20 REPORT—1890.

CustoMS REFERRING TO Birtn, Marriaar, AND DratH.

During the period of pregnancy, women take off bracelets, anklets,
and necklace. This custom, which is also found among the Nootka, prob-
ably means that there must be no stricture around the body which ‘might
hinder birth. They must also bathe regularly in the sea. When the
time of delivery approaches, the parents engage an old man to cut the
cedar-branch from which the cradle is to be suspended, and five old
women to soften the cedar-bark to be used for bedding the babe in the
cradle. They are paid for their services. There are no professional mid-
wives, but sometimes the si’dua (see p. 28) is called to accelerate birth.
The navel-stri ing is cut with a broken shell by an old woman. The child,
as soon as it is porn, is smeared with bear grease and dogfish oil, particu-
larly the navel and any sore parts of the skin. On the first day the child
does not get any food. As soon as it is born the mother rubs it from the
month towards the ears, so as to press the cheekbones somewhat upward. .
The outer corners of the eyes are pulled outward that they may not be-
come round, which is considered ill-looking. The calves of the leg are

pressed backward and upward, the knees

Fic. 10.—Lkuigen Cradle. are tied together to prevent the feet from
turning inward. he forehead is pressed
down. They have a saying referring to
children who have not been subjected to
this treatment, and, therefore, according to
Indian taste, ill- looking : tou d'wuna tins
ksetcted’ ai, that means, ‘as if no mother had
made you ‘look nice.’ Itis doubtful whether
this treatment, except the flattening of the
head, which is continued through a long
period, has any effect upon the shape of the
face. I do not believe that it has, at least not
upon bones, as the effect would be that of
producing chameconchie orbits, while, in
fact, they are very high. If there is any
change of form of the face, a question to
which I shall refer later on, it is more prob-
ably due to the deformation of the cranium.
The child is first strapped on to a cradle
made of bullrushes. The latter comprise
five bundles of rushes, each about an inch
or an inch and a half in diameter. The
outer one, fig. 10 (1), is given the shape of
a horse-shoe ; the others, which have only
about half the length of the former, are
placed inside the horse-shoe, parallel to its
sides, so that they fill the intervening space
and form a flat surface (2). These bundles
are kept in place by two sticks (3), one
being pushed through them near the curve,
the other near the end. The curved part is to “pe the head end of the
cradle. Both sides of the outer bundle are set with loops made of a thin
rope, which serve for fastening the baby to the cradle. A larger loop (4)

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