576 REPORT—1896. 
action four times. This is called ‘ pushing away the love of the deceased,’ 
that he may not appear in their dreams, and that his memory may not 
trouble them.! Then the wife of the deceased lets the children take off 
their shirts and sit down, turning their backs towards the corpse. She 
takes his hand and moves it down the backs of the children, then moving 
the hand back to the chest of the body. With this motion she takes the 
sickness out of the bodies of the children and places it into the body of 
the deceased, who thus takes it away with him when he is buried. 
After this ceremony an olachen net is placed over the head of the 
body, his face is painted red, and the body is wrapped in a blanket. Then 
it is tied up, the knees being drawn up to the chin. Now four men of 
the clans of which the deceased was not a member lift the body to place 
it into the box. Four times they raise it. The fourth time they actually 
lift it over the box. Four times they move, but only the fourth time they 
actually let it down into the box. If the box should prove too small, they 
must not take it out again, but the body is squeezed in as best they can, 
even if they should have to break its neck or feet. The head is placed at 
the edge where the sides of the box are sewed up (see Fifth Report, p. 817) 
because the soul is believed to escape through the joint. The soul leaves 
the body on the fourth day after death, escaping through the place where 
the frontal fontanel of the child is located. The box is tied up, as indi- 
cated in fig. 1. As soon as the four men who carry the coffin to the burial- 
ground raise it the women cease to wail, because their tears would 
recall the deceased. The relatives are not allowed to attend the funeral, 
as it is believed that their souls would stay with that of their dead friend. 
Twelve women accompany the coffin. Children are not allowed to go 
with it. When the tree on which the body is to be deposited has been 
reached, four poor men are sent up to carry a rope by which to haul up 
the coffin. When they have reached the branch on which the coffin 
is to be placed, they lower the rope. The men who remained below pre- 
tend three times to tie the rope to the coffin. The fourth time they really 
tie it. Then the men in the tree pull up the rope. Three times they rest 
in pulling it up, so that the coffin reaches its final resting-place after 
having been pulled four times. It is placed on the branch and covered 
with a large board. Then the men climb down again, cutting off the 
branches for some distance under the coffin. When the men come down 
from the tree, the women resume their wailing. They scratch their cheeks 
with their nails. (The Koskimo use shells for this purpose.) After they 
have returned to the village the blankets and mats which the deceased 
used are burnt, together with the objects which he used. Food is also 
burnt for him. All this is intended for his use, and is burnt because the 
dead can use only burnt objects. If he has left a widow, she must use 
his blankets, mats, kettle, &c., once before they are burnt. After the death 
of a woman the widower must do the same. After four days a person 
belonging to another clan cuts the hair of the mourners. The hair is 
burnt. This service is paid for heavily, because it is believed to shorten 
the life of the one who has rendered it. The climbers receive a payment 
of two blankets each ; those who placed the corpse in the coffin and carried 
it to the burial-ground receive one blanket each for their services. 
' The widow and the children of the deceased wear strings made of mountain- 
goat wool and white cedar bark mixed, one around the neck, one around the waist, 
and two connecting ones down the chest; also strings of the same material around 
wrists, elbows, knees, and ankles. 
