BURIAL HOUSES— COLUMBIA BIVER. 83 



were strewed about in all directions.' This method generally prevailed on 

 the neighboring coasts, as at Shoal Water Bay, &c. Farther up the Colum- 

 bia, as at the Cascades, a different form was adopted, which is thus described 

 by Captain Clarke : 



"About half a mile below this house, in a very thick part of the woods, 

 is an ancient Indian burial-place ; it consists of eight vaults, made of pine 

 or cedar boards, closely connected, about eight feet square and six in 

 height, the top securely "covered with wide boards, sloping a little, so as to 

 convey off the rain. The direction of all these is east and west, the door 

 being on the eastern side, and partially stopped with wide boards, decorated 

 with rude pictures of men and other animals. On entering we found in 

 some of them four dead bodies, carefully wrapped in skins, tied with cords 

 of grass and bai'k, lying on a mat in a direction east and west ; the other 

 vaults contained only bones, which in some of them were piled to a height 

 of four feet ; on the tops of the vaults and on poles attached to them hung 

 brass kettles and frying-pans with holes in their bottoms, baskets, bowls, 

 sea-shells, skins, pieces of cloth, hair bags of trinkets, and small bones, the 

 offerings of friendship or affection, which have been saved by a pious ven- 

 eration from the ferocity of war or the more dangerous temptation of indi- 

 vidual gain. The whole of the walls as well as the door were decorated with 

 strange figures cut and painted on them, and besides these were several 

 wooden images of men, some of them so old and decayed as to have almost 

 lost their shape, which were all placed against the sides of the vault. 

 These images, as well as those in the houses we have lately seen, do not 

 appear to be at all the objects of adoration in this place ; they were most 

 probably intended as resemblances of those whose decease they indicate ; 

 and when we observe them in houses they occupy the most conspicuous 

 part, but are treated more like ornaments than objects of worship. Near 

 the vaults which are still standing are the remains of others on the ground, 

 completely rotted and covered with moss ; and as they are formed of the 

 most durable pine and cedar timber, there is every appearance that for a very 

 long series of years this retired spot has been the depository for the Indians 

 near this place." 



"Another depository of this kind upon an island in the river a few 



