204 . . 



quently 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 occupa- 

 tions, and by articles of dress. Slaves were killed in proportion to the i-ank 

 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 hoi-ribly. At pi-esent, 

 this practice has been almost entirely given up, but till within a very few 

 years it was not 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, 

 Avho, 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 rencAV or repair, for a considerable 

 length of time, the materials and ornaments of the burial place. With the 

 common class of persons, 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 violation of the grave was always 

 regarded as an offense of the first magnitude, and provoked severe revenge. 

 Captain Belcher remarks: "Great seci'ecy 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 

 perpetrated by another tribe, so they are inveterate and tenaciously bent 

 on revenge should they discover that any act of the kind has been perpe- 

 trated by a white man. It is on record that part of the crew of a vessel, on 

 her return to this port [the Columbia], 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 w^ere scattered about in all directions; and, as I was on most 

 of their positions unnoticed by the natives, I suspect the feeling does not 

 extend much beyond their relatives, and then only 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 

 sequestex'ed spots." 



