CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES.
By Otis T. Mason.
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 Cbinuks and other tribes near the mouth of the
Columbia River and northward, flattening 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 Americas the majority of aboriginal children were confined
in some sort of cradle from their birth until they were able to walk
about. The cradle during this period serves many purposes :
(1) It is a mere nest for the helpless infant.
(2) It is a bed so constructed and manipulated as 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 on
the mother's back by means of a strap over the forehead, 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 express my sincere thanks to Dr. J. H. Porter for the valuable notes
aud references which accompany this paper. o. T. M.
1J. Mis. 600, pt. 2 11 161
162 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
(4) It is iudeed a cradle, to be bung upon tbe limbs to rock, answer-
ing literally to the nursery rhyme
:
Rock a-bye baby upon the tree top,
When 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 correspondent 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, superstitious, 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 craviug or occupa-
tion separately with a view to combining them into a comparative psy-
chology as revealed in things.
Again, Bastian'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 mother
carries her infant in the hood of her parka whenever it is 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.
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 163
It is somewhat difficult to mark the southern limit of the cradle frame
owing 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 States until we cross the equator. The
most southern tribes of Mexico 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 are doubtless familiar with the work
of Dr. Ploss, entitled " Das Kind."*
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, consanguine marriages, polygamy
and polyandry, marriage in classical antiquity, care taken of pregnant women
among ancient and modern peoples.
Chapter ii. Abortion and infanticide; motives: superstitions, fear ofmonsters, 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 viii. Cold baths and baptism, in Europe, in Thibet, etc.
Chapter ix. Dressing of infants among ancient peoples and modern savages.
.Chapter x. Dressing of Russian children.
Chapter xi. Enameling (emmaillotement).
Chapter xn. Kneading and rectification of the body of the infant.
Chapter xni. 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 Tbracians, 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 xvn. Cradles among other peoples of Russia, Tsiganis, Fins, Esths, Livon-
ians, Laps, Poles, Jews, Lithuanians, Tcheremis, Bashkirs, Nogai, Sarts, Kirghiz,
Kalmuks, Vakuts, Buriats, Tuuguses, Soiotes, Woguls, Samoides, Goldoi, Koriaks,
Kamchadales, Caucasians, etc.
Chapter xvin. 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, paniers, chests, skins, etc. ; customs of the Chinese,
Negroes, Hottentots, American Indians, Kamchadales, Japanese, etc., in this regard.
* Dr. H. Ploss. Das Kind in Brauch und Sitte der Volker. Anthropologische Stu-
dien. Leipzig (1884), Grieben, 2 vols., 8vo.
164
Chapter xix. Amusement of the child by the mother in Russia.
Chapter xx. Accustoming the child to sit and to go on all fours.
Chapter XXI. The upright position and walking.
Chapter xxn. Importance of food.
Chapter xxiii. Suckling among various peoples, ancient and modern.
Chapter xxiv. Among the Russians.
Chapter xxv. Among other peoples of Russia.
Chapter xxvi. Ethnic mutilations of children : tattoo, depilation, piercing the nose,
the ears, the lips, or the cheeks ; filing and removing the teeth, castration, cir-
cumcision, and similar mutilations ; corset, Chinese feet, high-heeled boots, etc.
Chapter xxvu. Games, sports, and amusements of children.
Chapter xxviii. Treatment of the maladies of children among different peoples.
Popular child medicine in Russia, Germany, England, Switzerland, Dalmatia,
Kalmucks, Kirghiz, Caucasians, ancient Hindoos, Irauians, 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 xxxn. 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
Eiver, 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 Tinnean or Athapascan stock. They are
called Kutchin in Alaska, and in the basin of the Mackenzie River 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, i. 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, 12mo) 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 "Eski-
maux" women of Newfoundland as having " their capuchins * * * much larger
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 185
them terms of derision.* The classification of the Tinne of Alaska is
given by Dall.
Eskimo "Woman of Point Barrow,
carrying child.
(From photograph.)
Fig. 2.
Eskimo "Woman of Point Barkow,
carrying sleeping child.
(From photograph.)
The Tinnean 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 nsar 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. Thi3, 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 iu
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 have borne evident maiks of this
neglect in their infancy.
Franklin, Capt. J. (Narrative of Second Expedition, London, 1828, 4to): The hood
of the dress among the Lower Loucheux women is "made sufficiently wide to admit
of their carrying a child on their back" (p. 28).
166 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
in his Notes on the Tinue or Chippewyan Indiaus, gives the figure of
an infant sitting on a diminutive " bedstead," having a soft fur seat.
The body of the child is bandaged to the high back of the seat. (Fig. 3.)
The same observation just made concerning the
Eskimo is true of the Indians on the Upper Yukon.
Dr.Dall informsme that theirhomes are permanent,
and that there therefore 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.
rig. 3. E. W. Nelson has sent to the Smithsonian Insti-
Chippewyan child-frame, tution, among the many thousands of specimens col-
(From Notes on the Tinne Indians. -i . -1 ,-. -.
,
.
,
,. . t^ i •
By strachan Jones.) lectea 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 half an inch long. Around the bor-
118). In Dr. Richardson's narrative of bis expedition eastward from the mouth of the
Mackenzie, he speaks of coast Eskimo women who " draw their children out of
their wide boots, where they are accustomed to carry them naked" (i, p. 226).
Franklin, Parry, Back, Richardson, and the more modern explorers, speak of the flat
nose of the Eskimo. As in Oceanica this may be the result of compression, since Sir
John Ross (Voyage to Baffin's Bay, London, 1819, 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 description of their huts and sleeping places suggests
that this may be the effect of hard pillows or head-rests on an incompletely ossified
skull. (Bancroft, Nat. Races of Pacific States, 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 position 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. n, 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 (London, 1795), informs us that no cradles are in use
among the northern Indian tribes between 59° and 68° north. He says that the major-
ity of the children are bow-legged from the way in which they are carried.
Portlock, in his Voyage Round the World (Londou, 1789), makes observations on
the general distortion of the legs among Iudians of Prince William's Sound (p. 248).
Kerr, Robert (Collection of Voyages and Travels, London, 1824, 8vo vol. xvi) :
In Cook's description of the natives of Nootka Sound, the same distortion of legs, from
position in canoe, is noticed as has been before referred to. (Vid. notes, passim, p.
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 167
der of the body and just under the margin, continuing around the bor-
der of the hood and awning, lies a rod ot osier. A strip of birch bark
laid on the upper and inner side of the margin serves as a stiffener. It
is sewed down by an ingenious bast-
ing, with stitches an inch or more
long, which pass down through the
two thicknesses of birch bark,
around the osier twig that lies just
below the margin, and up again
through the two thicknesses of.birch
bark by another opening, to com-
mence the next stitch. The hood is
formed by puckering the birch bark
after the manner of a grocer's bag.
The bordering osier is neatly sewed
to the edge of the hood and awning
by a coil of split spruce root. Rows
of beads of many colors adorn the
awning piece. In a country intol-
erable by reason of mosquitoes it is
not strange that provision for sus-
taining some sort of netting should
have been devised. Playthings of
various kinds are also hung to this
awning for the hands and eyes and
ears of the infant occupant, and it
is quite sure that this bow or hood
saves the face of the child many
hurtful blows from a fall.*
232.) (Voyages, etc.). Captain King states that he observed the custom of carrying
children in the hood among the Chuckchees of the east coast (xvi, 364, note). On the
other coast Captain Cook remarked of the dresses at Prince William's Sound that
u some " only had hoods (xvi, 280).
* Long, J. (Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter, London, 1791, 4to) : He
describes the cradle of the Chippewas, who range north to the Arctic Circle ; describes
also the position and mode of carrying the child, and its swathing; states that before
the French occupation of Canada there were no swathings in use, failing material for
them (pp, 60, Gl). Before the French period the cradle was " a trough filled with dry
rotten-wood dust," in which the baby, "covered with furs," was u kept until weaned"
(p. 51). The head of the child in the Chippewa cradle is protected by a hoop (p. 60).
