Indian babies are often pretty. Their big black eyes, brown, soft skin,
and their stiff, strong, black hair form a pleasing combination. Among
many tribes their foreheads are covered with a fine, downy growth of black
hair, and their eyes appear to slant, like those of the Chinese. The
little fellows hardly ever cry, and an Indian parent rarely strikes a
child, even when it is naughty, which is not often.
Most Indian babies are kept strapped or laid on a papoose-board or
cradle-board. While these are widely used, they differ notably among the
tribes. Among the Sacs and Foxes the cradle consists of a board two feet
or two and a half feet long and about ten inches wide. Near the lower end
is fastened, by means of thongs, a thin board set edgewise and bent so as
to form a foot-rest and sides. Over the upper end is a thin strip of board
bent to form an arch. This rises some eight inches above the cradle-board.
Upon the board, below this arch, is a little cushion or pillow. The baby,
wrapped in cloths or small blankets, his arms often being bound down to
his sides, is laid down upon the cradle-board, with his head lying on the
pillow and his feet reaching almost to the foot-board. He is then fastened
securely in place by bandages of cloth decorated with beadwork or by laces
or thongs. There he lies “as snug as a bug in a rug,” ready to be carried
on his mother’s back, or to be set up against a wall, or to be hung up in
a tree.
[Illustration.]