176 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1887. 



Governor Stevens (Ind. Aff. Rep., 1854, p. 227) says: " The women at 

 Walla Walla sit astride in a saddle made with a very high pommel and 



Fig. 10. 

 Showing the effect of Head-Flattening. 



(From drawing by Mr. Drayton, published in Wilkes' Exploring Expedi- 

 tion, iv, p. 388. ) 



cantle, and in traveling carry their infants either dangling by the cradle 

 strap to the former or slung in a blanket over their shoulders.' 7 The 



the Cascade barrier, and is practiced to a greater or less extent by all the tribes of 

 the Sahaptian family." They merely depress slightly the forehead of infants, and this 

 disappears at maturity " (p. 256). 



Macfie, M. (Vancouver Island and British Columbia, London, 1865) : Between 

 lat. 53° 30' N. and lat. 46° N. the Indians of the northwest coast of America flatten 

 the head, under the impression that the distortion is becoming (p. 441). 



Macfie (idem., p. 441) gives the following account of the process of head-flat- 

 tening among the coast tribes: "The child, as soon as born, is placed in a cradle 

 scooped out of a log of timber. This rude ark is flat at the bottom, and raised at the 

 point where the neck of the child rests. A flat stone is fastened to the head of the 

 infant in this posture by thin strips of twisted bark. In the situation indicated the 

 child is kept till able to walk, and its forehead has been molded into the required, 

 shape." In the Quatsino district the skulls of the women have " a tapering or coni- 

 cal form " * * * produced by artificial means. Only the families of chiefs (tenass) 

 and "gentlemen commoners" (tyhees) are permitted to modify the form of the 

 head. 



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

 dians, among the Columbians, flatten the head, " but none carry the practice to such 

 an extent as their neighbors on the south " (p. 210). 



Bancroft (Native Eaces of the Pacific States, N. Y., 1875, vol. i): Among the 

 Chinooks the " legs are bowed and otherwise deformed by a constant squatting posi- 

 tion in and out of their canoes" (p. 224). Head-flattening "seems to have origi- 

 nated * * * about the mouth of the Columbia," and the Chinooks carry the cus- 

 tom to an excess of deformity (p. 226). 



Bancroft remarks that "the Chinook ideal of facial beauty is a straight line from 

 the end of the nose to the crown of the head. The flattening of the skull is effected by 

 binding the infant to its cradle immediately after birth, and keeping it there from 

 three months to a year. The simplest form of cradle is a piece of board or plank, on 

 which the child is laid upon its back with its head slightly raised by a block of 

 wood. Another piece of wood, or bark, or leather is then placed over the forehead 

 and tied to the plank with strings, which are tightened more and more each day until 

 the skull is shaped to the required pattern. Space is left for lateral expansion, and, 

 under ordinary circumstauces, the child's head is not allowed to leave its position un- 

 til the process is complete. The body and limbs are also bound to the cradle, but 

 more loosely, by bandages, which are sometimes removed for cleansing purposes." 

 (Native Races, etc., vol. I, p. 227.) 



