ure, her
hands grasping a strong stick driven into the ground before her, she
is delivered of her babe, which is received and cared for by her
companions. Rarely is the Indian mother's labor difficult or followed by
a prolonged sickness. Usually she returns to her home with her little
one within four days after its birth.

[Illustration: Fig. 66. Baby cradle or hammock.]

Infancy.

The baby, well into the world, learns very quickly that he is to make
his own way through it as best he may. His mother is prompt to nourish
him and solicitous in her care for him if he falls ill, but, as far as
possible, she goes her own way and leaves the little fellow to go his.
From the first she gives her child the perfectly free use of his body
and, within a limited area, of the camp ground. She does not bundle him
into a motionless thing or bind him helplessly on a board; on the
contrary, she does not trouble her child even with clothing. The Florida
Indian baby, when very young, spends his time, naked, in a hammock, or
on a deer skin, or on the warm earth. (Fig. 66.)

The Seminole mother, I was informed, is not in the habit of soothing
her baby with song. Nevertheless, sometimes one may hear her or an old
grandam crooning a monotonous refrain as she crouches on the ground
beside the swinging hammock of a baby. I heard one of these refrains,
and, as nearly as I could catch it, it ran thus:

[Illustration: Music]

No-wut-tca, No-wut-tca.

The hammock was swung in time with the song. The singing was slow in
movement and nasal in quality. The last note was unmusical and uttered
quite staccato.

There are times, to be sure, when the Seminole mother carries her baby.
He is not always left to his pleasure on the ground or in a hammock.
When there is no little sister or old grandmother to look after the
helpless creature and the mother is forced to go to any distance from
her house or lodge, she takes him with her. This she does, usually, by
setting him astride one of her hips and holding him there. If she wishes
to have both her arms free, however, she puts the baby into the center
of a piece of cotton cloth, ties opposite corners of the cloth together,
and slings her burden over her shoulders and upon her back, where, with
his brown legs astride his mother's hips, the infant rides, generally
with much satisfaction. I remember seeing, one day, one jolly little
fellow, lolling and rollicking on his mother's back, kicking her a