Untitled - Smithsonian Institution

Olbrechts] the swimmer MANUSCRIPT 129
as a trained white mother would, and with what scanty means they
have at their disposal manage to make their babies look very clean
and attractive little individuals.
Remarkably soon after its birth, often when only three or four weeks
old, the child is carried about, sitting astride of its mother's back,
and kept safely in this position by the carrying cloth.
As soon as it can crawl about it is left to its own resources and it
starts out to discover the wonderful world.
When little boys are four or five years old they are, under the super-
vision of their father or elder brothers, making their first attempts at
making bows and arrows and in a few weeks become remarkable
marksmen. Little girls, at just as tender an age, fall into line and
assist their mother and elder sisters with the household cares.
The children as a rule are quite bright, and some really astounded
me by their keen intellect. Jimmy, the little 6-year-old boy mentioned
before, had only once seen the train of a lumber company working
in the district. When he came home he collected the empty tins of
salmon and of other canned goods we threw away, and with sticks and
twigs built a bridge over a 4-feet-wide rill, laid "tracks" on it, and
with tins, sticks, and pebbles made the most realistic lumber train
imaginable, the locomotive with funnel, the trucks loaded with
"lumber," and all.
When it comes to showing acquaintance and familiarity with their
own culture these children are nothing short of marvelous. At the
age of 7 or 8, they know more about their fauna and flora than an
average university graduate who has not made natural history his
specialty. They know the dance steps and songs, are experts at mak-
ing current artifacts, and if they were tested, on a fair and equitable
basis, as to their faculties for observation, and for using the knowledge
acquired, I feel sure that as a whole they would score at least as
high, and often higher than white children of the same age.
The games played by the children are as a rule imitations of the
occupations of the grown-ups—hunting and fishing, dancing, gambling,
the ball game, etc. Swinging stands in high favor, and it is not
sure that this was introduced by the whites, as an old informant told
me that "the old people" used to get hold of a stout grapevine, securely
entwined round the branches of a tall tree, on which, when cut
off near the ground, they would swing to and fro.
Further notes on games, which are not here called for, are withheld
for publication elsewhere.
Raising the Child to Become a Witch— Twins
A few words are left to be added on the treatment to which are sub-
jected the children destined by their parents to become "witches,"
(See p. 29.)