318 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [eth.ann.X8 



At tbe base of this post a bow and quiver of arrows were fastened. 

 Just behind it was a box full of man's clotliinj;- and small tools. 



On a small post to the right there was a wooden model of an umiak, 

 and on another post to the left were five wooden models of kaiaks. 

 Close to these last was another post, bearing on the board across its top 

 nine images of the large hair seal. A fourth post bore a model of a 

 kaiak,in which was a man holding a spear poised ready to cast. These 

 symbols were explained to me as follows: The umiak and kaiak models 

 showed that the person represented had made and owned these boats. 

 The nine hair seals were the result of his greatest day's hunting, and 

 the kaiak with the man seated in it showed that he had been a hunter 

 at sea. 



The third large post was very old and dilapidated from long expo- 

 sure. Its mouth, eyes, and arms, like the others, were of ivory, but it 

 was not provided with legs. On two jjosts close by were models of a 

 large hair seal and a reindeer, with a third post to the right bearing 

 the figure of a man in a kaiak with poised spear. This man was said 

 to have been a good hunter both on land and at sea, especially at sea. 



These posts (figure 104) were said to represent people who had been 

 lost and their bodies never recovered. The first i)Ost was for a woman 

 who had been buried by a landslide in the mountains, while the men 

 were drowned at sea. I was told that among the people of this and 

 neighboring villages, as well as of the villages about Big lake, in the 

 interior from this point, it is the custom to erect memorial posts for all 

 people who die in such a manner that their bodies are not recovered. 



Each year for five years succeeding the death a new fur coat or cloth 

 shirt is put on the figure at the time of invitation to the festival for the 

 dead, and offerings are made to it as though the body of the deceased 

 were in its grave box there. When the shade comes about the village 

 to attend the festival to the dead, or at other times, these posts are 

 supposed to afford it a resting place, and it sees that it has not been 

 forgotten or left unhonored by its relatives. 



At several villages between Cape Vancouver and the mouth of 

 Kuskokwim river were found grave boxes rudely made of driftwood, 

 and about them were placed the usual display of guns, bows and arrows, 

 paddles, and similar objects. 



At the next village to the south, beyond Cape Vancouver, the graves 

 were located on a high knoll overlooking the village, and were unusually 

 conspicuous on account of the long poles of driftwood which were 

 erected near each, and to the tops of which an ax or a gun was 

 usually fastened crosswise. 



At Big lake village, on the tundra, midway between Yukon and Kusko- 

 kwim rivers, are a number of small wooden figures similar in character 

 to those above described, and, like them, raised in honor of people whose 

 bodies were lost. In front of many of the graves at this place were large 

 headboards, made of hewn planks about four feet long, placed across 



