Thechildrenareveryprettyandattractive，andtheirfacesgivepromiseofanintelligencewhichislackinginthoseoftheadults。
Theyaremuchloved，andarecaressingaswellascaressed。TheinfantsofthemountainAinoshaveseedsofmilletputintotheirmouthsassoonastheyareborn，andthoseofthecoastAinosamorselofsalt-fish；andwhateverbethehourofbirth，“custom“
requiresthattheyshallnotbefeduntilanighthaspassed。Theyarenotweaneduntiltheyareatleastthreeyearsold。Boysarepreferredtogirls，butbotharehighlyvalued，andachildlesswifemaybedivorced。
Childrendonotreceivenamestilltheyarefourorfiveyearsold，andthenthefatherchoosesanamebywhichhischildisafterwardsknown。Youngchildrenwhentheytravelareeithercarriedontheirmothers’backsinanet，orinthebackoftheloosegarment；butinbothcasestheweightismainlysupportedbyabroadbandwhichpassesroundthewoman’sforehead。Whenmencarrythemtheyholdthemintheirarms。Thehairofveryyoungchildrenisshaven，andfromaboutfivetofifteentheboysweareitheralargetonsureortuftsabovetheears，whilethegirlsareallowedtogrowhairallovertheirheads。
Implicitandpromptobedienceisrequiredfrominfancy；andfromaveryearlyagethechildrenareutilisedbybeingmadetofetchandcarryandgoonmessages。Ihaveseenchildrenapparentlynotmorethantwoyearsoldsentforwood；andevenatthisagetheyaresothoroughlytrainedintheobservancesofetiquettethatbabiesjustabletowalknevertoddleintooroutofthishousewithoutformalsalutationstoeachpersonwithinit，themotheraloneexcepted。