416 THK POINT KAKKOW ESKIMO. 



without l.l■in^n^<; it oat into thi>, air. Uiiildrcii are carried in this way 

 until they Mi- able to walii and often later. 



V hu"-!' child sit.s astride of his mother's back, with one lej;- nnder 

 each of her arms, and lias a little suit of clothes in which he is dressed 

 when the mother wishes to set him down. When the child is awake, 

 this liood is thrown back and the child raised quite high so that he looks 

 over his mother's shoulder, who then covers her head with a cloth or 

 .somethiny- of the sort. The woman appears to be very little iiicon- 

 veniencciM>v her burden, and t;des about her work as usual, aud the 

 chilli docs not seem to be disturbed by her movements. The little girls 

 often act as nurses and carry the infants around on their backs, in the 

 same way. it is no unusual sight to see a little girl of ten or twelve 

 carrying a well grown, heavy child in this way. 



'pjiisciist )r a very similar one seems to iirevail among the Eskimo 



generall.N. In (Irecnlaml, the nurse wears a garment especially de- 

 signed for carrying the child, an amaut, i. e., a garment that is so wide 

 in the back as to hold a child, which generally tumbles in it quite 

 naked and is accommodated with no other swaddling clothes or cradle.' 

 In East Greenland, according to Capt. Holm, "Saa lainge Bijirnene ere 

 smaa, bajres de i det fri paa Moderens Ryg."^ 



Petitot's description of the method of carrying the cliildren in the 

 Mackenzie district is so naive that it deserves to be quoted entire.-' 



Les ^l^rl■s qui allaitent portent une jaqnette ample et serr^e autour des reins par 

 unc ceinttirc. KUo.s y cnfermentlenrchiire prog6niture qu'elles peuvent, par ce moyeu, 

 alliiitcr san.s l'exi)()ser ;\ nn froid qui lui serait mortel. Ces jeunes enfants sontsans 

 aucun vftoment ju.sqn';\rage d'envirou deux ans. Quant aux incongruit^s que ces 

 petitcs creatures peuvent se permettre sur le dos de leur mfere, qui leur sert de calo- 

 rifcTe, I'aniour materuel, le m6me chez tou8 les peuples, les endure patiemnient et 

 avcc iiulilV(^rence. 



At Fury aud Hecla Straits, according to Parry \ the children are 

 carried in the hood, which is made specially large on purpose, but 

 sometimes also on the back, as at Point Barrow. The enormous hoods 

 of the Eskimo women in Labrador also served to hold the child. The 

 .same custom prevails at Cumberland Gulf. * In some localities, for in- 

 stance the north shore of Hudson's Straits, where the woman wear very 

 long and loose boots, the children are said to be carried in these.'' Frank- 

 lin' refers to the same custom "east of the Mackenzie River." The 

 SiberiaTi children, however, are dressed in regular swaddling clothes 

 of deerskin, with a sort of diaper of dried moss." 



(1 of a single case of infanticide, and, indeed, children 



S.-i- nlso Egerte. p. i:il, and tlio picture in Eink'a T.ile8, etc., opposite p. 8. 



'Nordi'DBkiold. Vega. vol.2, 



