84 BUEIAL BOXES— MAKAH. 



miles above gave it the name of Sepulcher Island. The Watlala, a tribe of 

 the Upper Tsinuk, whose burial place is here described, are now nearly 

 extinct ; but a number of the sepulchers still remain in different states of 

 preservation. The position of the body, as noticed by Clarke, is, I believe, 

 of universal observance, the head being always placed to the west The 

 reason assigned to me is that the road to the mr-mel-us-illa-hee, the country 

 of the dead, is toward the west, and if they place them otherwise they 

 would be confused. East of the Cascade Mountains the tribes whose habits 

 are equestrian, and who use canoes only for ferriage or transportation pur- 

 poses, bury their dead, usually heaping over them piles of stones, either 

 to mark the spot or to prevent the bodies from being exhumed by the prairie 

 wolf. Among the Yakamas we saw many of their graves placed in con- 

 spicuous points of the basaltic walls which line the lower valleys, and desig- 

 nated by a clump of poles planted over them, from which fluttered various 

 articles of dress. Formerly these prairie tribes killed horses over the 

 g raves — a custom now falling into disuse in consequence of the teachings of 



the whites. 



"Upon Puget Sound all the forms obtain in different localities. Among 

 the Makah of Cape Flattery the graves are covered with a sort of box, rudely 

 constructed of boards, and elsewhere on the Sound the same method is 

 adopted in some cases, while in others the bodies are placed on elevated 

 scaffolds. As a general thing, however, the Indians upon the water placed 

 the dead in canoes, while those at a distance from it buried them. Most of 

 the graves are surrounded with strips of cloth, blankets, and other articles 

 of property. Mr. Cameron, an English gentleman residing at Esquimalt 

 Harbor, Vancouver Island, informed me that on his place there were graves 

 having at each corner a large stone, the interior space filled with rubbish. 

 The origin of these was unknown to the present Indians. 



"The distinctions of rank or wealth in all cases were very marked; 

 persons of no consideration and slaves being buried with very little care or 

 respect. Vancouver, whose attention was particularly attracted to their 

 methods of disposing of the dead, mentions that at Port Discovery he saw 

 baskets suspended to the trees containing the skeletons of young children, 

 and, what is not easily explained, small square boxes, containing, apparently, 



