CAVE RELICS OF THE ALEUTIAN ISLANDS. 27 



as a certain luck or success in the profession was attributed to the possession of 

 the bodies ; which increased in direct ratio to the number of such articles 

 possessed by the particular individual. Hence the hunters did not hesitate, if 

 they could without detection, to steal the remains belonging to another whaler, 

 thus hoping to diminish his success and increase their own. It is known or 

 asserted by the natives that such bodies still remain intact in some of these 

 caves, though their precise locality is known to few. M. Alphonse Pinart, while 

 in Kadiak, attempted to discover the retreat of one which was particularly 

 spoken of, but was not successful. Afterward the United States Deputy 

 Collector of Customs for the port of Kadiak, Mr. L. Sheeran, and another person 

 succeeded in discovering and carrying to St. Paul s the mummy in question. It 

 was discovered, through a peculiar superstition, the existence of which is a 

 curious commentary on the orthodoxy of these nominal Christian converts of the 

 Greek Church. 



It appears that the natives of Ugamuk Strait, Kadiak Island, near the 

 situation of the cave, were accustomed to take the first berries, oil, and fish of 

 the season, into the cave where this mummy was placed, and to leave them there; 

 declaring that, when they returned a few days after, the mummy had eaten the 

 food, for the dish was invariably empty. In order to propitiate the spirit of the 

 ancient whaler they unconsciously furnished the marmots and spermophiles with 

 an acceptable meal. 



By watching in the shrubbery when the offering was being carried to the cave 

 its locality was discovered. Beside the well-preserved body to whom the offer 

 ings were made, another, much decayed, was found, of which the skull only was 

 brought away. 



While at Kadiak, in June, 1874, Mr. Sheeran was kind enough to show the 

 remains to me, and to present, to the National Museum, the skull above 

 mentioned. (17489.) 



The mummy had been dried in a squatting posture, with the knees drawn 

 toward the breast. It was well preserved, and, when found, only dressed in the 

 remains of an old gut shirt or kamlayka. The hair was black and tolerably long. 

 In the hand was held a slender stick, to which was attached a narrow slate lance- 

 head about an inch wide, sharpened on both edges, without barbs, and simply 

 pointed. It was five or six inches long. On the point of this lance-head was 

 transfixed a rude figure, cut out of tanned seal skin deprived of the hair ; this 

 was said by the natives, according to Mr. Sheeran s account, to represent the 

 evil spirit, whose enmity the dead man averted on being propitiated with the 

 offerings of food. The natives of St. Paul s were in wholesome awe of the 

 deceased ; would avoid passing at night the out-house in which it was kept, and, 

 on one ocasion, complained to Mr. Sheeran that he did not feed the dead man 



