372 General Notes. [June, 
These had probably been prepared to fill up chinks in the walls of 
the dam. The trees had been, for the most part, cut into sections 
averaging ten feet in length, and the branches and twigs had been 
trimmed off as cleanly as a wood-chopper could have cut them, Along 
the banks of the White River, some weeks before, I noticed several 
artificial canals which had been dug out in the absence of natural side- 
channels in the river. These were designed for floating down logs. 
One canal was four’ feet in width, seven in length, and several feet 
deep. — E. A. BARBER. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
CREMATION AMONG THE SITKA Inp1Ans. — During the writer’s resi- 
dence at Sitka, the capital of Alaska Territory, he had the opportunity 
of witnessing the interesting ceremony of cremation as performed by the 
Sitka Indians. ; 
The subject of this solemn rite was the dead body of an old squaw, 
who was the mother of a numerous progeny. The day fixed for its con- 
summation was the one immediately succeeding her death. About nine 
o'clock on the morning in question, four of us filed through the wooden 
stockade that separates the town of Sitka from the Indian village. After 
threading our way for some distance among the rocks along the beach, 
and through the filth which invariably surrounds an Indian habitation, 
we at length reached the dwelling-place of the deceased. As we ap- 
proached we were greeted by the barking of a dozen or more wolfish- 
looking dogs. The hut was a substantial one, built of logs so carefully 
hewn that one could scarcely believe that their smooth surface was not 
due to the plane of a carpenter. ‘The roof was formed of long, thin 
slabs, split from spruce or cedar trees, and had but a slight pitch. Im- 
mediately over the centre of the house a large rectangular hole was cut 
in the roof to give egress to the smoke arising from the fire within. To 
prevent the snow and rain from descending through this opening, a short 
ridge-pole, held up by two small forks which were fastened, one at each 
eud of the hole, to the main ridge-pole, supported a covering of long 
slabs whose lower ends rested upon the main roof, while the upper ones 
projected far enough to screen the interior in a great measure from the 
uncomfortable effects of the driving storms. : , 
The only entrance was through a circular hole about two feet ın 
diameter, placed about six feet above the ground, and reached by half a 
dozen steps. Through this hole we had to crawl on our hands and 
knees, and by a corresponding descent on the inside we reached the floor, 
which was also made of slabs laid upon the ground, except a place about 
eight feet cut in the middle where the fire is built. 
At the end opposite the door was erected a kind of closet, arranged 
with shelves, upon which were stored the winter supplies of smoked 
salmon, seal oil, and dried berries, together with the usual stock of blank- 
ets and peltries. 
