The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1890-08-03

the body of the child so that il cannot
move and makes IL look like an Egyptian
mummy. Another class of the Esuui-
maux put the child in BAG
ana wrap it up so that it
looks like cocoon. They do not wash it
nor give il anything to eat until three days
hiter It Is born, and 1t is never given any
wafer 70 drink until il is old
enough to help itself The Indians
o. Northern California make q very pretty
basket cradle 1t is shaped like a slipper
Win square toe and IL looks as soft and
pretty Is any baby basket you have ever
SEEN There is Modoc cradle here which
- also OF willow work. IL is as round as
telegraph pole, and the little baby is
wrapped around like mummy and stuck
In IL He sleeps standing, and his head is
often tied back with a bandage. This gives
MIN nat head. The Modocs are very
fond OF their babies, and these cradles are
very elaborately made. The same is the
case with the baby baskets of the Montana
indians, and some Of these In.
dsans fasten the baby to
board upon which they sew beads
and tie bells. A Montana baby board
sometimes costs as much as q horse and
the Indians have q curious way of taking
care OF their babies. The board is first
covered with tanned elk skin, and there
are straps fastened to its back SO that the
woman can carry the baby with its face
locking out behind her as she goes about
her work. As soon as the baby is born it
Is washed and dried. It is then creased ali
over. powdered with red ochre and
then wrapped up in shawl and placed
upon this board and carried from
wigwam to wigwam in order that the rest
of the children may see it. 1t is taken out of
Its wrappings every night and washed,
creased and painted and it is kept tied to
this board until it is about year old. The
babies are narsed by the mothers until
they are i've or six years of age, and there
is scarcely . mother in Oh world who does
not keep her baby at the breast longer than
the American mother. The Japanese
mother nurses her baby until it is four or
i've years old. and the African mother
often nurses her baby after it is able to
walk.
The Sioux Indians have cradle shaped
like shoe. If you will imagine . big shoe
lined with soft deer skin on the inside and
covered with many beads on the out, and
the whole fastened to frame which may
be swung over the back, you will get very
fair idea of the Sioux cradle The stats are
painted yellow, and the baby goes down in
the bottom of the shoe and sticks its head
out the top. The cradle is ornamented
with pretty pieces of ribbon and feathers
and the Indian mother sometimes spends
months in making her Grade. The cradle
Is so made that the baby can be laced
mp in it, and as the mother carries it it
stands erect and in such q position as to
give it straight limbs and sound lungs.
The child is thus carried until it is about
year old, and the mother often takes it
with her when she rides horseback.
the baby dies while in the cradle the
mother makes mourning cradle of it and
fills it with black qullls and feathers,
placing these in the part where the child's
body lies. She carries the cradle SO deco
rated around with her wherever she goes,
and she talks to these feathers as though
they were her baby. No matter how
heavy her load is. she viii not lay down
this cradle, and she acts just as though
her baby were alive.
There are number of illustrations in
the museum as to how women carry their
babies. All of the Indians cart them
around on their backs. and this seems to
be the method of more than half the world.
The gypsies carry their babies in the packs
in which they carry goods, and the Chi
nese boatwoman has her baby strapped
upon her back, and it hobs up and down
as she souls over the water. The Japanese
woman ties her baby to her with string.
1t has no support for its head. and this
A>to fho
of the hot sun. She dresses her
herself and its clothes as soon as it is old
enough to walk are made in the same way.
The African woman carries her baby in q
part of her dress, and Mr.. Rockhill, the
Thibetian explorer, tells me that the peo-
pie Of that country put their babies into
the bag formed by making the dress full
in front and thus carry them next
to their skin. In Siam the babies
are carried on the shoulders or
hips of the mother, and it is not an un-
common thing to see q child of couple of
years old sitting astride of its fathers
shoulder. smoking cigarette.
Fully three-fourths OF the babies of the
world go naked until they get to be five or
six years old. The Canadian Indians keep
their babies naked up to a certain point,
and as for the little Coreans, they wear
nothing but short skirt until they are as
old as our school boys. Little Egyptians
of both sexes trot around without any
clothes on, and the poorer classes of the
Chinese children are often without clothes.
have seen quite large boys and girls
naked in Havana, Cuba: and in Southern
California, or rather on the California
peninsula, the mother puts the child
at the age of o few months astraddle
of her neck, and with his legs
hanging down in front thus carries him
from place to place. These children are
Graded in turtle shells and they go to sleep
by the rocking of this quite as well as our
babies do. One of the curious things in
cradles shown in the national museum is
the Siberian baby jumper. 1t is a sort OF
a skin basket which is furnished with
strings at each corner and which is tied
by these to an elastic pole set in the walls
of the cabin. As the baby moves back and
forth this pole dances up and down and its
mother thus gives it q ride with little labor.
Very near some of these cradle cases of
the national museum are hundreds OF
dolls, and see that the children OF all the
world are alike in their love for toys. Some
of the finest dolls come from Alaska, and
nearly every tribe has its different kind OF
doll. Many of them are carved from ivory