86 THE INDIANS OF CAPE FLATTERY. 



short distance from the lodge and covered over with a mat. In the case of the old 

 man whom I mentioned in coimection with the performance of the doctor, and 

 whose body I assisted to bury, he was simply rolled in his blanket, lashed up firmly 

 in a mat, and buried in a shallow grave. Over the remains were piled broken boxes, 

 mats, old blankets, and the clothing he had worn. Care is always taken to render 

 worthless everything left about a grave, so that the cupidity of the evil minded may 

 not tempt them to rob the dead. Blankets are cut into strips, crockery ware is 

 cracked or broken, and tin pans and kettles have holes punched through them. 



No monuments of a lasting character mark the last resting place of even the 

 greatest chief Whatever of display there may be made at the time of burial is 

 of an ephemeral nature calculated to last but for a year, and after that but little 

 care or respect is shown the remains. As time elapses the graves go to decay, and 

 the bones of the dead lie scattered around. During the clearing of land at Neeah 

 Bay for the uses of the Agency a large number of bones and skulls were found, 

 which were all gathered and burned, the sight of such relics of humanity being 

 offensive to the feelings of the whites. 



There are no antiquities connected with this tribe ; such as earthworks, mounds, 

 or other evidences of the usages of former generations. AH that the antiquarian 

 can find to repay him for his researches are arrow-heads of stone, and ancient 

 daggers and hatchets of the same material, which are occasionally thrown up by the 

 plough or occasionally found on the surface. The mounds of shells and other 

 debris of ancient feasts are but the refuse of the lodges, and whatever may be found 

 in them has not been so deposited from any design, but simply lost or thrown 

 away. The only fortifications they have used as a defence against enemies were 

 the rude stockades or pickets of poles, which I have before alluded to, and which 

 h.ave gradually decayed or have been used as firewood. 



Superstitions. — Besides the legends I have already related, there are others 

 which may serve to convey an idea of the mental character of the tribe, and throw 

 some light upon statements made by early explorers on the northwest coast. There 

 is a remarkable rock standing detached from the cliff at the northwest extremity 

 of the Cape, a little south of the passage between the main land and Tatoosh 

 Island. This rock, the Indian name of which is Tsa-tsa-dak, rises like a pillar 

 from the ocean over a hundred feet almost perpendicularly, leaning, however, a little 

 to the northwest. Its base is irregular in form, and about sixty feet in diameter 

 at its widest portion near the surface of the water. It decreases in size till at the 

 top it is but a few yards across, and on its summit are low stunted bushes and 

 grass. It is entirely inaccessible except on its southeastern side, where a person 

 possessed of strength and nerve could, with great difficulty, ascend, but to get down 

 by the same way would be impossible. The Indians have a tradition respecting 

 this Pillar Rock, that many years ago an Indian climbed to its summit in search 

 of young cormorants and gulls, which make it a resort during the breeding season ; 

 but after he had reached the top he could not again descend. All the attempts he 

 made were fruitless, and at length his friends went to his relief, every expedient 

 they could think of being resorted to without success. They tied strings to their 

 arrows and tried to shoot them over, but they could not make them ascend suffi- 



