THE INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST. 356 



of cremation, with them it would seem that the reasons for it were not 

 convincing- to the larger portion of the southern Tlingit, Haida, and 

 Tsimshian, where sepulture by interment is j)ractised similar to our 

 method of burial. 



Amongst the northern Tlingit, where cremation is still practised to 

 a considerable extent, the present form of sepulture is that shown in 

 Fig, 352, Plate Lxvi, which represents a group of graves near Sitka 

 similar to the type found in other northern Tlingit villages. They are 

 simply frame houses, with a small window or opening in the side, 

 through which the boxes containing the cremated ashes of the dead 

 are introduced. The funeral boxes containing the ashes of the differ- 

 ent members of a family rest side by side on the iioor, raised a few 

 feet above the ground, and are generally visible through the window. 

 The form of construction and interior arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 

 348, Plate lxv. The window is sometimes covered with a Ohilkat 

 blanket, as in the illustration, serving to adorn the outside, and to in- 

 dicate that the remains of persons of wealth repose within. The 

 wooden knob or ball on top is frequently replaced by a carved totemic 

 figure. The dead houses are often painted with totemic designs on the 

 outer walls, and ornamented with scalp locks and other trophies of the 

 deceased. 



Cremation is not the universal practice even amongst the northern 

 Tlingit, a large proportion of sepulture being by inhumation. Langs- 

 dorft' (1805) says that sometimes at Sitka, " The corpse is laid out in a 

 new chest, and interred in a remote part of the forest, commonly be- 

 tween four trees forming a square." Figs. 347 and 349, Plate Lxv, 

 illustrate modified forms of sepulture at Fort Wrangell (Stikiue) 

 Alaska. The former is the grave of Chief Shustack, on Shustack 

 Point, at the south entrance to Wrangell Anchorage, directly opposite 

 the town. It represents a form of aerial sepulture, in that the remains 

 are not actually buried in the ground, but remain above the surface en- 

 closed in a box. Fig. 349 is that of an I'ldian chief of the Wolf totem, 

 the form of construction being similar to that of Fig. 346, the grave of 

 a shaman or medicine man. 



SHAMAN GRAVES. 



These are uniform in type amongst all the Tlingit, and have been the 

 same from time immemorial, as their bodies have never been burned, for 

 the reason that it is a common superstition that fire will not touch them. 

 The bodies are doubled up with the chin near the knees and the upper 

 part covered with a bark or basket-work mat. The graves are of the 

 type shown in Fig. 346, Plate lxv, and are invariably located at some 

 little distance from the village on a small island, conspicuous point, or 

 high promontory, sometimes selected by themselves before death. The 

 sepulchre itself consists of a small pen or enclosure of logs, usually ele- 

 vated above the ground on four short [josts, and facing towards the 



