FAG 
YARROW. ] BURIAL SACRIFICE—TSINUK. 1) 
accompaniments of the rite. The canoes were of great size and value—the war or 
state canoes of the deceased. Frequently one was inverted over that holding the 
body, and in one instance, near Shoalwater Bay, the corpse was deposited in a small 
canoe, which again was placed in a larger one and covered with a third. Among the 
Tsinak and Tsihalis the tamahno-is board of the owner was placed near him. The 
Puget Sound Indians do not make these tamahno-iis boards, but they sometimes con- 
structed effigies of their chiefs, resembling the person as nearly as possible, dressed in 
his usual costume, and wearing the articles of which he was fond. One of these, rep- 
resenting the Skagit chief Sneestum, stood very conspicuously upon a high bank on 
the eastern side of Whidbey Island. The figures observed by Captain Clarke at the 
Cascades were either of this description or else the carved posts which had ornamented 
the interior of the houses of the deceased, and were connected with the superstition 
of the tamahno-ts. The most valuable articles of property were put into or hung up 
around the grave, being first carefully rendered unserviceable, and the living family were 
literally stripped to do honortothe dead. No little self-denial must have been practiced 
in parting with articles so precious, but those interested frequently had the least to 
say on the subject. The graves of women were distinguished by a cup, a Kamas stick, 
or other implement of their occupation, and by articles of dress. 
Slaves were killed in proportion to the rank and wealth of the deceased. In some 
instances they were starved to death, or even tied to the dead body and left to perish 
thus horribly. Atpresent this practice has been almost entirely given up, but till within 
a very few years it wasnot uncommon. A case which occurred in 1850 has been already 
mentioned. Still later, in 1853, Toke, a Tsinuk chief living at Shoalwater Bay, undertook 
to kill a slave girl belonging to his daughter, who, in dying, had requested that 
this might be done. The woman fled, and was found by some citizens in the woods 
half starved. Her master attempted to reclaim her, but was soundly thrashed and 
warned against another attempt. 
It was usual in the case of chiefs to renew or repair for a considerable length of 
time the materials and ornaments of the burial-place. With the common class of per- 
sons family pride or domestic affection was satisfied with the gathering together of 
the bones after the flesh had decayed and wrapping them in a new mat. The viola- 
tion of the grave was always regarded as an offense of the first magnitude and pro- 
voked severe revenge. Captain Belcher remarks: ‘‘ Great secrecy is observed in all 
their burial ceremonies, partly from fear of Europeans, and as among themselves 
they will instantly punish by death any violation of the tomb or wage war if perpe- 
trated by another tribe, so they are inveterate and tenaceously bent on revenge 
should they discover that any act of the kind has been perpetrated by a white man. 
It is on record that part of the crew of a vessel on her return to this port (the Colum- 
bia) suffered because a person who belonged to her (but not then in her) was known 
to have taken a skull, which, from the process of flattening, had become an object of 
curiosity.” He adds, however, that at the period of his visit to the river ‘ the skulls 
and skeletons were scattered about in all directions; and as I was on most of their po- 
sitions unnoticed by the natives, I suspect the feeling does not extend much beyond 
their relatives, and then ouly till decay has destroyed body, goods, and chattels. The 
chiefs, no doubt, are watched, as their canoes are repainted, decorated, and greater 
care taken by placing them in sequestered spots.” 
The motive for sacrificing or destroying property on occasion of death will be re- 
ferred to in treating of their religious ideas. Wailing for the dead is continued for a 
long time, and it seems to be rather a ceremonial performance than an act of sponta- 
neous grief. The duty, of course, belongs to the woman, and the early morning is 
usually chosen for the purpose. They go out alone to some place a little distant from 
the lodge or camp and in a loud, sobbing voice repeat a sort of stereotyped formula; 
as, for instance, a mother, on the loss of her child, ‘‘ Ah seahb shed-da bud-dah ah ta 
bud! ad-de-dah,” “ Ah chief!” ‘*My child dead, alas!” When in dreams they see any 
of their deceased friends this lamentation is renewed. 
