CURIOUS CRADLES.

Waikato Times, Volume 2620, Issue XXXII, 27 April 1889, Page 2 (Supplement)

CURIOUS CRADLES.

The Cbineso have a queer institution which they call the winter cradle. It is shaped like an hour glass, and stands on end. Thero is an opening above and below, and the waist, which is contracted serves to keep the Celestial baby 011 his feet. Day after day little almond-shaped eyes peep over the top of this cradle, and the little bauds play with miniature dragons and other toys till the nurse puts iu an appearance. Some of these winter cradles are made of wicker work and aro beautifully painted by Chinese women artists. It is almost impossible for one to upset; but now and then, when two are placed together and the occupants declare war and measure aims, two cradlos roll over the floor to noi-es that " bring down tho house," The Lapp baby very often has a snow cradle, for when the indulgent mother attends church she makes a holo in the nui.v outside and deposits the young Laplander therein. It is no uncommon sight, to see a circle of theße snow cradles 111 front of a Lapp chapel, and now and then a lot of fierce looking dogs are on guard to keep off the wolves that might meditate a raid on tho baby contingent. The Lapp cradle in material differs essentially from that used by the liushman baby, wbosu mother digs a hole in th« hot sand and chucks him theroiu in the shadow of g juio lonely bash. Sometimes tho cradle is at hand in tho shape of an ostrich nest, and now and then some of the feathers left by the mighty bird help to soften the nest of the future Bushman warrior. There is a tribe iu the palm region of the Amazon that cradles the young in palm leaves. A single leaf turned up around the edges by some native process makes au excellent cradle, and now and then it is made to do service as a bath-tub. Strong cords are formed from tho sinews of another species of palm, and by these this natural cradle is swung alongside a tree, and the wind rocks the little tot to sleep. Long ago tho Amazonian mother discovered that it was not wise to leave a baby and cradle under a cocoa palm, for the mischievous monkeys delighted to drop the nuts downward with unerring precision. An older child is stationed near by to watch the baby during his sleep, and the chatter of the monkeys overhead is enough to cause a speedy migration. Patagonian babies are kept iu cradles made of flat pieces of board. Two pieces of guanaco skin are so arranged across the table that the child is firmly fastened insire, and can be carried thus suspended from a saddlebow without danger. In the rude lints of this people these cradles are hung 1 hammock-wise to tho rafters, and air.id • the smoke that darkens everything, including his very nature, as it sesms, the Patagonian infant passes the first stages of babyhood. While tho village migrates, the cradle is swung from the saddle : and in swimming a stream it floats like a canoe on the surface, while the horse is almost cutircly submerged. | Sir Francis Head, who saw a good deal of Patagonian life years ago, leaves ou record the statement that the Patagonian baby ill its queer cradle is one of the best natured representatives of the infant world. One would hardly go to Kaffirland for a fantastic cradle, and one almost as queer as it is fantastic. Yet he would find such a one there. The Kaffir baby, when he comes into the world, is put into a cradle or bag made of antelope skin, with the hair 011. The baby castle, narrow toward the bottom, widens to within a few inches ot the openiug, when it again suddenly contracts. The skin is turned iuwarcl, giving the young Kaflir as soft a bed as some found in the cradles of royalty. Four long strips of antelope skill are attached to the cradle, and enable tho mother to swing it on her back after a peculiar fashion.