THE INDIANS OF THE NORTHWEST C0A8T. 361 



SUMMARY. 



It is impossible to generalize with regard to the mortuary customs of 

 the Tliagit, Haida, and Tsimshiau. The methods of sepulture differ 

 in different localities, and have undergone uiany changes since the ad- 

 vent of the whites. Around Sitka the custom of burning the dead has 

 obtained from the earliest times, but the sepulture of the ashes has 

 radically changed ; whereas, cremation has now been almost entirely 

 given upby the Tsimshiau, Haida, and southern Tliugit, having been 

 originally somewhat the prevailing custom. With regard to the burial of 

 shamans the custom seems to have been from the earliest times the same 

 as now, and quite uniform in character throughout the northern region 

 of the coast. 