Back, Captain (Narrative of Arctic Land Expedition, Philadelphia, 1836, 8vo) : On
the shore of Great Slave Lake he saw infants " swaddled and unable to stir."
Harmon's Journal. (The title page of this work is lost. Harmon's expedition was
made in 1800, and, under the auspices of the Northwest Company, he traveled
through the same country as Mackenzie.) Speaking of the Sauteux, Crees, Assini-
boines, Rapid Indians, Blackfeet, Bloods, Sussees, Cautonies, Muskagoes, Chipeways,
Beavers, Sicaunies, Ta-cullias, Ate-nas, and Nate-ote-tains, he says that they all use
the cradle-board (p. 316). Harmon thus describes the cradle-board of the Indians of
British America : "All Indian children, when young, are laced in a kind of bag * * *
Fig. 4.
Birch bark Cradle from Yukon River,
Alaska.
(Cat. No. 32985. V. S. N. M. Norton Sound. Collected
by E. W. Nelson.
)
168 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
Boss, in describing the Eastern Tinneh, says:* "Among the Eastern
Tinneh, immediately after birth, without washiug, the infant is laid
naked on a layer of moss in a bag made of leather, aud lined with hare-
skins. If it be summer the latter are dispensed with. This bag is
then securely laced, restraining the limbs in natural positions, and
leaving the child freedom to move the head only. In this phase of its
existence it resembles strongly an Egyptian mummy." Cradles are
never used; but this machine, called a "moss bag," is an excellent ad-
junct to the rearing of children up to a certain age, and has become
almost if not universally adopted in the families of the Hudson Bay
Company's employes. The natives retain the use of the bag to a late
period, say until the child passes a year, during which time it is never
taken out except to change the moss. To this practice, continued to
such an age, I attribute the turned toes and rather crooked legs of
many of these Indians. One is somewhat reminded by this process of
the Eskimo sleeping bag. In the National collection are several small
bags of the same pattern, but the label does not authorize the conclusion
that these small bags were used as cradles for infants.
Bordering the Eskimo in the Labrador Peninsula live the Naskopi or
Scoffies, in latitude as far north as 53 degrees. Lucien Turner spent two
years amongthem,andhas collected much precious information. He tells
us that when the Naskopi child is born it is not washed or allowed to
made of a piece of leather. * * * Some moss is laid in the bottom of this bag, the
child is laid into it, and moss is inserted between its legs. The bag is then laced to
the fore side of the child as high as its neck. This bag is laid upon a board, to which
it is fastened by means of a strip of leather" (p. 316). Further details of arrangement?
ornamentation, and nursing (pp. 316, 317).
Mackenzie, Sir A. (Voyages from Montreal 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 in use in a sub-arctic climate"! Equally op-
posed to Hearne's statement concerning the absence of cradles in these regions is
Mackenzie's full description of a board cradle "in which the child, after it had been
swathed, is placed on a bed of moss." Head compression practiced here, i. e., near
Northwest coast; tribe not named (p. 371). It is to be remarked that Mackenzie
speaks of this last as a "new kind of cradle," the inference being that the Beaver
"swaddling-board" was used by the Chippewa, Knisteneaux, Assiniboines, etc.
Fitz William (Northwest Passage by Land, p. 85) says that the cradle is " a board
with two side flaps 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. The 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 squalling disturbes an Indian camp."
Whymper (Alaska, p. 229): "The Tenan Kutchin (Tinneh) children are carried
in small chairs made of birch bark." Eichardson (Journal I, 384) makes the same
statement. Bancroft (Nat. Races, etc. I, 131) says: "The women carry their infants
in a sort of bark saddle, fastened to the back; they bandage their feet in order to
make them small."
* Smithsonian Report, 1856, p. 302.
€RADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 169
take the breast until three days have elapsed ; it is considered to weaken
the infant if permitted to take the breast before that time. The mother
prepares sphagnum moss by beating it until it becomes quite soft and
fluffy. A portion of this moss is placed about the child, and it is then
wrapped in clothes or skins. The swaddling process begins at the feet
and wraps the lower limbs close together; the trunk is also swathed as
far as the neck, until the child resembles a cocoon. At earliest infancy
the arms are wrapped next the body, but when several months old those
limbs are free, except at night. The reason of this is to make them
grow straight and afford the mother convenience in handling 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 supplied. 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
8?**?'"
Child in Hammock. Cape Breton.
(From sketch in Century Magazine.)
civilization entails. The wigwam is to the manner born, the hammock
reminds one of the far south, while the baby, ensconced in fur and
blankets, without a pretense of lashing, points to Eskimo as well as
white man's methods. Dr. DalPs 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
shan, the Haidan, Hailtzukan (Qaackiool), Salishan, Wakashan, or
Nutkan stock. All of these people are more or less the slaves in all
170 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
their arts to the splendid forests of pine and cedar which cover their
lands. The Bellachoola or Bilkhula belong- to the great Salishan stock.
Their home is in the vicinity of Bentinck 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. 6). It is a trough shaped frame of cedar wood
made in two pieces, as follows : The bottom and head-board are in one
piece about one-half or three-quarters inch thick. The two sides and
foot are also in one piece. 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
very expert, making great numbers of boxes for food and clothing, with
Fig. 6.
Bella-Coola trough-cradle.
(Cat No. 20556, U. S. N. 31. Bella Bella, B. C. Collected by
James G. Swan.
)
Dugout Cradle, with Head-flattening.]
apparatus.
(Cat. No. 2574 B, U. S. N. M. Chinuk Indians.
George Catlin.
)
Collected by
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 5 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 in flaps of raw-hide, in place of the series of eyelet loops occurring
on cradles farther south.
In the coininencenient of this article two kinds of deformation were
mentioned, the designed and the undesigned. The first-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 the Nutkan 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 farther north.
It is a trough rudely hewed out of cedar wood. (Fig. 7.) A low bridge
is left across the trough to strengthen it. Slats are put 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 30 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 and 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 a twine through the first hole, around the root cord
on the outside, back through the same hole up to the middle of the
cradle to form a loop, back through the next hole in the same manner.
(4) The lacing-string runs through these loops alternately from bot-
tom to top. The ornamentation of this type of cradle is chiefly by
means of parti-colored basketry and furs. The Chinuks were an ad-
vanced people in art, and many of their cradles were very prettily
adorned. Mr, Oatlin figured one in which the process of head-flattening
is going forward.
In Mayne'» "British Columbia and Vancouver's Island" we read 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 Eiver. 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-se-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, aud 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, a padding of he-se-yu 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 water, 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.
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 173
Inhabiting the lower parts of the Columbia are a small tribe 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 thoDgs 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 the 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 the 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 manner in which the heads of the children are flattened.
)
The skull at the top in profile will show a breadth of not more than 1J
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.
In the process of flattening the head there is another 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.
The Chinuk method oe Flattening the Head.
( Plate 210j£, Vol. n, CatlirTs Eight Years.
)
given to the child by holding it up in the cradle, loosing the outer end
0£ 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 carried 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 during its subjection
to this rigid mode its cradle becomes its coffin, forming a little canoe, in
which it lies floating on the water in some sacred pool. (Gatlin, vol.
II, p. 110.)
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 175
From the Oregon coast the Wilkes Expedition * brought a cradle
which is shown in Fig. 9. The frame
board is trowel or spade shape. The
whole back and 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 u fly " covers the lower
extremities. Compare this portion 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 ornamen-
tation and the head-baud 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 child'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 effect-
ing this distortion." (See Fig. 10.)
*Marchand (Voyages) reports that among the Thinkeets, infants are ''so excoriated
by fermented filth, and so scarred by their cradle, that they carry the marks to the
grave." (Bancroft, Nat. Races of Pacific States, vol. I, p. 112.)
