316 



THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT 



[eth. axn. 18 



and a kaiak paddle, and a pair of umiak oars were placed against 

 the box, which contained the body of a boy, the son of an old man in 

 the village, who, it was said, was prohibited from doing any work for 

 three moons following the death of his son. 



At each end of the boxes at this place was erected a post, to the top 

 of which was fastened a cross board bearing some articles of ornament 

 or of value belonging to the deceased. The boxes were all supported 

 two feet or more above the ground by corner posts, which extended 

 several feet above their tops. 



At Eazbinsky the graveyard is placed immediately behind the kashim 

 in the wintei' village, so near that the odor arising from the bodies 

 becomes almost unbearable in the warm weather when spring opens. 

 These grave boxes are well made and are ranged roughly in rows. 



At the time of my*\'isit there were about 

 thirty of them, some of which are 



forming an irregular square. 



Flo 103— Buiinl box at Kazbinskv. 



shown in plate xci. 



They were made of hSM-u planks 

 about 3J by 3 feet in horizontal 

 measurement and 2 feet deep, and 

 were raised about two feet from 

 the ground on corner posts, with 

 a lifth suj)port formed by the 

 butts of small trees so jdanted 

 that the spreading roots upturned 

 supported the bottoms of the 

 boxes, which \rere all painted red, 

 and the posts were banded with 

 the same color. The fronts of the 

 boxes were ornamented with rows 

 of bone pegs, as shown in the 

 illustration (figure 103), and the corner posts were also ornamented in 

 the same manner. 



On some of the boxes were rude figures in black of a man shooting 

 with bow and arrow at a deer or bear. The number and arrangement 

 of the bone pegs varied, but the general plan was the same. 



At Eazbinsky most of the utensils of the deceased were placed in the 

 boxes with the bodies. A few old reindeer horns and some posts bear- 

 ing invitation effigies for the feast to the dead were the main objects to 

 be seen about these boxes. Beside some of them, however, were hewn 

 boards five or six feet long, supported six or seven feet from the ground 

 on two posts, and bearing the figures of skins of animals and other 

 objects on their fronts. 



At the village of Starikwikhpak, just below Eazbinsky, were two 

 grave boxes almost exactly like those just described. On the front of 

 one of them was a large figure in black, representing a man shooting 

 with bow and arrow at a reindeer. 



