8 CAVE RELICS OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. 



We discovered in that year at Constantine Harbor, Amchitka Island, a skele- 

 ton interred in the earth, together with the remains of a small iron celt and some 

 old fashioned beads, showing that this interment was subsequent to the Russian 

 advent ; though at the time of our visit the island had been uninhabited for 

 nearly forty years. 



On the island of Unalashka, at Chernoffsky Harbor, some years ago there still 

 existed remains accompanied by masks and carvings in rock-shelters near the 

 village. There was also a unique wooden tomb, constructed and carved with the 

 ancient stone implements, in a very careful and elaborate manner, with the door 

 so hung on wooden pins that it might be raised and the contents viewed, and by 

 its own gravity would close itself on being released. In this tomb were the 

 remains of a noted hunter, a toyon of eminence among the natives, surrounded 

 by an enormous store of sea otter skins, garments, &c., all then in good preser- 

 vation. 



Since that time this tomb is said to have been rifled by an agent of one of the 

 trading companies, and to have fallen into complete decay. 



The most celebrated of these burial caves was situated on tlie island of 

 Kaga'mil, one of the group known as the Islands of the Four Mountains, or 

 Four Craters. This group is not at present inhabited, except for a short period 

 during the hunting season of each year. 



I visited these islands in 1873, but as the shores are precipitous, and there are 

 no harbors, the weather was too boisterous to permit us to remain in the vicinity. 

 Even if we had landed, it is probable that we could have done little without a 

 guide. 



The traders in the islands were aware of the existence of this cave and its con- 

 tents, and one of them, Capt. E. Hennig, of the Alaska Commercial Company's 

 service, had several times attempted to reach "it unsuccessfully. 



In 1874, however, the weather being quite calm, and the presence of a hunting 

 party, which he was taking away from the island, enabling him to find the cave 

 without delay, he visited it and removed all the contents, so far as is known. 

 On their arrival at San Francisco, the company, (who had instructed their agents 

 to procure such material for scientific pui'poses when compatible with the execu- 

 tion of their regular employment,) with commendable liberality, forwarded them 

 to the National Museum at Washington. Two of the mummies were given to the 

 California Academy of Sciences, but all the rest were received by the Smithsonian 

 Institution. It is unfortunate that but few details were obtained as to the exact 

 disposition of the bodies, or mummies, in the cave; the situation and form of the 

 latter,, and other particulars which would have had great interest. From accounts 

 received fi-om Father Innokenti Shayesnikoif, previously, I am led to infer that 

 the caA'e is situated near the shore at a point where the coast is precipitous 

 and without a beach, the landing being on large, irregularly broken fragments of 

 rock, the talus from the cliffs above. 



