hrdliCka] physiological AND MEDU'AI^ OBSERVATIONS 79 



The Mohave told tlie writer that thei'(^ are some women among 

 them who even when pregnant nurse their ])ahies. 



Among tlie Yuma, chikh'en of 1 year ])artake invariahly of a (Het 

 simihir to that of the adults, though they are nursed l)esides. 



Among the Opata nursing is generally normal, although it happens, 

 particularly with the more fleshy women, that the secretion of milk 

 is scanty. As among other Indians, the nursing is often ]:)rolong(Ml 

 until the child is 2 years of age or even older, but weaning follows at 

 once if the woman finds that she is again ]:)regnant. 



As to other Mexican tribes, the conditions of nursing are much like 

 those among the tribes in southwestern United States. Among the 

 Tarahinnare nursing begins with the flow of milk. If this is retarded, 

 the mother tries to press out the milk. In the meanwhile the infant 

 is given warm water. 



LATER ATTENTION TO THE CHILD; HEAD DEFORMATION 



With nearly all the tribes, owing to ])ecidiar beliefs of the ])e(»ple, 

 the infant is kept within doors for a certain ])eriod. Among some of 

 the Rio Grande Pueblos and the Papago the time is four, among the 

 Zufii four to nine, among the Hopi twenty, and among some of 

 the Tarahinnare thirty, days. 



There is no trace in any of the tribes of circumcision or other muti- 

 lation; but there is a phase of the treatment of the infant by the 

 mother in some of the tribes which frequently results in head defor- 

 mation. 



In nearl\' all the tribes here dealt with the infant s])ends a large 

 part of its existence from soon after birth to the tenth month or 

 later, until it can sit up, on a cradle board or in a bal\y carrier or 

 a swing.'* In cases in which the appliance by reason of its nature 

 or of the method of securing the infant to it i:)ermits free move- 

 ment of the head of the child, as among the Ute, Jicarillas, Pima, 

 Papago, Walapai, Havasupai, and most of the Mexican tribes, the 

 head develops in a normal way. In cases in which, on the other 

 hand, as among the Apache, Navaho, all the Pueblos, Mohave, and 

 Yuma, the infant is so fastened to the board that the motion of its 

 head is limited (though the head itself is in no way fastened) and in 

 which, in addition, it is ol)liged to lie much of the time on its back, 

 flattening of the back of the head of various kinds and degrees is the 

 result. The compression persists throughout life, seemingly with- 

 out marked change in form and relative dimensions, and is without 

 appreciable effect on the intellect or longevity of the individual. 

 The cranial modification here considered is certainlv in no wav or 



oSeo writer's A Cora Cradle, American Anthropologist, n. s., vii, no. 2, Apr-June, 1905, 361; Notes on 

 the San Carlos Apache, ibid., no. 3, July-Sept., 190."): and Notes on the Pima, iV)id.. viii, no. 1, Jan.- 

 Mar., 1900; also his Notes on the Indians of Sononi, Mexico, il)id., vi, no. 1, Jan.-Mar., 1904. 