Lord (Nat., vol. n, p. 232), Scouler (Lond. Geog. Soc. Jour., vol. xi, pp. 218, 220,
223), Schoolcraft (Arch., vol. n, p. 325) mention the custom of flattening the head
in infancy among the Haidahs (Columbians). (Bancroft, Nat. Races, etc., 1, 158.) In
their platform houses they slept on "cedar mats" (p. 161).
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 Avith the Sound and
Chinook families, 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, Sutil y Mexicana, Mayne,
and Scouler, to the effect 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
Fiff. 9.
Cradle of Oregon Indians.
(Cat. No. 2575, U. S. N. M. Collected by Wilkea'
ploring Expedition. )
176 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
Governor Stevens (Ind. Aff. Rep., 1854, p. 227) says: " The women at
Walla Walla sit astride in a saddle made with a very high pommel and
Fig. 10.
Showing the effect of Head-Flattening.
(From drawing by Mr. Drayton, published in Wilkes' Exploring Expedi-
tion, iv, p. 388.
)
cantle, and in traveling carry their infants either dangling by the cradle
strap to the former or slung in a blanket over their shoulders.'7 The
the 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).
Macfie, 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 to such
an extent as their neighbors on the south " (p. 210).
Bancroft (Native Eaces 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 and 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 from
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 forehead
and tied to the plank with strings, which are tightened more and more each day until
the skull is shaped to the required pattern. Space is left for lateral expansion, and,
under ordinary circumstauces, the child's head is not allowed to leave its position un-
til the process is complete. The body and limbs are also bound to the cradle, but
more loosely, by bandages, which are sometimes removed for cleansing purposes."
(Native Races, etc., vol. I, p. 227.)
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 177
same authority says that the Clallams, and in fact all the Sound Indians,
flatten the head (243).*
Mr. William Meinold, in sending to the National Museum the skull of
a Flathead Indian from northwest Montana, writes 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 short 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 6 feet high.
In his canoe were found beads, and a General Harrisou badge of 1841.
t
* Meaies, J. (Voyages to the Northwest Coast of America, London, 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. n, p. 37).
Wilkes, Commander (U. S. Exploring Expedition, Philadelphia, 1845, 4to, vol. iv)
:
Two plates illustrating head-flattening among the Indiaus of Niculuita (Wallawal la),
observed by Mr. Drayton (p. 415). Flower quotes Kane's description of the process
of head-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. n, Picart. Histoire
des Religions. He quotes Townsend's account of head-flattening 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 this custom among Choctaws and Chickasaws (p. 112). The evidence af-
forded by this and other works dealing with the details of life points to the fact that
head distortion is less practiced now than formerly. It exists at present sporadically.
Cox, R. (The Columbia River. Loudon, 1832, 3d ed. 8vo.) On the Lower Columbia
all heads 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
of rotundity" (i. pp. 219-222). Gathlamahs, Killymucks, Clatsops, Chinooks, 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 Sokulk 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 women of the Pishquit-
paws, on the Columbia, had " their heads flattened " (vol. n, p. 23). Among the Enee-
shurs and Elcheloots " the heads of the males, as well as of the other sex," were flat-
tened (vol. II, p. 45). The women of an unnamed tribe on the same river "universally
have their heads flattened," and they saw "female children undergoing the opera-
tion" (vol. II, p. 57). Pressure of anklets and mode of sitting also distorted thnrlegs
(id.). "The Skilloots, both males and females, have the head flattened" (vol. n p. 64).
The Wahkiacums " 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. 2 12
178 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
The Hnp.i Indians of northwestern California belong to the Tinnean
stock. They have been described in a paper entitled, " The Eay Col-
lection in the U. S. National Museum."* The cradle-basket of the Hupas
of northwestern California 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 upp« rend, the
small euds 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 strengthening twig is whipped
or sewed in place, as in the Makah
basketry. At intervals of L'£ to 3
inches are three rows of twined
basketry, every alternate seiies
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 pai t of
the frame is held together by rows
of twined weaving (boitstrophedon).
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 ofbead anklets (vol. II, p. 115). The Cookoooose, on the Pacific coast, do not
flatten the bead (vol. n, p. 119). It is stated that " the Killan»ucks,Clatsops,Chinnook8,
and Cathlamabs * * * 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 ill-
shaped 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. II, pp. 130, 131).
* Smithsonian Report, 1836, i., pp. 205-239, pi. XXVI.
• Fig. 11.
Hupa Wicker-Cradle.
(Cat. No. 126519. U. S. N. M. Hupa Valley, California.
Collected by Lieut. P. H. Ray, U. 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 McOloud River 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 cutaway, 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 perpendicular 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 materuity 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, 1/99. 8vo. Vol. in.)
Description by Dr. Rollin 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
cridles were of basket work, wood or birch bark (p. 237).
t Bancroft. (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 skin and strapped to a board, which is
carried on the mother's back" (p. 391).
t Powers, Cont. N. A. Ethnol., in, p. 257.
180 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
back on a line with the nose, yet his faculties seemed nowise impaired.
The conspicuous 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.
"Pig. 12.
Klamath Cradle of wicker and rushes.
(Cat. No. 19698, U. S. N. M. Klamath Indians, Tule River,
California. Collected by Stephen Powers.
)
Fig. 13.
Frame of Pitt River Cradle.
(Cat. No 214-11, Round Valley, California.
U.S.N.M. Collected by Stephen Powers.
)
The 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
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 181
just ready to learn to walk. Regarding the cradle in the light of a
chrysalis, we discover not only the tiny creature within has passed
through wonderful changes, but that the encapsulating cradle has passed
from a horizontal to a vertical function. It was first a trough to be
firmly lashed in; it ends with being a frame on which the juvenile In-
dian takes his stand prior to taking his flight into the realm of self-sup-
port. Compare this device with the practice of the Pimo and Yuma
children of standing upon 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 noteworthy 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 she laid her twine by the side of her warp for an inch and a half,
and then 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-string which holds the
baby in place.
The Tule and Tejon cradle-frame consists of three parts : the fonnda-
182 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887
tion, which is a forked stick : the cross-bars, lashed beneath, and the
slat of twigs upon which the bed is laid. 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 16 inches at the distal end or top.
Pomo Cradle.
(Cat. No. 21398, U. S. N.
Fig. 14.
The Child sits in the rounded portion.
M. Potter Valley, California. Collected by 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
twi^s 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
prongs. This lashing crosses the twigs diagonally in front and the
rods behind vertically.
The Mohave cradle-frame is a prettily-made ladder or trellis, built
up as follows (Fig. 15): A pole of hard wood about 7 feet long is bent
Fig. 15.
Mohave Cradle, with Bed of shredded bark.
(Cat. No. 24146, U. 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 5J 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, finely-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.
unique, and so very neatly done as to demand explanation. Two strips
of bast are seized about their middle by a single twist of the two ele-
ments of twined weaving. Of course two halves will project above and
two below the twist. Lay two more strips of bast in the second bight
of the twist and draw down the first two upper ends, one to the right of
and the other betweeu the second pair of strips, seizing them in place
by another half turn of the twines. Lay on a thin pair of bast strips
and bring down the second pair of ends projecting upward, as at first.
The weaving consists of four movements, namely: Laying in a pair of
bast strips, grasping them with a half turn of the two twining wefts,
bending down the two upward strips just preceding one between the
other outside of the last two strips ; and grasping them with a half turn
of tbe twine. The lashing belts of this cradle are twelve to fifteen ply
braids, made of red, green, white, and black woolen and cotton cords,
braided after the manner of the peculiar type of ornamentation unde-
signedly originated by braiding with threads of different colors. On
this belt of several colors the threads are so arranged as to produce a
continuous series of similar triangles, filling the space between two par-
allel lines by having their bases above and below alternately. Now
the gist of the ornamentation is the parallelism of the braiding threads,
now to one side of the triangle, and in the next figure running in a di-
rection exactly at right angles. One of the commonest ornaments on
the pottery, rude stone, and carved wood is this distribution of lines in
triangles.
