Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 129 



as a trained white mother would, and with what scanty means they 

 have at their disposal manage to make their babies look very clean 

 and attractive little individuals. 



Remarkably soon after its birth, often when only three or four weeks 

 old, the child is carried about, sitting astride of its mother's back, 

 and kept safely in this position by the carrying cloth. 



As soon as it can crawl about it is left to its own resources and it 

 starts out to discover the wonderful world. 



When little boys are four or five years old they are, under the super- 

 vision of their father or elder brothers, making their first attempts at 

 making bows and arrows and in a few weeks become remarkable 

 marksmen. Little girls, at just as tender an age, fall into line and 

 assist their mother and elder sisters with the household cares. 



The children as a rule are quite bright, and some really astounded 

 me by their keen intellect. Jimmy, the little 6-year-old boy mentioned 

 before, had only once seen the train of a lumber company working 

 in the district. When he came home he collected the empty tins of 

 salmon and of other canned goods we threw away, and with sticks and 

 twigs built a bridge over a 4-feet-wide rill, laid "tracks" on it, and 

 with tins, sticks, and pebbles made the most realistic lumber train 

 imaginable, the locomotive with funnel, the trucks loaded with 

 "lumber," and all. 



When it comes to showing acquaintance and familiarity with their 

 own culture these children are nothing short of marvelous. At the 

 age of 7 or 8, they know more about their fauna and flora than an 

 average university graduate who has not made natural history his 

 specialty. They know the dance steps and songs, are experts at mak- 

 ing current artifacts, and if they were tested, on a fair and equitable 

 basis, as to their faculties for observation, and for using the knowledge 

 acquired, I feel sure that as a whole they would score at least as 

 high, and often higher than white children of the same age. 



The games played by the children are as a rule imitations of the 

 occupations of the grown-ups — hunting and fishing, dancing, gam- 

 bling, the ball game, etc. Swinging stands in high favor, and it is not 

 sure that this was introduced by the whites, as an old informant told 

 me that "the old people" used to get hold of a stout grapevine, se- 

 curely entwined round the branches of a tall tree, on which, when cut 

 off near the ground, they would swing to and fro. 



Further notes on games, which are not here called for, are withheld 

 for publication elsewhere. 



Raising the Child to Become a Witch — Twins 



A few words are left to be added on the treatment to which are sub- 

 jected the children destined by their parents to become "witches," 

 (See p. 29.) 



