tened (vol. li, p. 45). The women of an unnamed tribe on the same river "universally have their beads flattened," and they saw "female children undergoing the opera- tion" (vol. II, p. 57). Pressure of anklets and mode of sitting also distorted theirlegs {id.). "The Skilloots, both males and females, have the head flattened" (vtd. ii p. 64). The Wabkiacums "all have their heads flattened" (vol. ii, p. 69). Head-flattening is general among the " Chinnooks." Men's legs " small and crooked ; women's tumefied H. Mis. GOO, pt. 1' 12 178 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. ^'■\ The Hupa Indians of northwestern California belong to the Tmn^an stock. They have been described in a paper entitled, " The Ray Col- lection in the U. S. National Museum."* The cradle-basket of the Hupas of uorth western Califoruia is a slipper shaped, open- work basket oi osier warp, and twined weaving constitutes the body of the cradle. (Fig. 11.) It is woven as follows: Commencing at the upper end, the small ends of the twigs are held in place one-eighth of an inch apart by three rows of twined weaving, followed by a row in which an ex- tra dtrengthening twig is whipped or sewed in place, as in the Makah basketry. At intervals of 2^ to 3 inches are three rows of twined basketry, every alternate series having one of the strengthening twigs, increasing in thickness downward. The twigs constitut- ing the true bottom of the so called slipper continue to the end of the square toe, and are fastened off, while those that form the sides are ingeniously bent to form the vamp of the slipper. This part of the frame is held together by rows of twined weaving (bovstrophedon). When two rows of this kind of twining lie quite close it has the appearance of a four-ply plaiting, and has been taken for such by the superficial observer. The binding around the opening of the cradle is formed of a bundle of twigs seized with a strip of bast or tough root. The awning is made of open wicker and twined basketry, bound with by pressure of bead anklets (vol. ii, p. 115). The Cookoooose, on the Pacific coast, do not flatten the head (vol. ii, p. 119). It is stated that "the Killamuck8,Clat8op8,Chinnook8, and Cathlamahs * » » have thick ankles and crooked legs " due to " the uni- versal practice of squatting, » * • and also to the tight bandages of beads and strings worn around the ankles by the women," whose limbs are "particularly 111- Bhaped and swollen." "The custom * * » of flattening the head by artificial pressure during infancy, prevails among all the nations we have seen west of the Rocky Mountains" (Snakes and Cookoooose they themselves except). "To the east of that barrier the fashion is * * • perfectly unknown." An error! "On the lower parts of the Columbia both sexes are universally flatheads; the custom dimin- ishes in receding eastward, * * * till among the remoter tribes, near the mount- ains," the practice " is confined to a few females " (vol. li, pp. 130, 131). * Smithsonian Report, 183*3, i., pp. 205-239, pi. xxvi. Fig. 11. HuPA Wickek-Cradle. (Cat. No. 12fi519. IT. S. N. M. Hupa Vnlley, California. Collected by I.ieut. 1*. H. Kay, V. S. A.) CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES 179 colored grass. This pretty, flat cone resembles the salmon-baskets fig- ured and described in the Ray collection.* There is in the National Museum a cradle for a new-born babe, from the McCloud Eiver Indians of California, belonging to the basket-tray type. It is shaped very much like a large grain-scoop or the lower half of a moccasin inverted, and made of twigs in twined weaving. There are double rows of twining two inches or thereabouts apart, and nearly all of them are interlocked, which gives the appearance of a four- ply braid. The meshes form a diamond pattern by inclusion in the half turns of the twine quincuncially. The general shoe-shape of the cradle is produced by commencing at the heel, which is here the bottom, and doubling the twigs by a continually sharper turn until along the bottom the rods simply lie parallel, that is, the rods that lie along the middle of the bottom terminate at the heel, while those that form the sides and upper end are continuous. Around the edge and forming a brace across the upper end is a border made of a bundle of rods seized with tough bast or split root.t The twigs themselves project upwards an inch or two from this brace, and are not fastened off. (Figs. 11 and 12.) The Modoc women make a very pretty baby-basket of fine willow- work, cylinder-shaped, with one-half of it cut away, except a few inches at the ends.t It is intended to be set up against the wall or carried on the back; hence the infant is lashed jjerpendicular in it, with his feet standing in one end and the other covering his head, like a small para- sol. In one that I saw this canopy was supported by small standards, spirally wrapped with strips of gay-colored calico, with looped and scal- loped hangings between. Let a mother black her whole face below the eyes, including the nose, shining black, thrust a goose quill 3 inches long through the septum of the nose, don her close-fitting skull cap and start to town with her baby-basket lashed to her back, and she feels the pride of maternity strong within her. The little fellow is wrapped all around like a mummy, with nothing visible but his head, and sometimes even that is bandaged back tight, so that he may sleep standing. From the manner in which the tender skull is thus bandaged back it oc- casionally results that it grows backward and upward at an augleof about 45 degrees. Among the Klamath Lake Indians I have seen a man fifty years old, perhaps, whose forehead was all gone, the head sloping right * Perouse, G. de la. (Voyage Round the World. London, 1799. 