lO GEOEGE M. DAWSON ON THE 



an ideal one for a winter residence, being well sheltered, having a southern exposure, 

 and being amply supplied with wood and water. The neighbourhood must also have 

 been a good one for hunting deer. 



G-BAVES AND BURIAL PLACES. 



Near all the permanent villages or winter village sites are burial places, and for pur- 

 poses of burial sand-hills were generally chosen, probably because of the ease with which 

 graves might be dug in these. The burial places are often on prominent points of terraces 

 or on low hills overlooking the river, along the main valleys, such as those of the Fraser 

 and Thompson. Whether such prominent points were chosen on account of their position, 

 or in how far they were merely selected because of the convenient occurrence of sand-hills, 

 I do not know, but believe that both these circumstances may have co-operated. No burial 

 places were noticed, however, on the higher plateaux or in the mountains, near the places 

 to which the Indians resort for hunting, berry-picking or root-gathering, audit is probable 

 that the bodies of those who died in such places were always in old times, as they still 

 are, carried down to the lower and larger valleys for interment. 



A small house-like or tent-like erection was generally made over a grave, and this 

 was furthermore usually surrounded by a fence or enclosure, while poles with flags or 

 streamers were also often set up at the grave. Some years ago, carved or painted figures, 

 generally representing men, were commonly to be found about the graves along the Fraser 

 and Thompson. The posts of the enclosure were also not infrequently rudely carved 

 and painted, while kettles and other articles of property were hung about the grave or in 

 its vicinity. Horses were in some cases killed, and the skins hung near the graves ; but 

 most of these objects have now disappeared, and crosses are very frequently substituted 

 for the old carvings. 



The most interesting old burial place met with, is that on the point of land between 

 the Fraser and Thompson near Lytton. On this point is a low sand-hill which rests upon 

 a rocky substratum, and stands probably 100 feet above the rivers. It is about 150 yards 

 long and 50 or 60 yards in width, and has been employed throughout its extent for pur- 

 poses of burial. Near the sand-hill there are traces of an old village site, but whether 

 this was occupied contemporaneously with the burials it is impossible to say. The strong- 

 up-river winds have resulted in curtailing the limit of the sand-hill on its southern side and 

 extending it northward, and this process has probably been considerably accelerated dur- 

 ing the past twenty or thirty years by the destruction of the natural vegetation by cattle 

 and horses. As a result of this, trough-like hollows are being worn out and hillocks of 

 blown sand formed in new places, and much of the old burying ground has thus now 

 been completely gutted. The sand hill has evidently been used for purposes of burial 

 for a considerable period, the interments having the greatest appearance of age being those 

 at the southern end, while those at the opposite extremity haA'e a comparatively modern 

 aspect. 



lu 18*7*7, when I first visited this place, large numbers of bones and of implements, 

 etc., were lying about, and the collections then made, including seven moderately perfect 

 skulls, are now in the museum of the G-eological Survey. It was estimated that at least 

 several hundred persons must have been buried here. It seemed, from what could then 



