In the far north the baby-board is made of birch bark and has a protecting
hood over the head; among some tribes of British Columbia, it is dug out
of a single piece of wood in the form of a trough or canoe; among the
Chinooks it has a head-flattening board hinged on, by which the baby’s
head is changed in form; one baby-board from Oregon was shaped like a
great arrowhead, covered with buckskin, with a sort of pocket in front in
which the little fellow was laced up; among some tribes in California, the
cradle is made of basket work and is shaped like a great moccasin; some
tribes of the southwest make the cradle of canes or slender sticks set
side by side and spliced together; among some Sioux the cradle is covered
completely at the sides with pretty beadwork, and two slats fixed at the
edges project far beyond the upper end of the cradle.
[Illustration.]