CUSTOMS AND ARTS OF THE KWAKIOOL. 349 



respected, a canoe (previously rendered unserviceable) is often 

 drawn up and deposited near tlie grave. The, trees used for the 

 deposit of the dead are often quite close to the village, but when 

 a tomb is placed upon the ground, it is generally on some rocky 

 islet or insular rock, which may be farther away, but is still in 

 sight from the village. Such islands become regular cemeteries. 

 Graves in trees are generally festooned with blankets or streamers 

 of cloth, and similar appendages are affixed to poles in the vicin- 

 ity of graves on the ground. Roughly carved human figures in 

 wood are also often added. These sometimes hold in their hands 

 wooden models of the copper plates which are so much valued by 

 these northern tribes of the coast. Similar models are also at 

 times nailed up on posts near the graves. At Pa'-as (Blunden 

 Harbor) the upper part of one of these coppers (but one of inferior 

 value) was found broken in two and affixed at a grave in token of 

 grief. The lower part was not found, and had probably been used 

 before on some similar occasion. At Fort Rupert and Alert Bay, 

 bodies are now frequently buried in the ground, owing to the 

 influence of the whites. Such a grave is named tik-i-ds. 



After the body has been deposited in the grave, a fire is made 

 near it, in which some food is burned, such as dried salmon, fat, 

 dried clams, etc., and all the smaller articles belonging to the 

 deceased are thrown into the fire at the same time. The canoe, 

 house, and other larger effects are then taken possession of by the 

 son, father, daughter, wife, or brother of the dead, generally in the 

 order named The wife or husband of the deceased goes into 

 special mourning for a period of one month among the Queen 

 Charlotte Sound tribes, or for four months among the Kos'-ki-mo. 

 The survivor lives during this period separately in a very small 

 hut, which is built behind the house, eating and drinking alone, 

 and using for that purpose dishes not employed by other members 

 of the tribe. The near relatives of the dead cut their hair short, 

 or, if women, cut a small portion of it off. A widow marks her 

 face with scratches, in token of mourning ; among the Kos'-ki-mo 

 she cuts her face with a shell, and does not generally marry again 

 for at least a year. In some cases, about a month after death, the 

 men of the tribe collect in a house to sing a song which relates 

 the deeds and virtues of the deceased. This is named sd'-luma or 

 hwai'-um, the "crying-song." Children are sometimes, in the 

 same way, mourned for by the women. When at Mel'-oopa (" Na- 

 witti^*) in 1878, the first sound we heard at daybreak was the cry- 

 ing and lamentation of the women, the song being taken up first 

 by one and then by another, in different parts of the village. 

 This, it was ascertained, was in consequence of the death of a boy 

 which had occurred some time before. 



In my notes on the Haida people of the Queen Charlotte Isl- 