Of the Pimos, neighbors of the Mohaves, Dr. Palmer says, that on long
journeys they use the cradle-board ; but as soon as a child is able to
stand alone the Pimo mother allows it to mount upon the immense
cincture of bark worn on her back and to grasp her around the neck.*
The floor of the Yaqui cradle is of the slatteded type, 30 inches long.
A dozen or more reeds, such as arrow-shafts are made of, are fastened
in the same plane by a dowel-pin. The reeds are not bored for the pins,
but simply notched in a primitive fashion. (Fig. 16.)
There is no cradle-trough, but a bed of willow or other bast, shredded,
is laid on longitudinally. The pillow consists of a bundle of little splints
laid on transversely, at either end of which is a pad of rags. There is
no awning; the lashing in this instance is a long cotton rag, taking
the place of a leather strap, passing round and round baby and frame,
and fastened off in a martingale arrangement, crossing the feet and tied
to the lower corners of the cradle. Upon this cradle rack or frame is
fastened the true cradle, which, in this instance, is a strip of coarse mat,
*Bourke, Capt. J. G.: Speaking of the Uniene of the Rio Helay, in 1824, who must
have been the Yumas of the Rio Gila, Pattie says: " They contrive to inflict upon
their children an artificial deformity. They flatten their heads by pressing a board
upon their tender scalps, which they bind fast by a ligature. This board is so large
and tight that I have seen women when swimming in the river with their children,
towing them after them with a string which they held in their mouth. The little
things neither suffered nor complained, but floated behind their mothers like ducks."
(Pattie's Narrative, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1833, p. 92.)
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 185
made of soft flags, a foot wide, joiDed by cross-rows of twined weaving
2 inches apart. Tbis mat is bordered by a braid of flags, and the two
ends are puckered or drawn to a point. The cradle belongs to the open,
unhooded type, and is made by doubling the matting at the head and
drawing it together to a point at the foot. The two edges uext to the
cradle-frame are joined and fastened to the
frame, while the outer edge is allowed to flare
open. In this little ark of flags or rushes the
baby is placed.*
The children of the California peninsula
stand and walk before they are a year old.
When they are born they are cradled in the
shell of a turtle or on the ground. As soon
as the child is a few months old, the mother
places it perfectly naked astraddle on her
shoulders, its legs hanging down on both
sides in front. In this guise the mother roves
about all day, exposing her helpless charge
to the hot rays of the sun and the chilly winds
that sweep over the inhospitable country.!
Like her white sister, the Indian mother (to
be) in Montana and her friends make prepa-
rations for the coming event by collecting
cloths, and the board that the child is to pass
so many hours of its first year of life on,
which, if richly ornamented with beads, otter-
skin, and fringes, with bells on them, is worth
a good horse, which is generally what is given
for the child's board or cradle. This is usually
the case when the boy or girl is given and
adopted by another mother. 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 born it is taken in charge by its adopted mother,
or by a hired woman. It is washed, dried, then greased, and powdered
with red ocher, then nursed by some Indian woman or its mother, and
wrapped up, with its arms down by its side, in a buffalo calf skin or
shawl or small blanket, and placed in its board or cradle, to be taken
* Acosta, Padre Jos6 de. (The Natural and Moral History of the Indies. Ed. Hak-
luyt Soc. London. 1880. 8vo.) Of the " Chichiinecas"—savage mountaineers—he
says : " The wives likewise went a hunting with their husbands, leaving their young
children in a little panier of reeds, tied to the houghs of a tree." (Vol. ir, p. 450.)
Head-flattening. (Mexico:) " Las parteras hacen que las .criaturas no tengan colo-
drillos; y las madres las tienen echadas en cunas de tal suerte que no les crezca,
porque se preciau sin el." (G6mara, Mejico, p. 440.)
t Cradle of Turtle-shell, Low. Cal. Inds., 1773. Baegert, in Smithsonian Rep. ? 1863,
p. 362. '
Fig. 16.
Yaqui Cradle, made of Canes.
Soft bosses used for pillows.
( U. S. N. M. Sonora, Mexico. Collected by
Edward Palmer.
)
186 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
around to its relations' lodges for inspection. Every evening it is taken
from its confinement to be washed, painted, and dressed again, and
greased. The first cloth 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 upon 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 Perce' Indians belong to the Sahaptian stock, and were
once a noble people, dwelling on the Snake Eiver and its affluents in
Idaho. They have produced the historical character, Chief Joseph, but
are now reduced to an enervated remnant dwelling on the Nez Perce
Eeservation. The basis of the cradle is a rough board, generally hewn
out, 3 feet high, 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 foiward 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 a separate
strip sewed on at this point. A little above the center is sewed the head-
strap of buckskin, to enable the mother to transport 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
*Catlin, George. (Illustrations of the Manners, etc., of the N. American Indians.
London. 1876. 8vo. Vol. I.) Head of Crow chief distorted into semi-lunar shape
(p. 50).
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 187
part above the hood ; a piece of flannel or buckskin is covered with
bead-work, solid, or has 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 i>lay 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 Nez Perces, 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 Perce Cradle-board with buckskin sides.
(Cat. No. 23845, U. S. N. M. Nez Perce Agency, Idaho. Collected by
J. B. Monteith.)
Fig. 18.
Sahaptian Cradle-board.
(Cat. No. 129675, U. S. N. M. Spokane Indians, Washingtno.
Collected by Mrs. A. C. McBean.
)
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 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
On the back is a long ornamental fringe at top, and lower down both
the head strap and two extra straps at the margin to secure the cradle
in other manipulations. The upper portion of the front is covered with
bead- work, solid blue ground, with bird-shaped 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.
Fig. 19.
Nevada Utr Cradle-frame : of Rods, with ad-
justable awmng.
(Cat. No 7fi734, U. S. N. M. Specimen obtained from tlie Nevada
exhibit at the New Orleans Exposition )
Fig. 20.
Nevada Ute Cradle ; Full rigged.
(Cat. No. 19040, U. S. N. M. Pyramid Lake, Nevada.
Collected by Stephen Powers.
)
One of the widest-spread stocks of Indians formerly were the Sho-
shonians, reaching down the Great Interior Basin throughout its whole
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 189
extent, crossing the Rockies on the east under the name of Comanches,
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 Utes 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. 19,
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
Fi£. 21.
Uncompaghre Ute Cradle ; Showing front and back.
(Cat. No. 128342, U. S. N. M. Uncompaghre River, Colorado (?). Collected by Captain Beckwith, U. 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 REPORT OF 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 tiara, made of little twigs lashed to stronger rods. The
lower margin over the child's forehead is bound with soft buckskin
The hard cradle-board allies it to the Northern type, where timber is
larger, rather than to 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 TJte Cradle-frame, made of rods and covered with
dressed buck-skin.
(Cat. No. 14646, U. 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 lattice firmly in place. A hoop of twig, elliptical in form, is
lashed to the frame wherever ic touches and to the ends of the cross rod.
To the upper border 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 ABORIGINES. 191
awning of the cradle. We are now ready for the cover, which is formed
by a wide piece of the whitest 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 ox-bow 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 especially 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 kuotted 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 iu shape of the ox-yoke bow. Kods
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 awuing, as the drawiug 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 Canon 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 fnr, within this. There is a wicker shade at
the head, and the cradle is slung on tbe mother's back by a strap passing over the
forehead (p 127).
192 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
There is no buckskin covering, but a set of loops along the edges serve
to accomplish the lashing. The most curious part of the apparatus is
a series of four bows or half hoops of equal radius. These are woven to
the side of the board, as indicated in the drawing. A string is tied to
the top of the board and to each of the hoops at a certain distance, so
that when the loose end of the string is pulled the hoops form a "buggy
Fig 25.
Moki Cradle-frame, of coarse wicker, avith
AWNING.
(Cat No 231.>4a. Moki Pueblos. Arizona Collected by Maj.
J W. Powell.)
Fix. 2
Moki Cradle-frame, of fixe wicker, re-
sembling THE SACRED MEAL-TRAY. AWX-
IX ! UNIQUE.
