370 THOMAS THOMSEN 



In southern Alaska this custom differs somewhat in form ; there, 

 in a place near Cape Vancouwer, EDW. W. NELSON found, for instance, 

 erected some wooden posts, carved to represent human figures; be- 

 hind them were placed boxes containing clothes and small objects ; 

 other articles were hanging on the figures themselves. It was said, 

 that it was the custom in that district to erect such memorial posts 

 for people who had been lost and whose bodies had never been 

 recovered. For five subsequent years new clothes were hung on 

 them yearly, and offerings were made as though the body of the 

 dead had been buried there. 1 



Elsewhere too among primitive peoples the pious wish to honour 

 those whom death has struck down when away from home leads 

 to similar customs 3 ; and the Greenland cenotaphs, also, are undoubt- 

 edly due to a like feeling. 



The graves were few in number. Perhaps the custom of throw- 

 ing the dead into the sea, which has prevailed on the southern 

 part of the east coast 3 , has also made its influence felt here. Besides, 

 during a great part of the year, climatic conditions prevent the build- 

 ing of stone graves. 



But in spite of their scarcity, the graves found by the expedition 

 are of considerable interest. Fortunately they were individual graves, 

 and have thus yielded in each instance the belongings of a single 

 individual, and not, as is more often the case, the combined grave-goods 

 of several persons; the considerable additions which they have made 

 to our knowledge of the burial customs of the Eskimo in these 

 regions, are, however, in no small measure due to the care with 

 which the investigation has been carried out. 



1 NELSON, pp. 317 18, with figure. 



2 Among the Khasi hill tribes, near the north-east boundary of Bengal, where 

 cremation prevails, in such cases some cowries and some of the deceased's 

 clothes together with his ashes are placed in the family burial chamber. 



(GODWIN-AUSTEN, p. 133). 



3 GRAAH I, p. 85; II, pp. 81 82. HOLM I, p. 106; II, p. 75. 



