BABY CRADLES
Case No. 5:
The art of making basket cradles is almost lost today. However, the wooden cradle is still made and used extensively by many tribes; this is especially so in the Pueblo tribes.
The following illustrates the use of baby cradles by some basket making tribes: Hoopas, of California, used a sit-down type cradle—the baby is seated in, and tied to, the cradle; Hopis, of Arizona and Frazier River, of Washington, used the cradle for putting the baby to sleep holding the cradle in their arms; tribes such as Mono-Paiute and Pomo, of California, and Ute of Colorado, used the cradle by placing it on the mother’s back.
There are more than six hundred Indian dialects. The Ute word for cradle is Ahcacon. When asked, what the Indian word for “cradle,” or “baby board” is, it is impossible to answer. Because of the many dialects it is easily understandable that there are numerous words for this object, just as the word would be different in Spanish, Swedish, German or Russian. (See Plates [3a], [3b] & [3c])
BLOW GUN AND QUIVER
Cherokee—North Carolina.
Case No. 1:
Made of wild cane and six feet long, this type blow gun was used for shooting poison darts. Some guns are as long as twenty feet. A blow gun is extraordinary in that it has for example, the power to shoot a dart a quarter of an inch into a pine door. This power is probably due to the choke bore design of the gun.
The darts are fifteen to eighteen inches long and are made of locust wood. They are sharpened and hardened over a flame at one end and, at the opposite end are wrapped at an angle with the silk from a thistle plant. As the air is blown into the gun the thistle silk fluffs and creates a shoulder to blow against. The dart is retarded in its movement by the taper of the bore. It is not known what implement was employed to produce this tapered bore.
Many years ago this type blow gun, with poison darts, was used in warfare by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Catawaba, and Houma tribes. Displayed with the blow gun and darts is the basket quiver which held the darts. These specimens were brought to Oklahoma before 1860, by the grandfather of Jim Backwater. (See [Plate 21])
The Clark Field Collection of Indian Baskets is composed of one thousand and ninety six specimens, as of date (1964), from throughout North America and represents almost every basket making tribe of that area. Due to the wide scope of tribal representation and the beauty of these outstanding specimens, this collection is rated by the U. S. Indian Arts and Crafts Board as the most outstanding Indian basket collection in North America.