274 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 33 



miniature sample shown in plate 74 ; he had looked for a dead horse 

 while making the cradle, hoping to use its tendon for tying, but found 

 none. Pictures of cradleboards used by Chilean Araucanians (cf. 

 pis. 2, 3 ) interested informants ; however, not even the oldest in- 

 formants had seen any like them. 



Cradles were sometimes painted red, green, or white with the same 

 soil used in painting pottery or the inside of toldos. "Green was the 

 prettiest color, but it was difficult to get ; we had to get it from a 

 faraway place." 



The child was swaddled, as previously described, when about to 

 be tied to its cradleboard. It was then laid on the backrest of the 

 cradle and held in position by lashings of hide or homewoven bands. 

 If the baby was to be transported, lashings were passed crisscross over 

 its body and through loops in foal hide that had been securely fas- 

 tened on the sides of the cradle. The loops were about a hand stretch 

 apart. If the baby was merely to be set up in its cradle to be with 

 its family, lashings were fastened rather loosely, often only at corners 

 diagonally across from each other. 



A child was transported on horseback in its cradle by its mother. 

 If the mother had no other things to transport, she usually laid the 

 cradle in front of her, especially if the child was still very small; if 

 she had other things to transport, she placed these in front of her and 

 fastened the cradle securely to her back from right shoulder toward 

 left hip, letting the lower end of the side rest on the horse's back. 

 In this position the foot ends of the cradle did not poke the horse, 

 nor was the child jolted by having the foot ends touch the horse's back 

 or the saddle, as the horse galloped along. Fastening was done by 

 means of a homewoven band. Women preferred the cradle with the 

 solid colihiie backrest for transporting the baby, since the baby could 

 be fastened more tightly to it than to the backrest of netting. 



A mother wishing to tie the cradle to her back, stooped, let 

 someone place the cradle on her back, and then fastened it to herself 

 with the band that had been previously tied to the back of the cradle 

 and to its foot ends. The section of the band attached to the right 

 side of the cradle she brought across her left shoulder, across her 

 chest, and under her right arm, holding it there, while she brought 

 the other section of the band over the right shoulder, across the 

 chest, and under the left arm. Then she crossed the two at the back, 

 at the waistline, and brought them to the front where she tied them 

 in a secure knot at her waistline. "A woman with her baby thus 

 fastened to her back could gallop so fast that she hardly knew where 

 her head stood, but the baby was always in its place." 