8vo. Vol. iii.) Description by Dr. RoUiu of the manner of swathing infants and of the cradles used by the California Indians (p. 209). Almost the same statement is made of the treat- ment of infants among the Tartars of. the east coast, opposite Saghalien. Their cradles were of basket woTk, wood or birch bark (p. 237). tBancroft. (Native Races of the Pacific States. New York, 1873. Vol. i.) Among the central Californian tribes, " as soon as the child is born" it is washed "and then swaddled from head to foot in strips of soft skiu and strajjped to a board, which is carried on the mother's back " (p. 391). tPowers, Cont. N.A.Ethnol., Ill, p.257. 180 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. back on a lino with the nose, yet his faculties seemed nowise impaired. The conspicnoua painstaking which the Modoc squaw spends on her baby-basket is an index of her maternal love. Indeed the Modoc are strongly attached to their offspring. On the other hand a California squaw often carelessly sets her baby in a deep conical basket, the same in which she carried her household effects, leaving him loose and liable to fall out. If she makes a baby-basket it is totally devoid of orna- ment, and one tribe, the Mi-woh, contemptuously call it the dog's nest. It is among Indians like these that we hear of infanticide. Fig. 12. Klamath Cradle ok wickeu and hushes. (Cat. No. 19fi9». V. ?. N. M. Kl:im;illi liidiiins, Tulc River, Ciiiironiia. CoIIcrteii hy Sti-'phen INiwerB. ) Fig. 13. Fbame of Put Kiver Cradle. (Cut. Nil 21411, Kmind Valley, CRiifornia. U.S.N.M. Collected by Stephen Power*. ) Tlie cradle of the Pitt River Indians is a transition between the forked stick and the ox-bow type. A pole of wood, with bark removed, is bent in the middle, the two ends crossed and lashed together. Across this primitive frame are laid broad laths, perforated at the corners, and lashed to the poles with buckskin strings (Fig. 13). The foot-rest is a block of wood 7 by 4 by f inches, perforated, and through it are passed the two ends of the pole. The convergence of the ends prevents the slip- ping down of this little platform. Comparing this cradle with one from the vicinity, called a cradle of a new-born pappoose, it will be seen that we have before us two extremes of a series, commencing with a mere tray for an absolutely helpless creature to a standing place for a child 'fl CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN AMORIGINEH. i8i just ready to learn to \v;ilk. Regarding tlio ciiKlIc in tlio light of a chrysalis, we discover not only the tiny creature within has i)a8Hed through wonderful changes, but that the encupsniating cradle has passed from a horizontal to a vertical function. It was tirst a trough to bo flrmly lashed in; it ends with being a franie on which the juvenile In- dian takes his stand prior to taking his llight into the realm of self-sup- port. Compare this device with the practi(;e of the IMmo and Yunui children of standing ui)on the mother's cincture and grasping her neck or shoulders. Another Pitt River example is a cradle net or bag, the warp of coarse twine of milkweed fiber laid close together and joined by twined weaving of finer twine, in double rows, an inch and a half apart. Some uoteworthy features of this cradle are the following: The whole twining, from beginning to end, seems to be continuous, like plowing a series of double furrows. On the right edge the weaver sim- ply turned and weaved back alongside of the former twine; at the left edge sh' laid her twine by the side of her warp for an inch and a half, and theu turned in for another double row. Indeed, it seems as though the whole cradle were made of one pair of twines. The hood is made by puckering the ends of the warp together and tying them, as with a bag-string. The part over the forehead is formed of a separate set of warp strands. The sun-shade is a round, disk-like structure of twined weaving. The Potter Valley cradle-trough is made of willow twigs laid closely together and held in place by an ingenious stitching, to be explained further on (Fig. 14). The head of the cradle is a hoop of wood 1 foot in diameter, quite open. It is fastened to the wicker-work by a continuous coil of twine passing around it and between the willow rods consecutively, being caught over the curious braid that holds the twigs together. In the example described the lashing is cotton string, but in a more primitive form it would be sinew or grass cord. The ends of the twigs are cut off flush with the hoop. The sides and bottom of the cradle are scoop- shaped, with high perpendicular sides, the twigs forming it all termi- nating at the head hoop. The rods of the cradle-frame are woven together by a series of braids about 2 inches apart. This braid is so constructed as to resemble two rows of coiled sewing on the inside and a close herring-bone on the out- side, and is made as follows: Commence one edge and carry the twine along three osiers, bending to the left, bringing it back two and through to the front, forward two, crossing number one; through, back two, through to front, just over and over, forward three, back two, forward two, back two, ready to start again. Long leather loops are attached to the bottom of the cradle where it joins the upright sides to receive the lacing-si:ring which holds the baby in place. The Tale and Tejon cradle-frame consists of three parts : the founda- 182 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. tion, winch