Oct. 

 1826. 



PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 457 



go, notwithstanding we saw a bar across its mouth c *^ p - 

 so shallow that the gulls waded over from shore to 

 shore. Near us there was a burying-ground, which, 

 in addition to what we had already observed at Cape 

 Espenburg, furnished several examples of the man- 

 ner in which this tribe of natives dispose of their 

 dead. In some instances a platform was constructed 

 of drift-wood, raised about two feet and a quarter 

 from the ground, upon which the body was placed 

 with its head to the westward, and a double tent 

 of drift-wood erected over it ; the inner one with 

 spars about seven feet long, and the outer one with 

 some that were three times that length. They were 

 placed close together, and at first no doubt suffici- 

 ently so to prevent the depredations of foxes and 

 wolves; but they had yielded at last; and all the 

 bodies, and even the hides that covered them, had 

 suffered by these rapacious animals. 



In these tents of the dead there were no coffins 

 or planks, as at Cape Espenburg ; the bodies were 

 dressed in a frock made of eider-duck skins, with 

 one of deer-skin over it, and were covered with a sea- 

 horse hide, such as the natives use for their baidars. 

 Suspended to the poles, and on the ground near 

 them, were several Esquimaux implements, con- 

 sisting of wooden trays, paddles, and a tambourine, 

 which, we were informed, as well as signs could 

 convey, were placed there for the use of the deceased, 

 who, in the next world, (pointing to the western sky), 

 ate, drank, and sang songs. Having no interpreter, 

 this was all the information I could obtain ; but the 

 custom of placing such implements around the re- 

 ceptacles of the dead is not unusual, and in all pro- 

 bability the Esquimaux may believe that the soul 



