CREMATION— OREGON. 51 



the body must be burnt. Ever after they continued to burn the bodies of 

 deceased persons." 



Ross Cox* gives an account of the process as performed by the Tol- 

 kotins of Oregon : 



"The ceremonies attending the dead are very singular, and quite pecu- 

 liar to this tribe. The body of the deceased is kept nine days laid out in 

 his lodge, and on the tenth it is buried. For this purpose a rising ground 

 is selected, on which are laid a number of sticks, about seven feet long, of 

 cypress, neatly split, and in the interstices is placed a quantity of gummy 

 wood. During these operations invitations are dispatched to the natives of 

 the neighboring villages requesting their attendance at the ceremony. 

 When the preparations are perfected the corpse is placed on the pile, which 

 is immediately ignited, and during the process of burning, the bystanders 

 appear to be in a high state of merriment. If a stranger happen to be pres- 

 est they invariably plunder him ; but if that pleasure be denied them, they 

 never separate without quarreling among themselves. Whatever property 

 the deceased possessed is placed about the corpse ; and if lie happened to 

 be a person of consequence, his friends generally purchase a capote, a shirt, 

 a pair of trousers, etc., which articles are also laid around the pile. If the 

 doctor who attended him has escaped uninjured, he is obliged to be present 

 at the ceremony, and for the last time tries his skill in restoring the defunct 

 to animation. Failing in this, he throws on the body a 2:>iece of leather, or 

 some other article, as a present, which in some measure appeases the resent- 

 ment of his relatives, and preserves the unfortunate quack from being mal- 

 treated. During the nine days the corpse is laid out the widow of the 

 deceased is obliged to sleep along side it from sunset to sunrise ; and from 

 this custom there is no relaxation even during the hottest days of sum- 

 mer ! While the doctor is performing his last operations she must lie on 

 the pile, and after the fire is applied to it she cannot stir until the doctor 

 orders her to be removed, which, however, is never done until her body is 

 completely covered with blisters. After being placed on her legs, she is 

 obliged to pass her hands gently through the flame and collect some of the 

 liq uid fat wh ich issues from the corpse, with which she is permitted to wet 



* Adventures on the Columbia River. 1831, vol. ii, ,,. :;-; 