is a forkcMl sticjk ; tbe cross-barH, laslied beneath, and the Hbit of twigs upon which the bed is hiid. Some parts of this frame demand minuter description. The fork is a common twig, not neces- sarily symmetrical, with short handle and prongs nearly 3 feet long, spreading about IG inches at the distal end or top. rig. 14. PoMo CnADi.E. The Child bitb in the bounded portion. (Cat, No. 21398. U. S. N. M. Potter Valley, Cnlifornia. Collected liy .Stephen Powers.) At the back of the fork are lashed seventeen rods of wood, projecting at their ends an inch or more beyond the fork. The lashing of the rods to the fork is by means of sinew skillfully crossed both in front and rear, that is, the seizing is partly parallel and partly cross-laced to give the strongest joint. These wooden rods seem to follow a rude plan of pairs, but the design is not apparent. Between the upper pair is a third rod, whose function is to hold in place the slats in front. The slat- work or slats on the front consist of a separate transverse rod, to which about forty twigs are attached by bending the large end of each one around the rod and then holding the series in place by a row or two of twined weaving with split twigs. To fasten this crib-work in place the rod is put behind the two ends of the forked stick, and the twigs laid in order on the front of the series of transverse rods so as to fill neatly the space between the forks. These twigs are held in place by lashing them here and there to the transverse rods and to the side CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 183 prongH. This laaliing crosses the twigs diagonally in front and the roils behind vertically. The Mohave cradle-frame is a i)rettily-made ladder or trellis, built up as follows (Fig. 15): A pole of bard wood about 7 feet long is bent Fig. 16. Mohave Cradle, with Bed of sheedded bark. (Oat No. 24146, V. S. N. M. Colorado River, Arizona. Collected by Edward Palmer.) in the shape of an ox-bow, the sides 7 inches apart at top and 5^ inches at bottom, so that the cradle is a little narrower at the foot. Eleven cross-bars, like ladder-rounds, connect and strengthen the frame, com- mencing at the bottom and ending near the bow. These rounds con- sist each of three elements: a rod or spreader between the two sides ; a strap-like binding of two or three split twigs clasping the sides and laid along on the spreader; a seizing of tough twigs holding fast the straps and spreader. The drawing of the reverse side clearly sets forth the manner of administering the light but strong cross-bracing. Upon this ladder is laid the cradle-bed of willow or mezquite bast, made as follows : Three bundles of stripped bast, each about an inch in diameter, are lashed at their middle with bast. They are then doubled together concentrically and spread out to form a bed. On this is laid a little loose, ftnely-shredded bast like a nest, and the bed is ready for the baby. A dainty quilt or counterpane of bast is made from strips 30 inches long, doubled and braided at the top like a cincture. This braiding is 184 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. i^^ |; ill i'^i h uuiqiio, aiul ho very iicully (lone aa to of a leather strap, i)assing round and round baby and frame, an the lower coriuMs of the cradle. Upo'i this cradle rack or frame is fastened the true cradle, which, in this instance, is a strip of coarse mat, • Hoiiikj*, Cai)t. J. 0,: S|»ial Unipno of tlio Kio Hulay, in 1H24, who niUHt Imvo lict'i) tli»^ YiiiiiiiH of iliH liio Oila, Pullio HuyN: " Tlioy coiitrivo to iiUlict upon l,li(^ir ciiihlnMi an arliricial (It-formity. Tlicy llatt(a- rations for the coming event by collecting cloths, and the board that the child is to pans so many l.ours of its first year of life on, which, if richly ornamented with beads, otter- skin, and fringes, with '»rlls on them, is worth a good horse, which is generally what is given for the child's board or cradh'. This is usually the case when the boy or girl is g-vcMi and adopted by another nioln^u". So an Indian child has generally two mothers, and of course two fathers, but the father has but little to do with the child till it is old enough to run around. When the child is Ixun it is taken in charge by its ndoi>ted njother, or by a hired woman. It is washed, dried, then greased, and powdered with red ocher, then nursed by sonu-i Indian woman or its mother, and wrapped up, with its arms down by its side, in a bulValo calf skin or shawl or small bhiikel, and placed in its board or cradle, to be taken • AcoHta, I'lidre Joh6 iU\ (TIk^ Natii'iil iiiul Monil lIiHtory of (ho IinlinN. Ed, Iliik- luytSoo. Ldiidoii. IH-O. Hvo.) Of tlio " CliiflliiiiiocaH"— Hiwiigo inouritaiiH'otH-lio HajB: " Tlu> wivoHlikt'wi ■«< went, a Imiitiiijj willi their hi'HhatulH, leaving llii'ir yoiiiifj isliiUlren in a litth* i»niii«'r of iciuIh, tit'd to tho boiiglm of a lit'o," (Vol. It, ji. -loO.) Huadllrtttoning. (Mexico.) "liUc imrleniH hacon (pio hiH ciiaturaH no toiigan rolo- driUoH; y hiH madrt'o lau tioiiun rotuuhiH cii ciiiiuh du tal Htiurto q\ns no h^H crozoa, porqiie h« prtM'iau hIh «1." ((3('»iiiiira, Mojico, ]). 