6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 97 



the ground is not known, but as so little has lieen recorded concerning 

 the burial customs of the people of the region this sketch is of 

 special interest. 



A brief reference to the strange form of burial was made by 

 lieutenant Broughton, of the Vancouver Expedition/ who explored 

 the lower Columl)ia during the autumn of 1792. He was near Cape 

 Disappointment, on the AA^ashington side of the mouth of the 

 Columbia, and wrote (vol. 2, p. 54) : "At this place was found 

 the remains of a deserted Indian village, and near it three large 

 canoes supported from the ground, each containing dead human 

 bodies. These canoe coffins were decorated at the head and stern 

 with rude carved work, and from their decayed state seemed to have 

 been thus appropriated for a great length of time." 



Soon the Lewis and Clark party reached the valley of the Columbia. 

 They encountered the same peculiar burials and left a more detailed 

 account of the manner in which the canoes were placed, and of 

 the various objects deposited in theuL' They stated (p. 429) : 



The Chinnooks, Clatsops, and most of the adjoining nations, dispose of the 

 dead in canoes. For this purpose a scaffold is erected, by fixing perpendicularly 

 in the ground four long pieces of split timber. These are placed two by two, 

 just wide enough apart to admit the canoe, and sufficiently long to support its 

 two extremities. The boards are connected by a bar of wood run through them 

 at the height of six feet, on which is placed a small canoe, containing the body 

 of the deceased, carefully wrapped in a robe of dressed skins, with a paddle, 

 and some articles belonging to the deceased, by his side. Over this canoe is 

 placed one of a larger size, reversed, with its gunwale resting on the crossbars, 

 so" as to cover the body completely. One or more large mats of rushes or flags 

 are then rolled round the canoes, and the whole secured by cords usually made 

 of the bark of the white cedar. On these crossbars are hung different articles 

 of clothing, or culinary utensils. The method practised by the Killamucks 

 differs somewhat from this ; the body being deposited in an oblong box, of 

 plank, which, with the paddle, and other articles, is placed in a canoe, resting 

 on the ground. 



Later accounts of the curious form of l^urial are to be found, 

 but the earlier descriptions are usually the more interesting. How- 

 ever, as remarked in the Lewis and Clark journal (p. 429), "Those 

 who first visit the ground, can only be expected to furnish sketches 

 rude and imperfect." 



* Vancouver, Captain George, Voyage of Discovery ... 3 vols. London, 1798. 



^ Lewis and Clark, Travels to the source of the Missouri river and across 

 the American continent to the Pacific ocean ... in the years 1804, 1805, and 

 1806. London, 1814. 



