314 



THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT 



[ETH. AXN. 18 



During the first day after the death everyone near the village was 

 said to be soft and nerveless, with very slight power of resistance, so 

 that any evil influence could injure him easily; but the next day the 

 people said they were a little harder than before, and on the third day 

 the body was becoming frozen, so that they were approaching hardi 

 ness again. 



On the evening of the second day the men in every house in the vil 

 lage took their urine buckets and, turning them bottom upward, went 

 about the house, thrusting the bottom of the vessel into every corner 

 and into the smokehole and the doorway. This, it was said, was done to 

 drive out the shade if it should be in the house, and from this custom 

 the second day of mourning is called a-hlun -ig-ut^or &quot;the bottom day.&quot; 

 After this was done and the people were ready to retire for the night 

 every man took a long grass stem and, bending it, stuck both ends into 

 the ground in a conspicuous place in the middle of the doorway. They 

 said this would frighten the spirit off, for should it come about and 



try to enter the house it would see this bent 

 grass, and, believing it to be a snare, would 

 go away, fearing to be caught. On the 

 third morning, before eating, every man, 

 woman, and child in the village bathed in 

 urine, which cleansed them of any evil that 

 might have gathered about their persons, 

 and also rendered their flesh firm, so that 

 they were hardy and able to withstand the 

 ordinary influence of the shade. 



On the lower Yukon, below Ikognmt, the 

 following customs were observed: 



These people are very averse to hav 

 ing a dead body in the house, and the 

 corpse is placed in the grave box at the earliest possible moment. 

 This is so marked that the relatives frequently dress the person in the 

 new burial clothing while he is (lying in order that he may be removed 

 immediately after death. After death the body is placed in a sitting- 

 posture on the floor; the knees are drawn up and the feet back, so that 

 the knees rest against the chest and the heels against the hips; then 

 the head is forced down between the knees until the back of the neck 

 is on a line with the tops of the knees; the arms are drawn around 

 encircling the legs above the ankles and just under the forehead. It 

 is then tied with strong cords to hold it in this position and drawn up 

 through the smoke hole in the roof and carried to the graveyard, where 

 it is placed upon the top of an old grave box while one is being made 

 for it. Figure 101 illustrates the position of the body ready for burial. 

 When the box is ready, usually the next day, the body is placed in it 

 upon a deerskin bed, while other deerskins or cloth covers are thrown 

 over it. All of the small tools of the deceased are placed in the box 



FIG. 101 Position of burial of the dead 

 on tbe lower Yukon. 