(Cat. No. 11789a, U. S N. M. Moki Pueblos. Arizona.
Collected by Maj. J. W. Towell.)
top," or adjustable hood to the cradle. In no other cradle is the prob-
lem more delicate. It depends almost entirely upon the bed to nullify
the effects of this cradle. Without examining the heads of Zuni Indians
at all we ought to find the occiput pushed in, flattened, and asymmet-
rical. Should they prove otherwise, it is right to assume a bed able to
counteract this influence.
The Apache Indians of Arizona and Xew Mexico* make a very
elaborate cradle, the substantial part consisting of the frame and the
hood. (Fig. 28, a b) The frame is elliptical in form, the outline being
formed by a pole of wood bent and the two ends spliced and lashed.
Upon this ellipse are laid laths of white pine, planed. Over the child'
«
* Bancroft. (Native Races of the Pacific States. New York, 1873. Vol.1.) Among
the Apaches of the Lower Colorado the great toe " is widely separated from the others,
which arises probably from wading in marshy bottoms" (p. 479).
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 193
face is built the hood formed by bending two bows of supple wood to
the required shape and overlaying them with transverse 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 buckskin
on 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 Eiver 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 Navajos 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.
Zuni Cradle-frame.
(Cat. No. 69015, U. S. N. M. Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico.
Collected by Col. James Stevenson.
194 REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
the specimen figured. It is the foot board, so common in all the Al-
goukiu and Iroquois specimens. The pillow is to be noticed especially,
consisting of soft furs and rags rolled up in soft buckskin and fastened
to the board. The awning frame is a wide bow of thin, hard wood,
over which falls a wide, long vail or flap of buckskin. This cradle was
collected by Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, U. S. Army, who kindly made some
investigations relative to the use aud effect of the Navajo cradle.
(a) (b)
Fig. 28.
Apache Cradle. Front and back view.
(Cat. No. 21523, U. S. N. M. Arizona Territory. Collected by Dr J. B. White, U. S. A.)
Of some two or three dozen children of all ages from the infant up-
wards that I have examined I 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 strapping their babies in the
cradle (Fig. 33.)
It will at once be observed that the head of the child is perfectly free,
and that it has been supplied with a thick and soft pillow at the back
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 195
of it, whereas the body and limbs have been strapped up almost to the
last degree. This child has light, thin hair, through which the general
form of the skull could be easily examined, but after the most careful
measurements I failed to detect any flattening of the occipital region
of the head.
In examining the full blooded infants of
different ages of this tribe of Indians I
occasionally found one wherein I thought
I could satisfactorily determine that the
back of its head was unduly flattened, but
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, and this fact goes to
sustain the proposition 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 through their mat-
ted hair—that the hinder region of their
heads was flattened, but it never seemed to equal that of the Navajo
girl, which I have 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 examinations 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 the extraordinarily distorted skull that
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 strapped 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. 29.
Apache Woman carrying child.
(From photograph.)
196 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
or more extended observations may prove that this flattening of the
skull only occurs in a certain proportion of the representatives of this
race, and not in every individual.
Fig. 30.
Apache Mothee nursing Child.
(From photograph.)
Dr. R. W. Shufeldt, (J. S. Army, sent to Prof. Sir William Turner, of
Edinburgh, a Navajo skull, which is described in the Journal of Anat-
omy and Physiology, vol. xx, p. 430, as follows: The skull presented a
well-marked parieto- occipital flattening, obviously due to artificial press-
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
head. 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 uutlefonned skull The cranium
Was hy perbraehyeephalic,
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 197
The height of the skull was also very considerable and reached, as
may be seen from the table, 115 millimeters ; the vertical index was 89,
so that the skull was hyperacrocephalic. In all probability the pressure
during infancy, which shortened the skull in its anteroposterior 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 not 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-
Fig. 31.
Apache Motheb. with Children.
(From photograph.
I
praciliary ridges were thick and 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 maxillae 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, and the orbit was megaseme. The
198 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
nasal was 48 millimeters, the nasal width 25, the nasal index was 52,
and the nose was mesorhiue. The palatomaxillary length was 56,
the palato-maxillary width was 72 millimeters; the palatomaxillary in.
dex was 128, and the roof of the moiith was brachyuranic. The teeth
were all erupted and not worn. The cranial sutures were all unossified.
Navajo Cradle: Full-rigged.
the poorer sort.
From Arizona.
Fig. 33.
Navajo Cradle, with wooden hood and
awning of dressed buckskin.
Cat. No. 12-615, U S. N.
Collected by Dr. ]
M. Fort Wingate. New Mexico
I. W. Shufeldt, U. S. A.
)
The parieto-sphenoid suture in the pteriou was 19 millimeters in antero-
posterior diameter. There were no Wormian bones. The anterior end
of the inferior turbinated bone was almost in the same plane as the an-
terior uares.
The Comanche cradle (6970) is the most primitive cradle in the Na-
tional Museum (Fig. 34). It is a strip of black bear-skin 30 inches long
and 20 wide, doubled together in form of a cradle-frame. Along the
side edges loops of buckskin are made to receive the lacing. The loops
are formed as follows : A buckskin string is passed through a hole in
the bear-skin and the longer end passed through a slit or cut in the
shorter end. The long end is then passed through the next hole and
drawn until a loop of sufficient size is left ; a slit is made in the string
near the last hole passed through, and then the whole lashing is drawn
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 199
through this slit. This serves the purpose of a knot at each hole, as in
many other cradles. A foot-piece of bear skin is sewed in with coarse
leather string.*
Governor Stevens (Ind. Aff. Kept., 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
poles. 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
come up again in speaking of the Sioux and other Eastern cradles.
Fia. 34.
Comanche Cradle of the rudest
bout, made of a stiff piece of
black beau-skin.
(Cat. No. 6970, U. S. N. M. Texas. Collected by
Edward Palmer.)
Fi<r. 35.
Blackfeet Cradle, made of lat-
tice-work and leather.
(Cat. No. U. S. N. M. Texas. Collected by
Edward Palmer.
)
The frame illustrated by Fig. o5 belongs to the 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 an inch apart are bored
through the frame board and cross-piece at the corners of a square, a
string of buckskin is passed backward and forward from hole to hole
* Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1873, vol. i) : As soon as a
Comanche child is born " it is fastened to a small hoard by bandages, and so carried
for several months on the back of the mother. Later the child rides on the mother's
hip, or is carried on her back in a basket or blanket " (pp. 513, 514).
200 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
and the two ends tied, or one end is passed through a slit cut in the
other. The lashing does not cross the square on either side diagonally.
Above the upper cross-piece the frame pieces project a foot and are
straightened atop like fence pickets. Disks of German silver and
brass-headed nails are used in profusion to form various geometric
ornaments; upon the front of the frame, between the cross-pieces, a
strip of buffalo hide is sewn, with rawhide string passing through holes
bored in with the hair side (the side pieces) towards the cradle-bed.
The inclosing case is a shoe-shaped bag made of a single piece of
soft deer-skin lashed together half way on top in the usual manner,
and kept open around the face by a stiffening of buffalo leather or raw-
hide. A small opening is left opposite the penis, and a stiffening piece
keeps the bag open at the feet. This case is attached to the frame by
thong lashings. Little sleigh bells, bits of leather, feathers, etc., com-
plete the ornamentation (Fig. 3i>).
Fig. 36.
Oglalla Sioux Cradle.
Similar to Fiji. 35, with
addition of beading.
(Cat. No. 754/2. Black Hills, Dakota.
)
The Sioux cradle
Fig. 36a.
Oglalla Sioux Woman.
(From photograph.)
a frame of two diverging slats, painted yellow,
held in place at the head and foot by cross-slats, lashed as in the Co-
manche cradle, with this difference, that the string crosses between the
holes diagonally. This is true, but may have no significance. The tops
of the side pieces project above the cradle sack at least 18 inches, and
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 201
are studded with brass-headed nails in straight lines (Figs. 36, 36 a).
