506 REPORT—1899., 
that runs into the Fraser about five miles above Lytton. Worn and 
hollowed places are pointed out here and there, and these are said to have 
been made by the feet of the aspirants after Shamanistic powers in the 
performance of their exercises. We find several groups of rock paintings 
along this creek, which are believed by the present Indians to have been 
made in the past by noted Shamans. It is interesting to note that these 
paintings are invariably found high up on the cliff surfaces above the 
reach of the tallest man—in some cases as high as twenty or thirty feet 
from the ground. It is clear, therefore, that they must have used some 
kind of ladder or platform to reach these heights. This, to the Indian 
mind, always adds to their mystery. The modern Indians seem to have 
no knowledge of the signification of these paintings, and say that the 
pigments used by themselves will not stand the weather or endure like 
those of the ancients. 
Names. 
The ceremony of name-giving was observed by the N’tlaka’pamug 
nobility. It would appear that when a child was born it might be called 
by any name. Later, when he had grown up, his parents gave a great 
feast, to which all the friends of the family were invited, and a name was 
then chosen from among the names of his dead ancestors and bestowed 
upon him by which he was thereafter known. Among the common 
people the men kept the names given at birth, or had nicknames applied 
to them. 
Mortuary Customs. 
Very little could be learned directly of their ancient mortuary customs. 
They have been so long under missionary influences that their old prac- 
tices have for the most part died out and been forgotten. A few of these, 
however, they still keep up, such as cutting the hair short and special 
washings or cleansings in the river. The widow must not lie in her bed, 
but on branches spread on the floor, and every morning she must undergo 
a purification by washing her body with fir-tips. This is kept up for a 
longer or shorter time, as the widow’s feelings dictate or prompt. 
I could not learn that slaves were ever killed at the burial of their 
masters ; and there is certainly nothing in the disposal of the bodies of 
the ancient dead, as far as is now discoverable, to warrant a belief in such 
practices, In modern burials horses and colts are frequently killed, but 
not, my informant was at pains to tell me, for sacrificial or religious 
purposes, but that their flesh might supply food for the burial feast. The 
skins of these slain animals were afterwards hung upon the branches of 
some neighbouring tree. I have seen several of these skins myself on 
trees near the burial-grounds. 
Birth Customs. 
The birth customs, like the death customs, have also been much 
modified by missionary influence. In the days before the whites, when a 
child was born, it was wrapped in a bundle of the soft inner bark of the cedar 
prepared for the purpose. Later it was wrapped in soft skins and placed 
in its cradle, which was (and still is) made, in the case of the poorer class 
of natives, from birch-bark, and in the case of the better class from neatly 
woven basket-work. It would seem that no cradle was ever used twice 
over for different children, but after the child had grown out of it, and 
