ON THE NORTH-WESTERN TRIBES OF CANADA. 643 
him all the property he carries. The latter distributes this property 
among the whole tribe according to the contributions everyone has 
made. Then the young couple remove to the young man’s family, and 
before leaving her father’s house the bride is fitted out with presents in 
the same way as the young man was when he came to reside with her 
family. This is a present to the young man’s father, who also distributes 
it among the tribe. Marriages between cousins were not forbidden. 
When a 'person died at the village the body was tied up in sitting 
posture, the knees being bent to the chin, and the arms tied together. 
A grave was dug, and its sides were rubbed with thorn bushes. Then 
the body was buried, and a number of poles were erected over the grave 
in the shape of a conical hut. The sand inside and around the hut was 
carefully smoothed. If on one of the following days tracks were seen 
in the hut, the being—animal or man—to whom they belonged would be 
the next to die. If after a while the sand should be blown away, the 
bones were buried again. Wherever they find human bones they clean 
them and bury them, thinking that others may do the same to their own 
relatives. When a person died far from home, for instance on a hunting 
expedition, the body was burnt,.and the charred bones were carried home 
to be buried at the native village of the deceased. The report that the 
bones of the dead were washed regularly, which has been made by 
several travellers, seems to rest on these facts. No carved figures were 
placed over the graves, as was the custom on the Lower Thompson River. 
At the burial or the burning of the body, slaves, hounds, and horses of 
the deceased were killed. His favourite slaves were buried alive; the 
horses were eaten by the mourners, to whom a feast was spread: on the 
grave. In some cases the uncle or nephew of the deceased would kill a 
number of his own slaves at the grave. Winter provisions, prepared by 
a woman before her death, were burnt. The clothes of a dead person 
must be washed before being used again. 
A year after the death of a person his relatives collected a large 
amount of food and clothes, and gave a new feast on the grave. This 
was the end of the mourning period, and henceforth they tried to forget 
the deceased. At this feast his son adopted his name. 
The relatives of a dead person during the mourning period must not 
eat deer, salmon, or berries, as else the deer and salmon would be driven 
away, and the berries would spoil. Their diet is confined to dried veni- 
son and fish. They cut their hair, and keep it short for one year, untit 
the final feast is given. They must avoid touching their heads except 
with a stick ora comb. Names of deceased persons must not be men- 
tioned during the mourning period. Men as well as women must go 
every morning to the river, wail, and bathe. When a man or a woman 
dies, the widow or widower is kept asa captive in the house of a brother- 
in-law. As soon as the mourning period, which in this case is particu- 
larly strict, is at an end, the widower must marry a sister or the nearest 
relative of his dead wife; the widow is married to her dead husband’s 
brother, or to his nearest relative.! 
Widows or widowers have to observe the following mourning regula- 
1 The mourning ceremonies of the Shushwap are evidently greatly influenced by 
‘tthose of their northern neighbours, the Carriers, which have been described by the 
Rey. A. G. Morice in the Proceedings of the Canadian Institute, 1889. The strictness 
teed levirate and the ceremonies celebrated at the grave are almost the same in 
cases, 