410.) t Cradle of Turtle-shell, Low. Cul. IndH., 1773. Uaogort, iti JSmithuouiau Rep., l»0:t, p. 362. v\ii. 10. YAgn ClIADl.R, MAI'K OK (^ANKH. iSoi'T l\()HHKS THKl) KOII IMI.I.OWM. d'. .1. N. M. HniKirii. Mi'xiid. L'lilli'i icil liy Ktlwnrc' I'lilnicr. ) 186 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. ii around to its relations' lodges for inspection. Every evening it is taken from its continement to be washed, painted, and dressed again, and greased. Tlie first clotb over its posterior is laid with a coating of dry pulverized buffalo dung or chips, and this is used as a white woman uses a diaper. As it grows older it is taken by its mother, placed up in the lodge or outside, while she goes about her work. If the child is restless it is nursed while on the board. After six to eight months of age the child is laid to sleep without the board, and it is generally discarded after a year old, though I have seen Indian boys and girls suckling at five and six years of age. An Indian child, like a white one, is pleased with toys, candy, etc., and their instincts are alike. They cry, laugh, are amused, frightened, and astonished, and as they are born and brought up so do they live. The board upon which a child is laid is covered with a tanned elk- skin or deer skin, and beads worked on it. The place where the child reposes is loose, and is laced and tied up when the child is placed in it.* The straps for carrying and suspending it are on the opposite side of the board, and in carrying, the strap is brought over the head and placed across the upper part of the breast and across the shoulders. This brings the board npon which the back of the child rests against the back of the mother. The board is one-quarter of an inch thick, from 2^ to 3 feet in length, and 1 J feet in bulge of board. The Nez Perc6 Indians belong to the Sahaptian stock, and were once a noble people, dwelling on the Snake Kiver and its affluents in Idaho. They have produced the historical character, Chief Joseph, but are now reduced to au enervated remnant dwelling on the Nez Perc4 Eeservation. The basis of the cradle is a rough board, generally hewn out, 3 feet higli, 15 inches wide at the top, and not more than an inch thick. It is shaped somewhat like a tailor's sleeveboard, but is more tapering (Fig. 17). This board is covered with buckskin, drawn per- fectly tight upon the back and across the broad part of the front as far down as the hood, or about one-third the length. Below that the two edges of the buckskin form flaps, which meet nearly over the child. Along the edges of these flaps strings are looped, into which loops a lashing cord passes backward and forward to inclose the child tightly in its capsule. On the top of the back a fringe of buckskin strings is formed, either by slitting the buckskin covering itself or by i separate strip sewed on at this point. A little above the center is sewed the head- strap of buckskin, to enable the njothcr to transi)ort her child or to sus- pend it when at rest. The hood of the cradle is based upon the flaps of buckskin, but these are entirely concealed by the covering of flannel or other substance. The most ornamented portion of the cradle is the •Ci'.iiu, George. (Illiustriitions of the Manr.era, etv.., of the N. American Indians. I jndou. 187G. 8vo. Vol. l. ) Head of Crow chief distorted into semi-lunar shape (p. 50). CRADLFS OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 187 part above the hood ; a piece of flannel or buckskin is covered with bead-work, solid, or h?s figures wrought upon it in various patterns. To the hood are attached medicine-bags, bits of shell, haliotis perhaps, and the whole artistic genius of the mother is in play to adorn her offspring. After the child is lashed in the cradle, a triangular flap of buckskin, also adorned with bead-work, is tied over the child to the buckskin flaps on either side. The Spokanes belong to the Salishan stock. They are described by Lewis and Clarke, by Governor Stevens (Rep. Ind. Aff'., 1854), and by Winans. Living on the eastern border of the Salish area in Idaho and Washington Territory, their cradles are almost identical with those of the iN'ez Percys, just described.* Neither of the specimens contains a bed or a pillow, so that we are at a loss as to the effect of the cradle in occipital flattening. But we can be positive as to one thing, that in neither of these examples is there the least provision for intention- ally deforming the forehead. The Salish are frequently called Flatheads, but from the example of cradle furnished it seems that they are the Fig. 17. NEZ PEtlCfi CHADI.E-nOAUD WITH DUCKSKIN BIDE8. Pig. 18. • Sahaptian Cradleboaed. (Cat. No. 8384A, U. S. N. M. Nfz Perrrf Agency, Unho. Collected by (Cut. No. 1296r.'>, U. S N. M. SpoknnelmlianH, Wi\»hinrno. J. 11. Mouleith. ) Collecteil liy Mm. A. <■'. McUean. ) only coast stock about the Columbia that does not practice intentional flattening. The Museum specimen from the Spokanes is an excellent example of aboriginal work. (Fig. 18.) Everything about it is complete. * See Fig. 17. 188 KKPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. On the back is a loiiff orna:neiital fringe at top, and lower down both the head strap and two extra straps at the margin to secure the cradle in other niani|)ulations. The upper portic n of the front is covered with bead work, solid blue ground, with bird-sha[)ed figures in amber and pink beads. On the light side of the hood hangs a long medicine bag of buckskin, adorned with light blue beads of large size. A newspaper correspondent from this region mentions a buckskin string upon these cradles in which a knot is tied for every moon of the child's life. There are little buckskin strings in the margin of this cradle near the hood, but no knots have been tied in either of the cradles here described. In these two, as in many others mentioned in this paper, there is a charming combination of the old and the new. The slab, the buckskin, the medicine-bag, the fringe, the lashing are all pre-Columbian. The beads, the flannel, the cloth