Tipatshimuna 
Description:
Rattle consists of skin covering stretched over circular wooden frame and sewn with white cotton thread. Handle of frame approx. 6.5″ long and curled in a circle at the end. Centre and rim of rattle painted red. Rattle probably contains dry seeds, one side stained with blue paint.
References:
Frank Speck. 1977[1935]. Naskapi. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. Lucien M. Turner. 1979[1894]. Indians and Eskimos in the Quebec-Labrador Peninsula. Quebec: Presses COMEDITEX.
Innu Narrative:
“This is shishikun (rattle). This rattle is also used for a small child. It makes a rattling noise. The (ashiniss) tiny pellets are put in it to make it rattle. It makes the rattle noise. It is used for babies, too. When a baby had a hard time sleeping, it was rattled for them. It made a lot of noise when you shook the rattle. When the hide is dried, the sound from the rattle is loud when it is shaken for the child. The hide is wet when it’s sewn on. When it gets dry, the pellets are put inside the rattle.” Matinen (Rich) Katshinak
“When a child is crying, and the rattle is rattling to them, they stop crying and fall asleep with the rattling noise.” Pinamen (Rich) Katshinak
“Shishikuan – rattle. The wooden handle and frame is made out of tamarack or birch. Used to put babies to sleep. They came in different designs. anutiapi – bone rattles/snares/buzzers on a drum. Shishikuan – baby rattle. This is used for putting babies to sleep. It is made from birch wood. It is round with caribou hide stretched across the circle. Pebbles are used inside to make it rattle. Also, caribou bone is dried and it cannot be sharpened. They are made into little squares. Also, these bones can be used on a drum.” Shimun Michel and Manian (Ashini) Michel
“It looks like a rattle. A child’s toy, for kids unable to sleep. It’s good for them. There are small stones and some shotgun beads inside the rattle. It’s called shishikue.” Tshishennish Pasteen
Other Info:
MacKenzie lists mikun and mikuan as “bone rattle on string across drums; feather, quill pen: anutiapi is the “line across drum with bone rattles attached.”
“When an individual has begun to concentrate his thoughts upon securing animals, or upon some other objective he desires to accomplish, he will sing and at the same time, if an instrument is available, accompany himself with the drum or rattle. It depends upon the occasion. The more frequently a hunter has occasion to resort to the power of sound in arousing his soul-spirit to activity in his behalf, the more likely he is to make for himself a drum.” Speck (1977[1935]:174)
“The rattles of which I have spoken are throughout the peninsula as uniform in construction as they are in the name (cici.gwu’n) they bear. A circular hoop of maple one-half an inch in width and about six inches in diameter is the foundation. A double covering of caribou-skin parchment is sewed tightly over the hoop. A handle is formed by allowing an extension of the hoop to project straight out. Sometimes the handle is carved on its margins, sometimes painted red, sometimes with ribbons.” Speck (1977[1935]:182)
“The service of the rattle is similar to that of the drum, it being a substitute at times for the drum. Occasionally, one sees the rattle itself used as a drumbeater in the performance of dances. It is considered a toy for children but as such I have never seen one used.” Speck (1977[1935]:182)
“Rattles for children…are made of a hoop of wood bent to a circular form and covered with two heads or membranes. Within it are placed a few pebbles or shot, to produce a rattling sound when the membranes are dry. A cord attached to the circumference enables the rattle to be suspended from the tent-pole in front of the child for whose amusement it is intended.” Turner (1979[1894]:162)