258 THE MENOMINI INDIANS [eth.ajto.14 



They appear to have been formerly used in sugar-making', but now are 

 employed only for watering fowl, etc. 



CRADLES AND HAMMOCKS 



Cradleboards are used for the protection and convenient transpor- 

 tation of infants. These boards are made of any light wood, and meas- 

 ure about 30 inches in length and 16 inches in width. Across the top 

 and front, and projecting forward therefrom, is a wooden band, which 

 serves to hold the face cover, or mosquito bar, iu summer time. The 

 board is padded with a piece of quilt or blanket, over the upper end of 

 which is sometimes placed a piece of buckskin on which the child's 

 head may rest. To the lower portion of the board — that is, from the 

 point where the arms emerge, downward — pieces of cloth or skin are 

 tied across to fasten the child to the board. A space is always left 

 about the middle of the body, in order that the child may receive 

 attention when necessary. 



Plate xix represents an infant on a cradleboard, placed against the 

 inner wall of a medicine lodge during the ceremonies at which the 

 mother was an attendant. 



Infants who have become too large for the cradleboard are put to 

 sleep in hammocks. The Menomini hammock consists of a woolen 

 shawl held together at each end by a cord ; one of these cords is attached 

 to a tree trunk, the other to a sapling placed slantingly against the tree. 

 Near the head end of the shawl a piece of wood is inserted to keep 

 the sides from pressing the child's face. The tendency of the ham- 

 mock is to close tightly, and thus to hold the occupant quite securely. 

 The simplicity of this form of hammock makes it very convenient for 

 mothers, especially while domiciled in a temporary camp, since it may 

 be suspended in a few moments. 



PRODUCTS OF MANUFACTURE 

 MATS 



Several varieties of mats are made by Menomini women from leaves 

 of rushes, from the flag or cat-o'-nine-tails, and from cedar bark. The 

 leaf-made mats are used chiefly for roofing temporary structures, such 

 as the covered medicine lodge shown iu plate xn. These mats are from 

 G to 12 feet in length and are usually a yard in width. They consist 

 of two layers of leaves, each layer being secured by cords made of 

 basswood fiber passed through transversely from one end of the mat 

 to the other, to keep the edges of the leaves together. To each layer 

 cords extend from end to end, at intervals of about 10 inches, thus 

 leaving three or four cords to each layer, the ends of the leaves at the 

 lateral edges of the mat being woven together to make a secure and 

 durable seam. Each layer or sheet of leaves is therefore free from its 

 fellow, so that when the rain falls on the mat, the water usually follows 