As in the Comanche cradle there is a bottom or mattrass, and a quilt
of calico, lined, supplants the buffalo hide. The baby-case is shoe-
shaped, the part around the head and shoulders stiffened with a lining
of buffalo leather. All over the outside of the baby-case bead-work is
laid on in geometric patterns of blue, red, yellow, green, and blue-black
on a white ground. The beads are strung on a fine sinew-thread in
proper number and color to extend quite across the case. This string
is then tacked down at intervals of three-fourths of an inch so regularly
as to form continuous creased Hues, extending from the foot longitudi-
nally around the baby-case to the foot on the other side. Streamers of
colored tape and ribbon take the place of old-fashioned strings, fur, and
feathers. The edges of the lower half of the case are joined by four
strings tied separately, instead of the universal lashing. There are
about this cradle several marks of modification by contact with whites,
which show at the same time the tenacity with which old forms remain
and the readiness with which they yield to pressure at the points of
least resistance, indicating also where the points of least resistance are.
Another specimen of Sioux cradle has the back- board square at top,
carved and painted, barrow-shaped, like last, awning-frame bent and
painted, covering-cloth decorated with beads. It is tacked around edge
of side board, brought up and laced in the middle like a shoe. Model
of doll with iron necklace. Length, 28f inches; width, 13 inches.
Back -board carved on front above; back-brace has large rounded ends;
foot-rest low, curved around at bottom; cradle covered over with quill-
work in red, white, and black; pattern, lozenges, men, horses, etc.; dec-
orated with iron bells; opening across cradle cover in middle. (Fig. 37.)
Mr. Oatlin thus describes the Sioux cradle, from a specimen in his
collection, and the early life of the Sioux infant: a The back-board is
wide; wedge-shaped opening made by cutting piece out of top; top is
painted and decorated with beads; cradle has bent-wood sides, which
make it like a barrow; the head-pad is over the lower part of the wedge-
opening; ash awning- frame. The ends of this are fastened to a rod
going across the back, by a device, which may be called an ear-mortise.
It is held down over rod by an iron dog fastened to side of cradle.
Cradle, 29£ inches long, 12 inches wide; length of side board, 2J inches;
height, 4J inches ; height of awning-frame, 14£ inches ; width, 16J
inches.
"The custom of carrying 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
infancy, has its back lashed to a straight board, being fastened to it by
bandages, which pass around it in front, and on the back of the board
they are tightened to the 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 child's
202 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
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, souud lungs, and
long life.
"In plate 232, letter tf, is a cor-
rect drawing of a Sioux cradle,
which is in my collection, and
was purchased from a Sioux wo-
man's back, as she was carrying
her infant in it, as is seen in let-
ter e of the same plate.
"In this instance, as is often
the case, the bandages that pass
around the cradle, holding the
child in, are all the way covered
with a beautiful embroidery of
porcupine quills, with ingenious
figures of horses, men, etc. A
broad hoop of elastic wood passes
around in front of the child's face
to protect it in case of a fall, from
the front of which is suspended a
little toy of exquisite embroidery
for the child to handle and amuse
itself with. To this and other lit-
tle trinkets hanging in front of
it there are attached many little
tinseled and tinkling things of the
brightest colors to amuse both the eyes and the ears of the child. While
traveling on horseback the arms of the child are fastened under the
bandages, so as not to be endangered if the cradle falls, and when at rest
they are generally taken out, allowing the infant to reach and amuse
itself with the little toys and trinkets that are placed before it and
within its reach.
* 4 The infant is carried in this manner until it is five, six, or seven
months old, after which it is carried on the back in the manner repre-
sented in two of the figures of the same plate, and held within the folds
of the robe or blanket.
"The modes of carrying the infant when riding are also here shown,
and the manner in which the women ride, which, amongst all the tribes,
is astride, in the same manner as that practiced by the men.
" Letter b, in the same plate, is a mourning cradle, and opens to the
view of the reader another very curious and interesting custom. If
the infant dies during the time that is allotted to it to be carried in
this cradle, it is buried, and the disconsolate mother fills the cradle
Fig. 37.
Sioux Cradle.
(Cat. No. 73311, U. S. N. M. Missouri
George Catlin.
)
Collected by
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 203
with black quills and feathers in the parts which the child's body had
occupied, and in this way carries it around with her wherever she goes,
for a year or more, with as much care as if her infant were alive and in
it, and she often lays or stands it leaning against the side of the wig-
wam, where she is all day engaged in her needlework, and chatting
and talking to it as familiarly and affectionately as if it were her loved
infant, instead of its shell, that she was talking to. So lasting and
so strong is the affection of these women for the lost child that it mat-
ters not how heavy or cruel their load or how rugged the route they
have to pass over, they will faithfully carry this, and carefully, from
day to day, and even more strictly perform their duties to it than if
the child were alive and in it.
"In the little toy that I have mentioned, and which is suspended be-
fore the child's face, is carefully and superstitiously preserved the um-
bilicus, which is always secured at the time of its birth, and, being
rolled up into a little wad of the size of a pea and dried, it is inclosed
in the center of this little bag and placed before the child's face, as its
protector and its security for " good luck " and long life.
"Letter c, same plate, exhibits a number of forms and different tastes
of these little toys, which I have purchased from the women, which they
were very willing to sell for a trifling present 5 but in every instance
they cut them open and removed from within a bunch of cotton or moss,
the little sacred medicine, which to part with would be to endanger the
health of the child, a thing that no consideration would have induced
them in any instance to have done."* (Pages 130-132, vol. 11, Catliu's
Eight Years).
* Long, Maj. S. H. (Expedition to the Sources of the St. Peter's River. Philadelphia.
1824. 8vo.) Among the Pottawatomie great care is taken that the body shall be
straight and well formed ; no attempt * * * is made to change the shape of the
head, "this being regarded as having a tribal significance" (vol. I, p. 100). On the
Cottonwood River, Long saw an old Pottawatomie chief with "a child-board on his
back, in which he carried his little grandson" (vol. 1, p. 178). The child was naked
(p. 179). Of the Dacotah, Long or Keating, who compiled and edited his notes, says:
''The practice of shaping the heads of infants is unknown to them" (vol. 1, p.
404).
Charlevoix, Perede. (Journalof a Voyage to North America. London. 1761. 8vo.)
Tbe Tetes de Boule (Roundheads), an Algonquin tribe north of Montreal, " have their
name from the roundness of their heads; they think there is a great beauty in this
figure, and it is very probable the mothers give it to their children while in the
cradle " (vol. I, Letter xi, p. 285). Speaking of the tine figures of the " Indians of
Canada," Charlevoix says that one reason for this is, that " their bodies are not con-
strained, in the cradle" (vol. 11, Letter xxi, p. 79). Just after (p. 120) he describes
the ornamentation of " their children's cradles" among the Hurons.
Lahontau, Baron. (New Voyages to North America. London. 1735, 2d ed. 8vo.)
These observations were made upon the Algonkian and Iroquoian tribes of the St.
Lawrence and the Lakes in the latter part of the seventeenth centur}7 . Like Hearue,
he says: "There is no such thing as a cradle among the savages" (vol. II, p. 7); but
he adds that "the mothers make use of certain little boards, stuffed with cotton, upon
204 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
yuo
East of the Mississippi River, north of tbe Tennessee and the North
Carolina line, and south of Hudson Bay lived Algonkin and Iroquois
stocks, and all of them used a flat cradle-board, not far from 2£ feet
long, 10 inches wide, and one-half inch thick, tapering wider at the
head. The St. Kegis Iroquois, in the north of New York and near the
Canada line, have for many years bought
their cradle-boards from the whites or
made them of material bought from a
white man (Figs. 39, 40). The specimen
illustrated has the back carved in flowers
and birds, and painted blue, red, green,
and yellow. The cleat at the upper end
of the back is a modern chair-round. The
foot-board is a small shelf or bracket, on
which the child's feet rest.
