No. 75,] 



96 



Ga-on-seh, or Baby Frame. Plate 16. 



This is likewise an Indian invention. It appears to have been design- 

 ed rather as a convenience to the Indian mother, for the transportation 

 of her infant, than, as has generally been supposed, to secure an erect 

 figure. The frame is about two feet in length, by about fourteen inches 

 in width, with a carved foot-board at the small end, and a hoop or bow 

 at the head, arching over at right angles. After being enclosed in a 

 blanket, the infant is lashed upon the frame with belts of bead work, 

 which firmly secure and cover its person, with the exception of the 

 face. A separate article for covering the face, is then drawn over the 

 bow, and the child is wholly protected. When carried, the burden 

 strap attached to the frame is placed around the forehead of the mother, 

 and the Ga-on-seh upon her back. This frame is often elaborately 

 carved, and its ornaments are of the choicest description. When cul- 

 tivating the maize, or engaged in any out-door occupation, the Ga-on- 

 seh is hung upon a limb of the nearest tree, and left to swing in the 

 breeze. The patience and quiet of the Indian child, in this close con- 

 finement, are quite remarkable. It will hang thus suspended for hours, 

 without uttering a complaint. 



With the Ga-on-seh, closes the enumeration of articles. Several 

 have been necessarily omitted, and others noticed but slightly. Suffi- 

 cient, however, has been written, to illustrate the general character of 

 our Indian fabrics, implements and utensils. Some of them have been 

 noticed minutely, as they appeared calculated to exhibit the artisan 

 intellect of our primitive inhabitants. It is in this view that they are 

 chiefly interesting. Some general observations naturally present them- 

 selves upon this branch of the subject, but the prescribed limits of this 

 report will not permit their introduction. 



Such is the diffusion of Indian arts and Indian inventions among the 

 Ked races, that it is impossible to ascertain with what nation or tribe 

 they in fact originated. Many of them were common to all, from 

 Maine to Oregon, and from the St. Lawrence to the peninsula of Flo- 

 rida. To this day Indian life is about the same over the whole republic. 

 If we wished to discover the inventions of the Iroquois, we might ex- 

 pect to find them as well among the Sioux of the upper Mississippi, as 

 among the descendants of the Iroquois themselves. It is for this reason, 

 that in forming an Indian collection, we should take in the whole range 

 of Indian life; from the wild tribes dwelling in the seclusions of Oregon, 

 to the semi-agricultural Cherokeesof the south, and the present Iroquois 



