CHAP, tr ] 



JN INFANT MTAS, 



43 



and make ridiculonsly wry faces whilo the stream was 

 runmiig over its head. It enjoyed the wiping and nihbing 

 <lry amaziiij^ly, and when I binsbed i\% hair seemed to be 

 perfectly bappy, lying qnite still with its arms and le^^s 

 stretched out while I thoroughly brashed the long hair 

 of its back and arms. For the first few days it clnng 

 desperately with all four hands to whate%^er it could lay 

 liold of, and I had to be careful to keep my beai'd out of its 

 way, as its fingers clutched hold of hair more tenaciously 

 than anything else, and it was impossible to free myself 

 without assistance. When restless, it %vould straggle about 

 its hands up in the air tiying to find something to take 

 liold of, and, when it had got a bit of stick or rag in two 

 or three of its hands, seemed quite happy. For want of 

 something else, it would often seize its own feet, and after 

 a time it would constantly cross its arms and gi-asp with 

 t^ach hand the long hair that grew Just below the opposite 

 siioulder. The great tenacity of its gi'asp soon diminished, 

 and I was obliged to invent some means to give it exercise 

 anfl strtjngthen its limbs. For this purpose I made a short 

 ladder of three or four rotmds, on which I put it to hang 

 for a quarter of an hour at a time. At first it .seemed 

 nmch pleaseil, but it could not get all four hands in a 

 comfortable position, and, after changing about several 

 times, would leave bold of oue batid after the other, and 

 drop on to the lloor. Sometimes when hanging only by 

 two hands, it would loose one, and cross it to the opposite 

 .shoulder, grasping its own hair; and, as this seemed niucli 

 more agreeable than the stick, it would then loose the 

 (ither and tumble down, when it would cross both and lie 

 on its back qnite contentedly, never seeming to be hurt 

 by its numerous tumbles. Finding it so fond of hair, I 

 <nideavoured t<i make an artificial mother, by wrapphig 

 up a piece of buffalo-skin into a bundle, and suspending 

 it ahoiit a foot from the floor. At first this seemed to suit 

 it admirably, as it coidd sprawl its legs about and always 

 find acme hair, which it gra.sped with the greatest tenacity. 

 T was now in hopes that I had made the little orphan 

 quite happy ; and so it seemed for some time, till it began 

 to remember its lost parent, and try to suck It would 

 pull itself up close to the skin, and trj' about everywhere 