lining, etc., are evidently derived ma- terially from the whites. There is no change of structure or function effected by any of these things. They simply replace other materials, such as quill work, shell work, native cloth, fur or buckskin, in use be- fore the advent of the whites. V Fig. 19. NBVA!)A TTTR CRADI.E-FRAME; OF EODS, WITH AD- •n fiTAni.E AWMiNO. (Cat. No 7fi734. IT. S. N. M Spcrhm-ii cl)t:iineil from the Neviida exhihit nt the Now Orlenns Rspnaitinn ) , Fig. 20. . Nevada Ute Cradle ; Full rioged. (Cat. No. 1»U40, U. S. N. M. Pyramid L.ike, Nevadti. Collected bj Stephen Powers. ) One of the widest-spread stocks of Indians formerly were the She- shouians, reaching down the Great Interior Basin throughout its whole CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 189 extent, crossiug the Rockies on the east under the name of Comauches, and in southern California extending quite to the Pacific Ocean. Spread over such a vast territory, the Shoshonian cradle was modified here and there by the nature of things, by the contact of dominant tribes, and by changed habits of life. The Cites of Pyramid Lake, Nevada, make use of a flat wicker cradle- frame, kite-shaped or roughly triangular. The widening is effected by the intercalation of rods as they are wanted. At the top the rods are held in place by a cross-rod lashed to the ends of the parallel pieces. The twined weaving is characteristic of thelites in all of their textiles. A pretty addition to the Ute cradle is the delicate awning of light wicker attached by its lower narrow border to the bed-frame and held at the proper angle by means of braces made of the same material (Figs. 11), 20). Three specimens from this area are in the Museum, showing them as frame and as finished cradles. Indeed, we have only to cover the lat- tice with buckskin after the manner of those used by the Spokanes and the affair is complete. In the eastern portion of Utah once dwelt various tribes of Ute In- dians. In the National collection is a cradle from this region marked Uncompaghre Utes (Fig. 21). It is an old affair, showing scarcely a Fig. 21. Unco MP AC. II UK Ute Cuadlk; Snowixo iuont axu hack. (Cat No 118342, U. S. N. M. Uncompaghre River, Colorado!?). Colleiteil by Cnplam lleckwith. V. S. A.) sign of white contact, excepting a bunch of blue rag over the hood. The cradle is built upon a thin board 4 feet high, 18 inches wide at top, and tapering to half that width at bottom. The covering is of buck- skin, seamed on the back, and very clumsily put on. There are two 190 ^i REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. suspension straps, one near the top and the other very low down. On the front the buckskin has loose flaps to inclose the child. The hood or awning is a very curious affair, and if closely drawn down would cer- tainly give to the Uncompaghre child the forehead of a Flathead. It is a kind of ti'ira, made of little twigs lashed to stronger rods. The lower margin over the child's forehead is bound with soft buckskin The hard cradle-boji** ^ allies it to the Northern type, where timber is larger, rather than the pure Ute type, where a hurdle takes the place of the board The cradle-frame of the Southern Utes is so well shown in the three drawings presented as not to need very minute description (Figs. 22, 23, 24). The frame-work consists of three parts, the slats, the hoop. Fig. 23. Fig. 22. . Fig. 24. .Three Views of Uts Cbadi.e-framb, made op rods and covered with drbbbed buck-brin. (Cat. No. 14646, V. S. N. M. Southern Utah. Collected by Major J. W. Powell.) and the hood. A dozen twigs like arrow-shafts, 4 feet long, are held in place by here and there a twine of basketry; across the portion to which the ends of the head-band are to be attached a rod is lashed to hold the Ir se firmly in place. A hoop of twig, elliptical in form, is lashed to i ^rame wherr it touches and to the ends of the cross rod. To the uppci oorder of the hoop is sewed an irregular quadrangular piece of twined basketry weaving. Its outer border is sewed to a rod, which is bent and fastened at its ends to the slats. This forms the CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ArcrvniNES. 191 awning of the crswlle. We are now ready for the cover, which is formed by a wide piece of the wliitest buckskin, wrapped on as in making a bundle, sewed on the back and slit open in front. The upper portion is cut into the neatest possible fringe. A broad head-band of soft buck- skin completes the outfit. A specimen from the same locality varies somewhat in detail. This cradle has the oxbow frame lathed along the back with twigs close together and held in place by a continuous seizing of sinew. Although a rude affair, this fact is evidently due to the lack of material in a desert country rather than to want of taste in the maker. The awn- ing for the face is a band of wicker, 4 inches wide, attached by its ends to the side frame of the cradle. This band is of twined weaving, the weft running boustrophedon. Notice especinlly that each half turn of the twine takes in two warp twigs, and that when the weaver turned backward she did not inclose the same pairs of warp twigs, but twined them in quincuncially, creating a mass of elongated rhomboidal open- ings, exactly as the Aleutian Islanders weave their marvelously fine grass wallets, while the Ute weaving is a model of coarseness in an iden- tical technique. The head-band of buckskin is not tied immediately to the bowed frame, but is knotted to a loop made of a narrow string, wound three times around the frame and knotted.