24 THE CHIKOOK INDIANS. 



Douglass after severely reprimanding him allowed him to depart with 

 the dead body. 



Sacred as the Indians hold their burial places, Casenov himself, a 

 short time after the latter occurrence, had his only son buried in the 

 cemetery of the fort. He died of consumption — a disease very fre- 

 quent amongst all Indians — proceeding no doubt from their constant 

 exposure to the sudden vicissitudes of the climate. The coffin was 

 made sufficiently large to contain all the necessaries supposed to be 

 required for his comfort and convenience in the world of spirits. 

 The chaplain of the fort read the usual service at the grave, and 

 after the conclusion of the ceremony, Casonov returned to his lodge, 

 and the same evening attempted, as narrated below, the life of the 

 bereaved mother, who was the daughter of the great chief generally 

 known as King Comcomly, so beautifully alluded to in Washington 

 Irving's " Astoria." She was formerly the wife of a Mr. McDougall, 

 who bought her from her father for, as it was supposed, the enormous 

 price of ten articles of each description, guns, blankets, knives, 

 hatchets, &c, then in Fort Astoria. Comcomly, however, acted 

 with unexpected liberality on the occasion by carpeting her path from 

 the canoe to the Fort with sea otter skins, at that time numerous 

 and valuable, but now scarce, and presenting them as a dowry, in 

 reality far exceeding in value the articles at which she had been es- 

 timated. On Mr. McDougali's leaving the Indian country she be- 

 came the wife of Casenov. 



It is the prevailing opinion of the chiefs that they and their sons 

 are too important to die in a natural way, and whenever the event 

 takes place the^ attribute it to the malevolent influence of some other 

 person, whom they fix upon, often in the most unaccountable manner, 

 frequently selecting those the most dear to themselves and the de- 

 ceased. The person so selected is sacrificed without hesitation. On 

 this occasion Casenov selected the afflicted mother, notwithstanding 

 sho had during the sickness of her son been most assiduous and de- 

 voted in her attentions to him, and of Casenov's several wives she was 

 the one he most loved ; but it is the general belief of the Indians on 

 the west side of the mountains, that the severer the privation they 

 inflict upon themselves the greater is therefore the manifestation of 

 their grief, and the more pleasing to the departed spirit. Casenov 

 assigned to me, as an additional motive for his wish to kill his 

 wife, that as he knew she had been so useful to her son and so 

 necessary to his happiness and comfort in this world, he wished to 

 send her with him as his companion on his long journey. She, how- 



