424 BURIAL. 



surplus is dried and made into pemmican. In winter, how- 

 ever, they are often very short of provisions. Back gives a 

 terrible picture of their sufferings in famine times ; * and 

 Wyeth tells us that the Shoshonees " nearly starve to death 

 annually, and in winter and spring are emaciated to the last 

 degree ; the trappers used to think they all eventually died 

 from starvation, as they became old and feeble." f 



As might naturally be expected, the mode of burial varies 

 much in different parts of North America. In Columbia 

 they are generally " placed above ground, in their clothing, 

 and then sewed up in a skin or blanket ; and the personal 

 property of each deceased individual was placed near the 

 body : over all were laid a few boards, placed as a kind of 

 shed to protect them from the weather/' J Among these 

 tribes the corpse is doubled up. Near Point Orchard in the 

 same district, the bodies were placed in canoes, and deposited 

 among the branches of trees. The Mandans also, and indeed 

 most of the Prairie Indians, scaffolded their dead. Among 

 the Clear Lake Indians, the Carriers, etc., it was usual to burn 

 them, while in Florida they were interred in a sitting pos- 

 ture. Among other tribes, the bones of the dead were col- 

 lected every eight or ten years, and laid in one common 

 burial place. 



They are not altogether deficient in art, being able to 

 make certain rude carvings, and to trace equally rude draw- 

 ings on their wigwams, robes, etc. ; but about portraits they 

 have some curious ideas. They think that an artist acquires 

 some mysterious power over any one whose likeness he may 

 have taken ; and on one occasion, when annoyed by some 

 Indians, Mr. Kane got rid of them at once by threatening to 

 draw any one who remained. Not one ventured to do so. 



* Arctic Land Expedition, p. 194 to f Schoolcraft, vol. i., p. 216. 



226. See also Bichardson's Arctic J United States' Exploring Expe- 

 Expedition, vol. ii., p. 96. dition, vol. iv., p. 389. 