* The elements of the Moki cradle-frame are the floor and the awning. As a foundation a stout stick is bent in shape of the ox-yoke bow. Bods of the size of a lead-pencil are attached to the curve of this bow and stretched parallel to the limbs of the bow. Twigs are closely woven on this warp by regular basketry weaving. The Moki are the only savages west of the Rocky Mountains who practice this real wicker weaving. The awning, as the drawing shows, is a band of the same kind of weav- ing on a warp of twigs in bunches of twos or threes, these last attached to blocks of wood at the ends of the fabric. The awning is bowed up- ward and the end blocks lashed to the upper portions of the limbs of the bow. A small aperture in the floor is for convenience in cleansing. The next figure shows how by using parti-colored and finer twigs, and by a different administration of the middle warp strands and the awn- ing, pretty varieties of the same style of cradle may be effected (Figs. 25. 26). The Zuni cradle-board is worthy of our closest study (Fig. 27). It is founded on a rough piece of board, hewn out to an inch in thickness, 3 feet long, and about a foot wide. A pillow-rest of wood is fastened so as to steady the head. This is pegged or nailed down to the board. 'Powell, Maj. J. W. (Exploration of the Colorado River. Washington, 1875. 4to). In Grand CaQon the Indians " make a wicker board by plaiting willows, * » • sew a buckskin cloth to either edge, * » * fulled in the middle, * * * to form a sack," and place the child, wrapped in fur, within this. There is a wicker shade at the head, and the cradle is slung on the mother's back by a strap passing over the forehead (p 127). . 91 liri Uht'OUr Ol' NAIIONAI. Ml HK(;M, 1>M7. TIm'I'm U imi lHi(l»>■*. rv-uivils-s V'.»>M>k VV.'hK*»> *V> t.'uil•«.e>^i iu Jtu. J. W. PuwMl. I U'^s* vH' «v\i«stj»Wo hissl to tht» emdlo. In no other oradle is the prob- W^ liHMV dolivMUv U dojvtub aUiuvit entirv^'.v ujKni the b> otherwise* it i* ri^Ut to **rtu, the tHitUue l^eia^ lb»i M #* l b> A tv«v v»if >*v\kI l«eM5 Au^l the two eu\l* j*phvwl and kk«h«^L ^'^«^ tli»«it ei^^K;!*?' *«v Kuvl !j*5&* v»t" * hite |»iuev vIa^*^^- Over the cbiitr* CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABOlilOINES. 193 face is built the hood formed by bending two bows of supple wood to the required shape and overlaying them with transversa laths of pine laid close together and tied down. The upper edges of these laths are beveled, so as to give a pretty effect to the curved surface. The leather-work on the cradle consists of a gable of white buckskin to the hood, a binding of brown buckskiu ou to the bowed frame above the hood, variegated with narrow bands of white buckskin, and, finally, the true sides or capsule of the cradle, consisting of a strip of soft brown buckskin, say 10 inches wide, cut in a fringe along its lower border and edged with fringe of white buckskin along its upper outer edge. This strip is fastened to the cradle con- tinuously, commencing at an upper margin of the awning, carried along this awning, fastened to its lower margin 4 inches above the junction of the awning and frame, passes on to the foot and around to the other side, as at first. Slits are made in the upper edge of the brown buck- skin just below where the white buckskin fringe is sewed or run on, and back and forward through these slits a broad soft band of buckskin passes to form the cradle lashing. To perfect the ornamentation of this beautiful object, tassels of buckskin in two colors, and strings of red, white, and blue beads are disposed with great care. Thanks to the generosity of friends living on the frontier, it is possible to reproduce from photographs the method of fastening the child in the cradle. (Fig. 29.) A bed of fur lies between the back of the infant and the floor of the cradle. The head is perfectly loose and free during waking moments. Indeed, there is always free play to the child's head in all cradles except on the Pacific coast around the Columbia River and Puget Sound. Another drawing (Fig. 30) exhibits the method of nursing the babe without removing it from the cradle. Finally, Fig. 31 shows an infant and a small child that have been subjected to the cradle-board. The cradle-frame of the iNavajos is made of two pieces of wood lashed together so as to make the upper end or head in shape like a boot-jack. To the sides of these boards long loops of buckskin are attached to aid in the lashing (Fig. 32). A new feature in western cradles appears in • M. Mis. 600, pt. 2 13 . . . . .. - . .- Fig. 27. ZuSi Ckadle-fhamb. (Cat. .No. 69015, U. S. N. .M, Ziiiii Pneblo, New .Mexico. Collecuti by C'ul. Junte^i Steveiuon. »\ 194 EEI'OIiT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 18S7. thft specimon fl{?"r<'<^' ^t '« the footboard, so common in all the Al- gonkiii and Iro(|ii(>iH Npeciineim. The pillow in to be noticed CHpecially, iiounl-iiiug of Hul't fui'N and l-a^^s rolled up in Hoft buckHkiu and fastened to the board. The awnin/^ frame is a wide bow of thin, hard wood, over which falls a wide, lonj; vail or flap of buckskin. This cradle was collected by Dr. K. W. Shufeldt, U. S. Army, who kindly made some investigations relative to the use and ettect of the Navajo cradle. (a) ib) Fig. 28. Apachk Ckadi.k. Frost and back view. (Cat. No. 21J23. V. S. N. .M Ariiona Territory. Collected by Dr J. B. While, V- S. A.) Of some two or three dozen children of all ages from the infant up- wards that I have examined 1 have yet to find a case wherein the Navajo mother has not taken the special precaution to place a soft and ample pad in the cradle to protect the back of the child's head. Moreover, I