THE HUMAN BEAST OF BURDEN. 261 



progress, the bundles are made as compact as their nature will permit, 

 and slung across the shoulders transversely or suspended over the 

 neck, and the arms passed over the thong supporting the weight behind. 



A piece of netting, made of deer-skin twisted and then netted, having 

 thongs run through the outer meshes, draws the net tight over the 

 bundle, which is slung as indicated above. 



The method employed by the Makah Indians in carrying burdens 

 when afoot is to strap or tie the load together, whenever practicable, in 

 a compact form, and then, by means of straps or belts that they weave 

 themselves from rags, the "pack" is carried resting on the back, the 

 strap resting against the forehead. The packing strap is woven round, 

 except when it is intended to rest against the forehead ; then it is flat. 

 In carrying a number of small parcels or berries, fish, clams, sea-urchins, 

 small pieces of wood, and when haste in loading or unloading a canoe 

 is desired, they use a basket, also woven by themselves, of different 

 patterns, resting on the back and held by a strap around the forehead. 

 They carry cord-wood in the same manner, the sticks lying transversely 

 on the basket. 



The baskets intended for heavier articles are woven of the twip-s of a 

 tree that resembles lignurn-vitse, the sides intended to rest against the 

 back being flatter and broader than the others. For berries, dried 

 fish, and lighter articles, the baskets are woven of the inner fiber of 

 cedar bark. It may be needless to say that all this work is done by 

 the women. 



The native name for the heavier basket is " kak-ow-utz," and for the 

 lighter " bu hquee." Their name for the packing-strap is " de-de-quad- 

 ut," derived from de-ahp (hanging) and quad-ut (handle), the com- 

 bination or derivation meaning " hanging handle." 



The Makahs do not u track," there being no rivers of any size in the 

 country, and the nature of the country forbidding travel along the 

 banks of such as there are for any distance, the timber being very 

 dense and extending to the very edge of the stream. The canoeing is 

 principally on salt water. 



CARRYING LOADS. — INDIANS NEAR STILLWATER, MONTANA TER- 

 RITORY. 



The men and women carry loads in a similar way. He or she takes 

 a reata, or rope about the size of your finger, which is made out of buffalo- 

 hair or braided elk- skin, three plait, lays it on the ground in the shape 

 of an elongated U, placing the load across the legs of the letter. They 

 generally get a little rise in the ground or a cut bank, but if on the level 

 of a prairie they are helped to raise it by one of their number, or else 

 work over on their side until they can get upon their knees, when they 

 are all right. After placing their load of a hundred-pound sack of flour, 

 or a quarter of a buffalo or steer, or a half cord of dry wood, they, with 

 their back against it, take the curve of the rope over their head, down 



