CRADLES OF THE AMERICAN ABORIGINES. 



193 



face is built the hood formed by bending two bows of supple wood to 

 the required shape and overlaying them with transverse laths of pine 

 laid close together and tied down. The upper edges of these laths 

 are beveled, so as to give a pretty 

 effect to the curved surface. The 

 leather-work on the cradle consists 

 of a gable of white buckskin to the 

 hood, a binding of brown buckskin 

 on to the bowed frame above the 

 hood, variegated with narrow bands 

 of white buckskin, and, finally, the 

 true sides or capsule of the cradle, 

 consisting of a strip of soft brown 

 buckskin, say 10 inches wide, cut in 

 a fringe along its lower border and 

 edged with fringe of white buckskin 

 along its upper outer edge. This 

 strip is fastened to the cradle con- 

 tinuously, commencing at an upper 

 margin of the awning, carried along 

 this awning, fastened to its lower 

 margin 4 inches above the junction 

 of the awning and frame, passes on 

 to the foot and around to the other 

 side, as at first. Slits are made in 

 the upper edge of the brown buck- 

 skin just below where the white 

 buckskin fringe is sewed or run on, and back and forward through 

 these slits a broad soft band of buckskin passes to form the cradle 

 lashing. To perfect the ornamentation of this beautiful object, tassels 

 of buckskin in two colors, and strings of red, white, and blue beads are 

 disposed with great care. Thanks to the generosity of friends living 

 on the frontier, it is possible to reproduce from photographs the method 

 of fastening the child in the cradle. (Fig. 29.) A bed of fur lies between 

 the back of the infant and the floor of the cradle. The head is perfectly 

 loose and free during waking moments. Indeed, there is always free 

 play to the child's head in all cradles except on the Pacific coast around 

 the Columbia Eiver and Puget Sound. Another drawing (Fig. 30) 

 exhibits the method of nursing the babe without removing it from the 

 cradle. Finally, Fig. 31 shows an infant and a small child that have 

 been subjected to the cradle-board. 



The cradle-frame of the Navajos is made of two pieces of wood lashed 



together so as to make the upper end or head in shape like a boot-jack. 



To the sides of these boards long loops of buckskin are attached to aid 



in the lashing (Fig. 32). A new feature in western cradles appears in 



M, Mis. 600, pt. 2— 13 



' Fig. 27. 

 Zuni Cradle-frame. 



(Cat. No. 69015, U. S. N. M. Zuni Pueblo, New Mexico. 

 Collected by Col. James Stevenson. 



