CEADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 



175 



From the Oregon coast the Wilkes Expedition * brought a cradle 

 which is shown in Fig. 9. The frame 

 board is trowel or spade shape. The 

 whole back and front are covered 

 with buckskin. At a proper distance 

 from the edges, the buckskin is sewed 

 or lashed down, and the flaps form 

 the inclosing wrappings of the child. 

 A triangular "fly" covers the lower 

 extremities. Compare this portion of 

 the cradle with the Nez Percys (Sa- 

 haptian) cradle described further on. 

 The hood is of rawhide, overlaid with 

 a cover of beaded buckskin. It can 

 readily be seen that this hood may 

 be drawn to any tension across the 

 forehead of the infant. The ornamen- 

 tation and the head-band or carrying- 

 strap are similar to the same parts 

 in other cradles. Wilkes (Explor. 

 Exped., iv, 388) says: "At Niculuita 

 Mr. Drayton obtained a drawing of 

 a child's head that had just been 

 released from its bandages, in order 

 to secure its flattened appearance. 

 Both parents showed great delight at 

 the success they had met with in effect- 

 ing this distortion." (See Fig. 10.) 



*Marchand (Voyages) reports that among the Thinkeets, infants are ''so excoriated 

 by fermented filth, and so scarred by their cradle, that they carry the marks to the 

 grave." (Bancroft, Nat. Races of Pacific States, vol. i, p. 112.) 



Lord (Nat., vol. n, p. 232), Scouler (Lond. Geog. Soc. Jour., vol. xi, pp. 218, 220, 

 223), Schoolcraft (Arch., vol. H, p. 325) mention the custom of flattening the head 

 in infancy among the Haidahs (Columbians). (Bancroft, Nat. Races, etc., 1, 158.) In 

 their platform houses they slept on "cedar mats" (p. 161). 



Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. i) : " The custom of 

 flattening the head is practiced by the Nootkas in common with the Sound and 

 Chinook families, but is not universal" (p. 180. See, also, note, p. 58). 



Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. I, note, p. 177) 

 quotes the accounts of Cook, Meares, Mofras, Macfie. Poole, Sutil y Mexicana, Mayne, 

 and Scouler, to the effect that the Nootka Indians are bow-legged and intoed from 

 boat work, and have deformed limbs from the effect of garters. 



Swan, J. G. (Indians of Cape Flattery, Smithsonian Contributions, No. 220) : 

 Description of the process of head-flattening among the Indians of Vancouver 

 Island (pp. 18, 19). 



Heriot, G. (Travels through the Canadas, London, 1807, 4to) : " In the latitude of 

 fifty-two degrees, on the northwest coast of America, there exists a tribe whose heads 

 are molded into a wedge-like form" (p. 303). 



Bancroft (Native Races of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. i) : The custom of 

 head-flattening, apparently of sea-board origin and growth, extends * # * across 



Fig. 9. 

 Cradle of Oregon Indians. 



(Cat. No. 2575, U. S. N. M. Collected by Wilkes' Ex- 

 ploring Expedition. ) • 