have yet to see a case, except for a few days or more in the very youngest of babies, where the head is strapped at all. On the other hand, this part of the body is allowed all possible freedom. I am here enabled to present a picture, which shows exactly the method employed by these squaws in both carrying and strappiug their babies in the cradle (Fig. 33.) It will at once be observed that the head of the child is perfectly free, »ud that it has been supplied with a thick «ud soft pillow at the back CRADLES OP TIIK AMKHIOAN AUORtOIN'ES. 195 , of it, whoioiis tlie body ami limbs have bct'U sdiippod up jiliiiost to the last «b'Ki'eo. Tlii.s child has li;;ht, thin hair, tlir(ni;ih whi(!h tho j^oiu'ral form of the nkiill i onld bo easily examined, but alter thi^ most careful meaHuremeiits 1 failed to detect any tlatteiiiiii;' of the oju-ipital lej-ion of the head. In examining the full blooded infants of different ages of this tribe of Indians I occaaionally found one wherein 1 tliought 1 could satisfactorily determine that the back of its head was umlnly tlattene«l, biit it was by no means always the case. Another thing must be remembered, and this is that these Navajo women do not always keep their infants thus strapped up in their cradles, aiid this fact goes to sustain the proimsition that whatever pressure is brought to bear against the back of their heads, it is not a constant one. We often see here the little Navajo babies playing about for hours together at a time when they are scarcely able to walk. Among older children I have satisfied my- self — as well as I could thiough their mat- ted hair — that the hinder region of their beads was flattened, but it never seemed to equal that of the Navajo girl, which I Lave illustrated in the October number of the Journal of Anatomy. There can be, I think, no question but that Prof. Sir William Turner is correct in regard to its being not only a distortion but due to pressure, though it would appear from the exaujinations which I have been able to make that at some time or other the strapping must have been very differently applied. To produce posterior flattening of the skull alone the pressure must be applied only upon that side, and to do this, in order to produce anything like tiie extraordinarily distorted skull tiiat I have figured in my second paper on this subject, the child would have to have its head against a hard board for a long time and con- tinually kept there. If it were 8trai)i)ed it must be quite obvious that a certain amount of frontal flattening would also be produced, but I have never discovered such a distortion in any of the Navajo skulls. Now, so far as I have seen, they do not treat their children in this way, but, as I have said, always give them a soft pillow and leave the head free. Perhaps in former times the strapping of their babies in these cradles was very different from the methods now employed among this tribe, and again, the question of heredity may possibly enter into the subject, Fig. 20. ArACHK WOMAX CAllKYINU CHILI). (Krotii ijliotoariii'li. ) 196 KEPOltT 01' NATIONAL MII8EUM, 1887. or more extended observations may prove that this flattening of the skull only occurs in a (certain i)roportioii of the reprcseutatives of this race, and not in every individual. Fig. 30. ArAfllK MOTIIEB NURSING CHILD, (From photograph.) Dr. li, W. Shufeldt, ( ' . S. Army, sent to Prof. Sir William Turner, of Edinburgh, a Kavajo skull, which is described in the Journal of Anat- omy and Physiology, vol. xx, p. 430, as follows: The skull presented a well-marked parietooccipital flattening, obviously due to artificial i^ress- ure, which had been applied so as to cause the suprasquamous part of the occipital bone and the posterior three-fourths of the parietal to slope upwards and forwards. The frontal region did not exhibit any flatten- ing, so that in this individual, and it may be in his tribe of Indians, the pressure applied in infancy was apparently limited to the back of the Lead. Owing to this artificial distortion the longitudinal diameter of the head was diminished, and the cephalic index 94.6, computed from Dr. Shufeldt's measurements of the length and breadth, was therefore higher than it would have been in an uudeformed skull. The cranium was hyperbrachy cephalic. CRADLES OP THE AMERICAN AHuKKilNES. 197 Tlie lioiglit of the skull was ulso very cousijlerablo jiiul reacbe<1, as may be Neen from the tal)le, 115 millimetera; the vertical index was 89, 80 that the skull was hyperatjrocephalic. hi all probability the pressure (luring infancy, which shortened the skull in its ant^Moposterior direc- tion, forced the vertex upwards and added to the height of the cranium, so that the high vertical index was occasioned both by diminished length and increased height. The skull was cryptozygous, for uot only was the breadth in the parietal region great, but the Stephanie diameter was 137 millimeters. The glabella was not very prominent, but the su- f B l- e e >f n e in Fig. 31. Apachb Mother with Children. (From photogriipli. ) praciliary ridges were thick aud strong. The Dridge of the nose was concave forward, so that the tip projected to the front. The basi-nasal diameter was 105 millimeters ; the basi-alveolar 98 millimeters, the gna- thic index was 93, and the skull was orthognathic. The nasal spine of the superior maxillsB was moderate. Where the side walls of the an- terior nares joined the floor the margin of the opening was rounded. The transverse diameter of the orbit was 40 millimeters, the vertical di- ameter 36, the orbital index was 90, aud the orbit was megaseme. The 108 Ri:rORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. iisisnl was 48 luillinu'lors, tit*' iisissjI width 25, tlie nasal index wa.s 5*^, and llio. nose was incsoiliiiio. The pahilo inaxilhiry Icnj^th was 50, iho ])alat()-iiiaxiliary width was 72 iiiillinu'tors; the- pahito-tnaxiUary in. dcx was JL'8, and tlio roof ol' th(^ monlli was brachynranif!. The teeth were all erni>t('d uiul not worn. The eranial snUiies were all nnossified. n m H ' fiiit Fiff. 32. Na''.