184 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



unique, and so very neatly done as to demand explanation. Two strips 

 of bast are seized about their middle by a single twist of the two ele- 

 ments of twined weaving. Of course two halves will project above and 

 two below the twist. Lay two more strips of bast in the second bight 

 of the twist and draw down the first two upper ends, one to the right of 

 and the other betweeu the second pair of strips, seizing them in place 

 by another half turn of the twines. Lay on a thin pair of bast strips 

 and bring down the second pair of ends projecting upward, as at first. 

 The weaving consists of four movements, namely: Laying in a pair of 

 bast strips, grasping them with a half turn of the two twining wefts, 

 bending down the two upward strips just preceding one betweeu the 

 other outside of the last two strips ; and grasping them with a half turn 

 of tbe twine. The lashing belts of this cradle are twelve to fifteen ply 

 braids, made of red, green, white, and black woolen and cotton cords, 

 braided after the manner of the peculiar type of ornamentation unde- 

 signedly originated by braiding with threads of different colors. On 

 this belt of several colors the threads are so arranged as to produce a 

 continuous series of similar triangles, filling the space between two par- 

 allel lines by having their bases above and below alternately. Now 

 the gist of the ornamentation is the parallelism of the braiding threads, 

 now to one side of the triangle, and in the next figure running in a di- 

 rection exactly at right angles. One of the commonest ornaments on 

 the pottery, rude stone, and carved wood is this distribution of lines in 

 triangles. 



Of the Pimos, neighbors of the Mohaves, Dr. Palmer says, that on long 

 journeys they use the cradle-board ; but as soon as a child is able to 

 stand alone the Pimo mother allows it to mount upon the immense 

 cincture of bark worn on her back and to grasp her around the neck.* 



The floor of the Yaqui cradle is of the slatteded type, 30 inches long. 

 A dozen or more reeds, such as arrow-shafts are made of, are fastened 

 in the same plane by a dowel-pin. The reeds are not bored for the pins, 

 but simply notched in a primitive fashion. (Fig. 16.) 



There is no cradle-trough, but a bed of willow or other bast, shredded, 

 is laid on longitudinally. The pillow consists of a bundle of little splints 

 laid on transversely, at either end of which is a pad of rags. There is 

 no awning; the lashing in this instance is a long cotton rag, taking 

 the place of a leather strap, passing round and round baby and frame, 

 and fastened off in a martingale arrangement, crossing the feet and tied 

 to the lower corners of the cradle. Upon this cradle-rack or frame is. 

 fastened the true cradle, which, in this instance, is a strip of coarse mat, 



*Bourke, Capt. J. G.: Speaking of the Umene of the Rio Helay, in 1824, who must 

 have been the Yumas of the Rio Gila, Pattie says: "They contrive to inflict upon 

 their children an artificial deformity. They flatten their heads by pressing a board 

 upon their tender scalps, which they bind fast by a ligature. This board is so large 

 and tight that I have seen women when swimming in the river with their children, 

 towing them after them with a string which they held in their mouth. The little 

 things neither suffered nor complained, but floated behind their mothers like ducks." 

 (Pattie's Narrative, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1833, p. 92.) 



