204 



CRANIA AMERICANA. 



infant is thus suffered to remain from four to eight months, or until the sutures of 

 the skull have in some measure united, and the bone become solid and firm. It 

 is seldom or never taken from the cradle, except in case of severe illness, until the 

 flattening process is completed."* My friend Mr. Tow^nsend was so kind as to 

 bring me one of these cradles, of which the subjoined drawing furnishes an 

 accurate idea. 



This cradle is formed by excavating a single piece of wood about three feet 

 long. Midway between the top and bottom, inside, are little slats, of light wood, 

 A, A, A, in a transverse direction, on which are placed a grass mat or bed. The 

 head of the cradle, B, is an excavated chamber, bounded towards the foot by an 

 inclined plane, D, the rounded margin of which supports the child's neck, while 

 the head itself is received into the concavity at B. Attached to the side of the 

 cradle is the pad, C, made of grass, with a loop at the end : this is drawn down 

 over the child's forehead, keeps it in place, and causes the flatness of that part so 

 universal in these people. The lateral loops, D, D, D, are for the purpose of 

 attaching other cords for the purpose of keeping the child's body in a fixed 

 position. The projecting end, E, is rounded, and answers for rocking the cradle, 

 when poised on it, by a rotary motion applied at the opposite end. The head 

 and neck rest on a grass mat or pillow. 



Either of the preceding processes must be very painful, often giving rise to 

 ulceration of the scalp, and perhaps not unfrequently to death itself ; yet so highly 

 is this deformity valued among the Columbia river tribes, that their slaves (who 

 are for the most part derived from the adjacent tribes) are not allowed to practise 

 it. The appearance of the infant during the process, is described as both ludicrous 



TowNSEND, Journey, &c., p. 176. 



