154 MORTUARY CUSTOMS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
The Shoshones living on Independence Creek and on the eastern banks of the 
Owyhee River, upper portion of Nevada, did not bury their dead at the time of my 
visit in 1871. Whenever the person died, his lodge (usually constructed of poles and 
branches of Salix) was demolished and placed in one confused mass over his remains, 
when the band removed a short distance. When the illness is not too great, or death 
sudden, the sick person is removed to a favorable place, some distance from their tem- 
porary camping ground, so as to avoid the necessity of their own removal. Coyotes, ra- 
vens, and other carnivora soon remove all the flesh, so that there remains nothing 
but the bones, and even these are scattered by the wolves. The Indians at Tuscarora, 
Nevada, stated that when it was possible, and that they should by chance meet the bony 
remains of any Shoshone, they would bury it, but in what manner I failed to discover, 
as they were very reticent, and avoided giving any information regarding the dead. 
One corpse was found totally dried and shrivelled, owing to the dryness of the atmos- 
phere in this region. 
Capt. I’. W. Beechey* describes a curious mode of burial among the 
Esquimaux on the west coast of Alaska, which appears to be somewhat 
similar to lodge-burial. Figure 11, after his illustration, affords a good 
idea of these burial receptacles. 
Near us there was a burying-ground, which, in addition to what we had already 
observed at Cape Espenburg, fnrnished several examples of the manner in which this 
tribe of natives dispose of their dead. In some instances a platform was constructed 
of drift-wood, raised about two feet and a quarter from the ground, upon which the 
body was placed, with its head to the westward, and a double tent of drift-wood 
erected over it; the inner one with spars about seven feet long, and the outer one with 
some that were three times that length. They were placed close together, and at first 
no doubt sufficiently so to prevent the depredations of foxes and wolves; but they had 
yielded at last ; and all the bodies, and even the hides that covered them, had suffered 
by these rapacious animals. 
In these tents of the dead there were no coffins or planks, as at Cape Espenburg ; 
the bodies were dressed in a frock made of eider-duck skins, with one of deer-skin 
over it, and were covered with a sea-horse hide, such as the natives use for their 
baidars. Suspended to the poles, and on the ground near them, were several Esqui 
maux implements, consisting of wooden trays, paddles, and a tamborine, which, we 
were informed as well as signs could convey the meaning of the natives, were placed 
there for the use of the deceased, who, in the next world (pointing to the western 
sky) ate, drank, and sang songs. Having no interpreter, this was all the information 
Icould obtain; but the custom of placing such instruments around the receptacles 
of the dead is not unusual, and in all probability the Esquimaux may believe that 
the soul has enjoyments in the next world similar to those which constitute their hap- 
piness in this. 
The Blackfeet, Cheyennes, and Navajos also bury in lodges, and the 
Indians of Bellingham Bay, according to Dr. J. F. Hammond, U. 8. A., 
place their dead in carved wooden sarcophagi, inclosing these with a 
rectangular tent of some white material. Some of the tribes of the 
northwest coast bury in houses similar to those shown in Figure 12. 
Bancroft? states that certain of the Indians of Costa Rica, when a 
death occurred, deposited the body in a small hut constructed of plaited 
palm reeds. In this it is preserved for three years, food being supplied, 
* Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific, 1831, vol. i, p. 332. 
t Nat. Races of Pac. States, 1874, vol. i, p. 780. 
