THE INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST COAST. 357 



ah Bay (Tlingit), in southern Alaska. The body is enclosed in a rough 

 casket and baried, a temporary tent of white sheeting being erected 

 over the grave. Later this is replaced by either a fence, as shown in 

 Fig. 352, or a pyramidal structure surmounted by a cross, as in Fig. 

 350, or an eagle or other totemic carving, as in Fig. 351. This fencing 

 in of the grave is now quite generally practised throughout the region 

 of the Tsimshian, Kaigani, and southern Tliugit. Fig. 351 is a group of 

 graves near the village of Tongass (Tlingit). Plate iii presents a view 

 in two sections of the grave-yard at the Kaigani village of Kasa-an, 

 Prince of Wales Island, and, with Plates lxv and lxvi, gives a general 

 idea of the graves seen to-day in this region, being sketches, or sketches 

 from photographs, with one exception, taken by the writer in 1885-'87. 



IN GENERAL. 



As a summary, it may be stated that Christian burial is rapidly sup- 

 planting all other forms. Cremation is still in vogue amongst the north- 

 ern Tlingit, the ashes either being deposited in boxes in a small house, 

 or, according to Dunn, in boxes in a secluded spot in the woods.* 



Amongst the other tribesinterment is now pretty generally practised, 

 the spot being marked either by a carved column, or by an enclosure in 

 the form of a fence. 



MORTUARY CEREMONIES. 



Although the methods of sepulture have changed in recent years, the 

 attendant ceremonies have not altered much. On the demise of an im- 

 portant personage in this region, it is customary to array the body in 

 ceremonial apparel and surround it with the tokens of his or her wealth. 

 Thus laid out in state, the relatives and friends of the deceased view the 

 remains. In the case of the death of a great and well-known chief, In- 

 dians come from other villages, and the body is thus displayed until in 

 an advanced stage of decomposition, when the final rites take place. 

 Dunn (1835) says of the Tsimshian, " When a chief dies, he is, before in- 

 terment, dressed up, his face painted, and placed, sitting up, in a canoe, 

 and paddled round the maritime village, looking almost life-like." * 

 Amongst the Haida, Tsimshian, Kaigani, and southern Tlingit, when 

 cremation was practised, the attendant ceremonies were about as fol- 

 lows: 



The members of families belonging to the wife's totem, and to totems 

 other than that of the deceased, were invited to a mourning feast, last- 

 ing usually four days. The feasting and display of the body in state were 

 accompanied by the dismal lamentations and wailing of the mourners, 

 who, after the guests had entered and were seated, came in dressed in 

 mourning costume and leaning on long staves or carved ceremonial 

 sticks. Arriving in the middle of the floor, they wept, moaned, wailed, 



•Dunn (1835), Oregon, p. 280. 



