MUMMIES— NORTHWEST COAST. 41 



"It may now be expected that I should offer some opinion, as to the 

 antiquity and race of this singular exsiccation. 



"First, then, I am satisfied that it does not belong to that class of white 

 men of which we are members. 



" 2dly. Nor do I believe that it ought to be referred to the bands of 

 Spanish adventurers, who, between the years 1600 and 1600, rambled up 

 the Mississippi, and along its tributary streams. But on this head I should 

 like to know the opinion of my learned and sagacious friend, Noah Webster. 



" 3dly. I am equally obliged to reject the opinion that it belonged 

 to any of the tribes of aborigines, now or lately inhabiting Kentucky. 



" 4thly. The mantle of the feathered work, and the mantle of twisted 

 threads, so nearly resemble the fabricks of the indigines of Wakash and the 

 Pacifick islands, that I refer this individual to that era of time, and that gen- 

 eration of men, which preceded the Indians of the Green River, and of the 

 place where these relicks were found. This conclusion is strengthened by 

 the consideration that such manufactures are not prepared by the actual 

 and resident red men of the present day. If the Abbe Clavigero had had 

 this case before him, he would have thought of the people who constructed 

 those ancient forts and mounds, whose exact history no man living can give. 

 But I forbear to enlarge ; my intention being merely to manifest my re- 

 spect to the society for having enrolled me among its members, and to invite 

 the attention of its Antiquarians to further inquiry on a subject of such 

 curiosity. 



"With respect, I remain yours, 



" SAMUEL L. MITCHILL." 



It would appear from recent researches on the Northwest coast that 

 the natives of that region embalmed their dead with much care, as may be 

 seen from the work recently published by W. H. Dall,* the description of 

 the mummies being as follows : 



"We found the dead disposed of in various ways ; first, by interment 

 in their compai'tments of the communal dwelling, as already described; 

 second, by being laid on a rude platform of drift-wood or stones in some 

 convenient rock shelter. These lay on straw and moss, covered by rnat- 



» Cont,. to N. A. Ethnol., 1877, vol. i, p. 89. 



