'"•'■■"""1 DISPOSAL OF Tin: DKAD. 125 



bodies of their lehitivcs (listmhed by tlie doos or (itlier ;iiiiiiiais,' hut 

 we know of one case where tlie iiareiits of two ciuldren wiio died veiy 

 nearly at the same time, finding that tlic dog-s were getting at the 

 bodies, raised tliem on stages of diirtwuod abont 1 or 5 feet liigh. 

 Simikr stages were observed by Hooper at Plover Bay:' Imf tin's nictiioii 

 of disposing of the dead appears to have gone out of use a I tlir present, 

 day, since Dall' describes tlie ordinary Sibei'ian nietiiod of la\ inu out 

 the dead ui ovals of stone as in use at I'lover Bay at the time of liis 

 visit. 



The cemetery at Utkiavwifi is not eonlined to tlie spot I liaxc men 

 th)ned, though most of the bodies are exposed there. .\ few bodies 

 are also ex])osed on the other side of tlie lagoon, and one liody. that of 

 a man, was laid (,id at tlic e.lgv of tlie liiglicr tundra, about a inilc due 

 east from tlie station. Tlie body was coxcivd witli canvas, slaked 

 down all round with broken paddles, and over it was laid a Hat sledge 

 with one runner broken.' At one end of the body lay a wooden disli, 

 and under the edge of the canvas were broken seal-darts and other 

 spears. T1ie body lay in an east and west line, but we could not tell 

 which end was the head. All sorts of objects were scattered round the 

 cemeteiy — tools, dishes, and even a few guns — though we saw none that 

 ai)peared to have been serviceable when exposed, exce])t one Snider 

 rlHe. If, as is the case among Eskimo in a good many other jilaces, 

 all the personal property of the deceased is supposed to liccomr lUM'leaii 

 and must be exposed with him, it is pniiiable that iiis tVicnds manage 

 to renmve the more valuable articles before he is actualh dead. ' 



The method of disposing of the dead varies slightly among the 

 Eskimo in different localities, but tlic wcajions or other implements 

 belonging to the deceased are always laid beside the corpse. The cus- 

 tom at Smith Sound, as described by Bessels," is remarkably like that 

 at Point J'.arrow. The corpse was wrapped in furs, placed on a sledge, 

 and dragged ont and buried in the snow with the face to the west. The 

 sledge was laid over the body and the weapons of the deceased were de- 

 posited beside it. Tnlike the Point Barrow natives, however, they usually 

 cover Ihe body Avith stones. In the same jiassage Ur. Bessels desei ihes 

 a ]ieculiar symbol of mouruiug, not employed, so far as I can learn, 

 elsewhere. The male mourners plugged up the right nostril with hay 

 and the females the left, and these plugs were worn for several days. 