An interesting relic of savagery on this
quite civilized cradle are the notches in
the awning-bow, falling down over the
ends of the cleat, extended and held in
place by braces of leather thong. The
hoop serves many functions, such as sup-
port for sunshade, rain protector, mos-
quito net, ornaments, dangling trinkets
to please the child, etc.
18 JOG. Cradle back board, carved in
peacocks, and painted bright colors.
Square at top. Awning frame mortised
at ends, which allow them to slide over
awning-bar. Held down and guyed by
stays on opposite side. Has a movable
foot-rest at bottom. Thongs along sides
for lashing baby in. Length, 29J inches ; width, top, 10£ inches; bot-
tom, 8£ inches. Foot rest, height, 3 J inches ; width, 6 inches. (Fig. 38.)
The following notes regarding the Iudians east of the Mississippi
River have been collected in the course of the author's reading, and are
here appended to throw additional light upon the subject
:
Heriot, G. (Travels through the Canadas. London, 1807. 4to.) "The use of a
pillow is known to but a few" among the Iroquois tribes. Having seen that article
in use, they imitate it " with a billet of wood, with a mat rolled up, or with skins
stuffed with hair (p. 2^7).
w Inch the children lie as if their backs were glued to them, being swaddled in liunen
and kept on with swath bands run through the sides of the boards. To these boards
they tie strings, by which they hang their children on the branches of trees" (vol. n,
p. 7). "As soon as their children come into the world they dip them in warm water
up to the chin." The Dacotahs, Aleutian Islanders, etc., use cold water. "After
this they swathe them down upon little boards or planks, stuffed with cotton, where
they lie upon their backs" (vol. II, p. 43).
Fig. 38.
Iroquois Cradle. Back view.
(Cat. No. 18006. U. S. N. M. ?t. Regn. New York
Collected by R. B. Hough.
)
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 205
Jefferys, T. (Nat. and Civil Hist, of French Dominions in North and South Amer-
ica, London, 1760, fol.), says of Algonkian Tetes de Boul: "The Round-Heads * * *
take their name from the figure of their heads. * * * It is believed that the
mothers * * * form the heads of the children into this shape when they are in
the cradle " (part I, p. 47).
Liancourt, Duke de. (Travels through the United States, etc. London, 1799. 4to.)
Very much the same account as that of Weld, etc., is given by this traveler of the
cradle-board used by the Iroquois tribes. He says, however, that " suckling children
are generally suspended in a basket fastened to the ceiling" (vol. I, p. 177).
Weld, I. (Travels through North America and Canada. London.' 1799. 4to.) As
the result of general observation of the tribes of Canada and the Lakes, he says that
u an Indian child, soon after it is born, is swathed with cloths or skins (vide Long,
Notes), laid on its back, and bound down on a piece of thick board, spread with soft
moss." Hoops protect the face. The cradle- board is suspended on the mother's back
when traveling, otherwise hung by the head-strap. Infants are also put in hammocks,
and when able to crawl are released from the cradle board (p. 387).
"Their infants are borne "with haire on their heads, and are of com-
plexion white as our nation, but their mothers in tbeir iufancy make a
bath of Walnut leaves, huskes of Walnuts and such things as will stain
their skinne for ever, wherein they did & washe them to make them
tawny. The coloure of their haire is black & their eyes black."
Note.—The idea that the Indian was born white was very commonly
entertained in the first half of the seventeenth century. Lechford, in his
"Plaine Dealing," p. 50, says: "They are of complexion swarthy & tawny.
Their children are borne while, but they bedaube them with oyle& colours
presently." Josselyn also speaks of the Indians " dying their children
with a liquor of boiled Hemlock-Bark." (Two Voyages, p. 128.) Speaking
of the Virginia women Smith says : " To make their children hardie in
the coldest mornings they them wash in the rivers, & by payntiug &
oyntments so tanue their skinnes that after a year or two no weather
will hurt them." (True, Travels, vol. I, p. 131.) Strachey gives a more par-
ticular account of the supposed process : " The Indians are generally
of a cullour browne or rather tawny, which they cast themselves into
with a kind of arsenic stone, & of the same hue are their women, how-
beit yt is supposed neither of them naturally borne so discolored $ for
Capt. Smith (lyving somtymes amongst them) affirmeth how they are
from the womb indifferent white, but as the men, so doe the women dye
& disguise themselves into this tawny cowler, esteeming yt the best
beauty to be neerest such a kynd of murrey as a sodden quince is of
(to liken y t to the neerest coulor I can), for which they daily anoint both
face & bodyes all over with such a kind of fucus or unguent as can cast
them into that stay ne." (Historic, 63.) ("New English Canaan." Prince
Soc. Boston, 1883, p. 147.)
"These infants are carried at their mothers' backs by the help of a
cradle made of a board forket at both ends whereon the cbilde is fast
bound and wrapped in furres; his knees thrust up towards his bellie,
because they may be the more usefull for them when he sitteth, which
is as a dogge does on his bumme ; and this cradle surely preserves them
206 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
better than the cradles of our nation, for as much as we find them well
proportioned, not any of them crooked backed or wry legged ; and to
give their charracter in a worde, they are as proper meu and women for
feature and limbs as can be found, for flesh and blood as active." (" ^New
English Canaan." Prince Soc. Boston, 1883, p. 147.)
The Choktah flatten their foreheads with a bag of sand, which with
great care they keep fastened on the skull of the infant while it is in its
tender and imperfect state. Thus they quite deform their face and give
themselves an appearance which is disagreeable to any but those of
their own likeness.* (Adair's American Indians, p. 284.)
"The Indians flatten their heads in divers forms, but it is chiefly the
crown of the head they depress in order to beautify themselves, as their
wild fancy terms it, for they call us long heads by way of contempt.
The Choktah Indians flatten their foreheads trom the top of the head
to the eye-brows with a small bag of sand, which gives them a hideous
appearance, as the forehead naturally shoots upward, according as it is
flattened, thus, the rising of the nose, instead of being equidistant from
the beginning of the chin to that of the hair is, by their wild mechanism,
placed a great deal nearer to the one and farther from the other. The
Iudian nations round South Carolina and all the way to New Mexico
(properly called Mechiko), to effect this, fix the tender infant on a kind
of cradle, where his feet are tilted above a foot higher than a horizontal
position, his head bends back into a hole made on purpose to receive it,
where he bears the chief part of his weight on the crown of the head
upon a small bag of sand, without being in the least able to move himself.
The skull, resembling a fine cartilaginous substance, in its infant
state, is capable of taking any impression. By this pressure, and their
thus flattening the crown of the head, they consequently make their
heads thick and their faces broad, for when the smooth channel of
* Voluey, C. F. (A View of the Soil and Climate of the United States of America.
Philadelphia, 1804. 8 vo.) It is " the custom of the Choctaws to mould the skull of
their new-born children to the shape of a truncated pyramid, by pressing them be-
tween boards. This method is so effectual that the tribe is known by the name of
the Flat-Heads" (p. 365). Among the tribes near the head of the Wabash, " Weeaws,
Pavories, Sawkies, Pyankishaws, andMiamis, * * * the females * * * carry
one or two children behind them in a sort of bag, the ends of which are tied upon
their forehead. In this respect they have a strong resemblance to our [the French]
gypsies" (p. 353).
Bartram, William. (Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, Florida,
etc. London, 1794. 2d ed., 8vo.) " The Choctaws are called by the traders Flats or
Flat Heads, all the males having the fore and hind parts of their skulls artificially
flattened or compressed" (p. 515). The infant is placed "in a wooden case," on its
back, " a bag of sand being laid on the forehead, which, by continual gentle compres-
sion," causes the head to slope u off backwards * * * from the temples upwards."
The occiput is received in a concavity "fashioned like a brick-mould" (p. 515).
Heriot, G. (Travels through the Canadas. Loudon, 1807. 4to.) "Some of the
tribes of Louisiana flatten the forehead of their children, and cause the summit to
terminate in a point. * * * Beauty, in their conception, consists in moulding the
head to a round form" (p. 348).
