In the far north the baby-board is made of birch bark and has a protecting
hood over the head; among some tribes of British Columbia, it is dug out
of a single piece of wood in the form of a trough or canoe; among the
Chinooks it has a head-flattening board hinged on, by which the baby’s
head is changed in form; one baby-board from Oregon was shaped like a
great arrowhead, covered with buckskin, with a sort of pocket in front in
which the little fellow was laced up; among some tribes in California, the
cradle is made of basket work and is shaped like a great moccasin; some
tribes of the southwest make the cradle of canes or slender sticks set
side by side and spliced together; among some Sioux the cradle is covered
completely at the sides with pretty beadwork, and two slats fixed at the
edges project far beyond the upper end of the cradle.
[Illustration.]
Apache Cradle. (After Mason.)
[Illustration.]
Hupa Wicker Cradle. (After Mason.)
But the baby is not always kept down on the cradle-board. Sometimes among
the Sacs and Foxes he is slung in a little hammock, which is quickly and
easily made. Two cords are stretched side by side from tree to tree. A
blanket is then folded until its width is little more than the length of
the baby; its ends are then folded around the cords and made to overlap
midway between them. After the cords are up, a half a minute is more than
time enough to make a hammock out of a blanket. And a more comfortable
little pouch for a baby could not be found.
[Illustration.]
Cree Squaw and Papoose. (From Photograph.)
Among the Pueblos they have a swinging cradle. It consists of a circular
or oval ring made of a flexible stick bent and tied together at the ends.
Leather thongs are laced back and forth across it so as to make an open
netting. The cradle is then hung from the rafters by cords. In it the baby
swings.
The baby who is too large for his baby-board is carried around on his
mother’s or sister’s, or even his brother’s, back. The little wriggler is
laid upon the back, and then the blanket is bound around him to hold him
firmly, often leaving only his head in sight, peering out above the
blanket. With her baby fastened upon her back in this way the mother works
in the fields or walks to town.
Among some tribes, particularly in the southern states and in Mexico, the
baby strides the mother’s back, and a little leg and foot hang out on
either side from the blanket that holds him in place. Among some tribes in
California the women use great round baskets tapering to a point below;
these are carried by the help of a carrying strap passing around the
forehead. During the season of the salmon fishing these baskets are used
in carrying fish; at such times baby and fish are thrown into the basket
together and carried along.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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