BURIAL SACRIFICE. 87 



will instantly punish by death any violation of the tomb or wage war if 

 perpetrated by another tribe, so they are inveterate and tenaceously bent on 

 revenge should they discover that any act of the kind has been perpetrated 

 by a white man. It is on record that part of the crew of a vessel on her 

 return to this port (the Columbia) suffered because a person who belonged 

 to her (but not then in her) was known to have taken a skull, which, from 

 the process of flattening, had become an object of curiosity.' He adds, 

 however, that at the period of his visit to the river 'the skulls and skele- 

 tons were scattered about in all directions; and as I was on most of their 

 positions unnoticed by the natives, I suspect the feeling does not extend 

 much beyond their relatives, and then only till decay has destroyed body, 

 goods, and chattels. The chiefs, no doubt, are watched, as their canoes are 

 repainted, decorated, and greater care taken by placing them in sequestered 

 spots.' 



'The motive for sacrificing or destroying property on occasion of 

 death will be referred to in treating of their religious ideas Wailing for 

 the dead is continued for a long time, and seems to be rather a ceremonial 

 performance than an act of spontaneous grief. The duty, of course, belongs 

 to the woman, and the early morning is usually chosen for the purpose. 

 They go out alone to some place a little distant from the lodge or camp, 

 and in a loud, sobbing voice repeat a sort of stereotyped formula, as, for 

 instance, a mother, on the loss of her child, 'Ah seahb shed-da bud-dah ah ta 

 bud! ad-de-dah, Ah chief!' ' My child dead, alas!' When in dreams they 

 see any of their deceased friends this lamentation is renewed." 



With most of the Northwest Indians it was quite common, as men- 

 tioned by Mr. Gibbs, to kill or bury with the dead a living slave, who, fail- 

 ing to die within three days was strangled by another slave, but the custom 

 has also prevailed among other tribes and peoples, in many cases the indi- 

 viduals offering themselves as voluntary sacrifices. Bancroft states "that in 

 Panama, Nata, and some other districts, when a cacique died those of his 

 concubines that loved him enough, those that he loved ardently and so 

 appointed, as well as certain servants, killed themselves and were interred 

 with him. This they did in order that they might wait upon him in the 



