180 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



back on a line with the nose, yet his faculties seemed nowise impaired. 

 The conspicuous painstaking which the Modoc squaw spends on her 

 baby-basket is an index of her maternal love. Indeed the Modoc are 

 strongly attached to their offspring. On the other hand a California 

 squaw often carelessly sets her baby in a deep conical basket, the same 

 in which she carried her household effects, leaving him loose and liable 

 to fall out. If she makes a baby-basket it is totally devoid of orna- 

 ment, and one tribe, the Mi-woh, contemptuously call it the dog's nest. 

 It is among Indians like these that we hear of infanticide. 



Fig. 12. 

 Klamath Cradle of wicker and rushes. 



( Cat. No. 19698, U. S. N. M. Klamath Indians, Tule River, 

 California. Collected by Stephen Powers. ) 



Fig. 13. 

 Frame of Pitt River Cradle. 



(Cat. No 21411, Round Valley, California. 

 U.S.N.M. Collected by Stephen Powers.) 



The cradle of the Pitt River Indians is a transition between the forked 

 stick and the ox-bow type. A pole of wood, with bark removed, is bent 

 in the middle, the two ends crossed and lashed together. Across this 

 primitive frame are laid broad laths, perforated at the corners, and lashed 

 to the poles with buckskin strings (Fig. 13). The foot-rest is a block of 

 wood 7 by 4 by f inches, perforated, and through it are passed the 

 two ends of the pole. The convergence of the ends prevents the slip- 

 ping down of this little platform. Comparing this cradle with one from 

 the vicinity, called a cradle of a new-born pappoose, it will be seen that 

 we have before us two extremes of a series, commencing with a mere 

 tray for an absolutely helpless creature to a standing place for a child 