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 207
nature is stopped in one place, if a destruction of the whole system doth
not thereby ensue, it breaks out in a proportional redundancy in another.
May we not to this custom, and as a necessary effect of this cause,
attribute their fickle, wild, and cruel tempers? Especially, when we
connect therewith both a false education and great exercise to agitate
their animal spirits. When the brain, in cooler people, is disturbed, it
neither reasons nor determines with proper judgment. The Indians
thus look on everything around them through their own false medium,
and vilify our heads because they have given a wrong turn to their
own." (Adair's American Indians, p. 8.)
Lafitau* speaks as follows concerning the Southern Indian cradfo:
"The cradle for the savage children in New France is made through-
out pretty and roomy. It consists of one or two very thin planks of
light wood, 2£ feet long, ornamented on the edges and rounded at the
foot, to give convenience of cradling. The child enveloped in fine fur is
as thon^ -'- :he united planks, and is placed standing up in a
way tnat it shall hang over a little ledge of wood where its feet are,
the point turned under for fear lest they should get hurt, and in order
that it should hold the fold by which it is necessary to carry the frame.
The swaddling-clothes or furs are held up in front by large bands of
painted skin, which does not stretch much, and which are passed and
repassed in the small loops of tough skin which hang from the sides of
the cradle, where they are firmly fastened. They let these swaddling-
clothes hang considerably below the cradle, and they throw them be-
hind when they wish to go walking with the child, or let them fall over
a half circle, which is fastened to the planks near the head of the child,
and which can be made to turn forwards in order that the child can
breathe freely without being exposed to the cold of winter or to the stings
of mosquitos or gnats in summer, and in order that it should not receive
injury if the cradle fell. They put over that half circle little bracelets
of porcelain and other little trifles that the Latins call crepundia, which
serve as an ornament and as playthings to divert the child. Two large
lengths of strong leather, which come out from the cradle at the head,
enable the mother to carry it everywhere with her, and to fasten below
all their other bundles, when they go to the fields, and to suspend to
some branch of a tree, where cradled and soothed to sleep by the wind,
while she works.
u The children are very warm in the cradle and very easy, for besides
the furs, which are very soft, they put much down taken from the cala-
mus (cat-tail, rush ?), which they stuff in a wad, or perhaps the pounded
bark of the peruche (birch f), with which the women scour their hair
to invigorate it. They are also very careful so that it can not soil their
furs; by means of a little skin or a rag which they pass between their
thighs, which hangs out over the fore part, they can attend to their
*Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains, vol. I, p. 597.
208 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887
natural Deeds without the inside being wet or soiled, except the down,
which is easily replaced with new.
" Some nations in Louisiana, to whom the French have given the
name of flat heads, * * * have a groove practically in their cradle,
in which the mother puts the child's head ; she applies on the front and
back of the head a mass of clay which binds and bears down with all
force. She cradles the child all the time until its head has taken its
shape, and when the sutures of the head have taken consistency. The
children suffer extremely, become almost black ; a white and viscous
liquor comes from the eyes, nose, and ears ; they suffer much more from
the uneasy situation, where they are forced to pass all the time during
the lirst months of their infancy, but it is the cost of becoming beauti-
ful by art and the suffering to get that charm which nature refuses.
" The Caribs and most of the Southern Indians have also flattened
foreheads and pointed heads. Their mothers fasten the head down
with little boards and pads of cotton bound strongly back of the head.
" The child has no other cradle but a hammock proportioned to their
height in which the mothers can suspend them and transport them very
commodiously, and where the children are cradled all naked, without
any pain from confinement.
" The Indians, which are called in Canada (le gens de Terres) Garha-
gonronnon, have a different taste from the Flatheads, for their beauty
consists in having a round head; thence they are called 'Bullet
Heads'" (pp. 593, 597).
" The first years the child is kept all naked in the cabin to keep its
body from being injured by the air. When larger it works for the
family. They carry water and little billets of wood ; this they regard
as sport. Up to puberty they neglect their person; no ornaments are
worn until they are enrolled in the body of young men. They are edu-
cated like Spartans " (p. 597).
" Women strong and robust but are not prolific. The enceinte womau
does not take care of herself; she carries heavy burdens and works
harder as she approaches her time. They say this violent exercise
facilitates their parturition and makes the child more robust. No one
can deny that they do bring forth with surprising ease. If caught in
labor away from the cabin they attend to themselves, and are appar-
ently able to do their regular work the same day " (pp. 590, 591).
" They do suffer and die sometimes, but they bear their pain with
such fortitude that they do not seem to suffer " (p. 592).
"Some Southern Indians think if the women do not bear their pain
with fortitude the children will inherit their weakness, and they kill
those children that are born of such a mother. They kill the mother
of a stillborn child, and also sacrifice one of twins, because one mother
is not enough for two children " (p. 592).
"The Indians will not give their children to others to bring up. If
it happens that the mother dies while the ckild is yet in the cradle, it
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 209
is brought up iu the family, and what appears strange, old grandmoth-
ers, who have passed the age of having children, have their milk return
to them, and take the place of the mother. Indians love their children
with an extreme passion, and although they do not show their affection
by lively caresses, as do the Europeans, their tenderness is, however, not
less real. They suckle their children as long as they are able, and do
not wean them but from necessity. I have seen children three or four
years old taking milk with their younger brothers" (p. 593).
In South America the same custom seems to obtain that we have
seen in North America, namely, in the tropics the carrying of children
in the shawl or sash, and bedding it in the hammock; while in the colder
regions the cradle-frame appears. Frames corresponding to some in
North America are found iu Peru. Simon de Schryver, in his Eoyaume
d'Araucanie-Patagonie (1887), figures at page 21 an Araucanian woman
carrying a child in a frame (Fig. 39), which seems to be nothing more
Fig. 39.
Araucanian Woman carrying Child.
(From Simon de Schryver's "Royaume d'Araueanie-Patagonie.")
than a short ladder, with crossbars. On this frame the child is lashed,
the head being perfectly free, except that the lower part of the occiput
rests against the top cross-bar, as in the case of the Polynesian pillow.
In addition to her living freight the woman carries in front a bag of
H. Mis. 600, pt. 2 14
210 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
provisions suspended by a cord depending from the bead-strap at its
junction with the cradle-frame.
Fig. 40.
Turkish Gypsy carrying a Child ix Peddler's Pack.
(From photograph in U. S. N. M.
)
A feature in the weaving of the Patagonian wallet is worthy of at-
tention, although its description would be better in a paper on weaving.
There is in the National Museum a game-bag from Mackenzie River,
and another from Kodiak, made of exceedingly fine babbiche or buck-
skin cut into string. The weaving is effected by means of an endless
chain of half-hitches, each loop caught into loop below. In Central
America, everywhere, thousands of open net-work bags of all sizes are
CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 211
made from the pita fiber, the strings of which loop in the same man-
ner. In Peru the same stitch occurs, and now from Patagonia and
Tierra del Fuego we receive examples of the same method of weaving.
Fig. 4;.
Ostjak "Baby-Jumper."
(From Seebohm's "Siberia in Asia.")
The insertion of a rod or a bundle of rushes serves to convert the open
net-work bag into a water-tight wallet or a rigid basket.
Fig. 42.
Ostjak Cradle.
(From Seebohm's " Siberia in Asia.")
212 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887.
Another method of carrying children is shown in Fig. 40. The wo-
man the rerepresented is a Turkish Gypsy,
and the child has been placed in a ped-
dler's pack 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 (Figs. 43, 44, 45) we
see the Northern device, in which the
safety of the child from cold is the main
source of anxiety. The Japanese mother
is concerned 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
Fi
-
43
-
of the head must be attributed to congen-
Apache Squaw carrying a Child. , ,
„„«4.~w.
( Fn>m pho^aph «, u. s. n m. ) ital causes or to
custom.
Fig. 44.
Japanese Woman cabeying a Child.
(From Racinet'a '"Le Costume.")
Fig. 45.
African Woman carrying a Child.
' (From photograph in U. b. N. M.
)