316 THE ESKIMO ABOUT BERING STRAIT [ETH. ANN. 18 
and a kaiak paddle, and a pair of umiak oars were placed against 
the box, which contained the body of a boy, the son of an old man in 
the village, who, it was said, was prohibited from doing any work for 
three moons following the death of his son. 
At each end of the boxes at this place was erected a post, to the top 
of which was fastened a cross-board bearing some articles of ornament 
or of value belonging to the deceased. The boxes were all supported 
two feet or more above the ground by corner posts, which extended 
several feet above their tops. 
At Razbinsky the graveyard is placed immediately behind the kashim 
in the winter village, so near that the odor arising from the bodies 
becomes almost unbearable in the warm weather when spring opens. 
These grave boxes are well made and are ranged roughly in rows, 
forming an irregular square. At the time of my visit there were about 
thirty of them, some of which are 
shown in plate XcI. 
They were made of hewn planks 
about 34 by 3 feet in horizontal 
measurement and 2 feet deep, and 
were raised about two feet from 
pee 1 HH the ground on corner posts, with 
a i i il A a a fifth support formed by the 
RY | i al ii butts of small trees so planted 
that thespreading roots upturned 
supported the bottoms of the 
boxes, which were all painted red, 
and the posts were banded with 
the same color. The fronts of the 
boxes were ornamented with rows 
of bone pegs, as shown in the 
illustration (figure 103), and the corner posts were also ornamented in 
the same manner. 
On some of the boxes were rude figures in black of a man shooting 
with bow and arrow at a deer or bear. The number and arrangement 
of the bone pegs varied, but the general plan was the same. 
At Razbinsky most of the utensils of the deceased were placed in the 
boxes with the bodies. A few old reindeer horns and some posts bear- 
ing invitation effigies for the feast to the dead were the main objects to 
be seen about these boxes. Beside some of them, however, were hewn 
boards five or six feet long, supported six or seven feet from the ground 
on two posts, and bearing the figures of skins of animals and other 
objects on their fronts. 
At the village of Starikwikhpak, just below Razbinsky, were two 
grave boxes almost exactly like those just described. On the front of 
one of them was a large figure in black, representing a man shooting 
with bow and arrow at a reindeer. 
SS 
Fie 103—Burial box at Razbinsky. 