*..;o CiiAiH.K- Fi i.i.iiicfiEi). Ok IIIK ronltKK MDIIT. l''rfMii Aruoiiii, Navajo riiAiu.R, wnii woodpn- imon and AWNIMi OK liUIChlSI''.li lli;CAhKIN. Cut. No. 12"iil.'i, I! S. N. M. Flirt Wiiij f. N- * Mciico c„ll,Mti.il l,y Dr. 1(. \V. .Slmli'l.ll, U.S. A.) The ])aii('t-o-splienoi(l .snfnrti in the pterion was It) millimeters in antero- ])o.sl('iioi' di.uiiett'i', T l«Mt! wei(i iu> .•rmian bones. The anterior end of the inferior tnrL)inated bone was almost in the name plane U8 the an- terior narea. • The (Jomanelui eradle (0970) is the nu)8t primitive cradlci in the Na- tional Museum (Fi;.,'. 'M). It is a striF> '>f black bearsUin i^O inches lonj,' and 20 wide, doubled toi^ether in form of a cradle frame. Alonjjf the si(h» edfit'S loops ol inickskin are niadi' to receive tiie lacing. The loops are Ibrmed as follows: A buckskin stnnjjf is passed thiongh a hole in tln^ bear-skin and I lies lonjjier end passed t!iron;j[li a slit or vAXt in the shorter end. The lonjj^ ,'nd is then nussc;! through the next hole and drawn until a loop of 8ulll(!icni size is left; a slit is made in the string near the last hole passed through, and then the whole lashing is drawn 1 \ i i CRADLES OF Till-: AMERICAN ABCRIGINES. 199 •? I • through thip slit. This serves tlie purpose of ti knot at each hole, as in many other cradles, A foot-piece of bearskin is sewed in with coarse leather string.* Governor Stevens (Tnd. Afif. Rei)t., 1854) says the Blackfeet women carry their children in their arms or in a robe behind their backs. When traveling, the children are placed in sacks of skin on the tent jmles. I saw no cradle of any form. We have in this mention a par- allel to the Comanche type. Note also the use of stiff rawhide as a sub- stitute or antecedent of boards to secure stiffness. The subject will como up again iu speakiug of the 8iou\ and other Eastern cradles. Fiir. 34. COHANCHR ('KAI)I.U OK TIIR lUTDRST BOUT, MAI)K CIK A KTII'K PIICCK OP BbACK IIRAUHKIN. (Out No. 0970, II. S. N. M. IVxrn.. Col Meted br Kilwnril I'Hlnii'r. ) Fl(r. HP. Hl-Af"KI'RF.T rilAIU.F,. MADB OF t.AT- IKK \V(IHK AM) I.KATIIKU. (Cnt. Nil. 09IH, V.x. N. M. Tpxhb. Collectod br F.tlwarii I'liIiJHT. ) The frame illustrated by Fig. 35 belongs to tiie latticed type, and is thus constructed : Two strips of narrow board, often native hewn, wider and further apart at the upper end, are held in place by cross-pieces lashed and apart just the length of the leather cradle sheath. This lashing is very ingeniously done ; four holes iui inch apart are bori'd through the frame board and cross-piece at the corners of a square, a string of buckskin is passed backward anli awning- frame. The ends of this are fastened to a rod goin^,*^ j)'f»sf' the back, by a device, which may be called an ear-mo. tise. It is I \ d wn over rod by an iron dog fastened to side of cradle. Cradle, 2i - nches long, 12 inches wide; length of sideboard, 2^ inches; height, 1^ iuclies ; height of awning-frame, 14^ inches ; width, 16J inches. "The custom o'" irrying the child, among the Mississippi Sioux, is not peculiar to this tribe, but belongs alike to all, as far as I have yet visited them, and also as far as I have been able to learn from travelers who have been amongst tribes that I have not yet seen. The child, in its earliest infa?s- y, has its back lashed to a straight board, being fastened to it by baL>i1};.,es, w'ich pass around it in front, and on the back of the board they are tightened to tiie necessary degree by lacing-strings, which hold it in a straight and healthy position, with its feet resting on a broad hoop, which passes around the foot of the cradle, and the chi Id's 202 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. ir position (as it rides on its mother's back, supported by a broad strap that passes across her forehead), that of standing erect, which, no doubt, has a tendency to produce straight limbs, sound lungs, and long life. " In plate 232, letter ") Pacific N.W. History '^->t. PROVINCIAL. LirjRA ^y VICTORIA, B. C. 11 I 212 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. Another method of carrying children is shown in Fig. 40. The wo. Iran ttm rerepresented is a Turkish Gypsy, and the child has been placed iu a ped- dler's i)ack for convenience of carrying. The resources of the Museum do not justify anything like an exhaustive treat- ment of the eastern continent. In the three figures shown (Fif^s. 43, 44, 45) we see the Northeru device, in which the saft^ty of the child from cold is the main source of anxiety. The Japanese naother^ is coucerned partly with temperature and partly with transportation. The African mother consults transportation alone. There is nothing in the ordinary treat- ment of the child to occasion a deformity of the cranium. Any change of the shape ^''" *^- of the head must be attributed to congen- Afaciib Squaw cauhying a Child. .^ , , , (From photoraph ... V. s N M.) ital causcs or to custom. mi. ■••■vr-' - Fig. 44. Jafanbsb Woman cakuyino a Child. ^From Racinet'a "Le Costume,") Fig. 46. African Woman cAimYtNo a Child. ( Frum pliotugraph in V. U, N. M. ) c- ILD. 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