374 General Notes. [June, 
The pyre was built of cedar logs. The foundation consisted of two 
logs about five feet long and ten inches in diameter, laid parallel to each 
other, and about two feet apart. Upon these was placed transversely a 
layer of shorter logs of a less diameter, with interstices between them 
through which the flames could penetrate from below. ‘This base was 
surmounted by a small superstructure of cedar crib-work, large enough 
to contain the corpse and its mortuary habiliments. Into this the remains 
were placed and covered with small sticks of wood. Near the wind- 
ward side of this pile were laid two boards, along which were ranged 
the singing warriors; the only office of these boards appeared to be that 
of furnishing a hard, resonant surface ‘upon which the staves they used 
to indicate the measure of their chant could fall. Close by the crib was 
a pile of spruce and cedar, finely split, in order that it might burn more 
rapidly. The mourning relatives were seated on the ground with their 
backs turned toward the pyre, and about thirty feet distant. At last 
the torch was applied to the resinous tinder, the warriors began anew 
their melancholy dirge, the mourners, whose loud lamentations had be- 
fore sunk to a low sobbing, now broke forth afresh into heart-rending 
wails. Several hours were occupied in the entire consumption of the 
pile, during which the chanting never ceased, but after a time the out- 
ward grief of the bereaved was confined to weeping and subdued sobs. 
When the fire had died out the remaining ashes and cinders were care- 
fully collected and laid in their final resting-place. 
The cinerary urn consisted of a small house built after the model of 
their huts, being about three feet long by two feet wide, and two high, 
and placed about ten or twelve feet above the ground on four posts. 
These dead houses are often carved and painted on the exterior in the 
most cabalistic manner. It was formerly the custom among these In- 
dians to kill a number of slaves upon the occasion of the death of one 
of their tribe, but the military authorities of the United States have 
suppressed the barbarous practice since their occupation of the territory- 
These slaves are prisoners of war, taken from other tribes, and their 
bondage is hereditary. The number of slaves sacrificed depended upon 
the rank of the deceased. 
GEOLOGY AND PALZHONTOLOGY. 
Scupper on Fossu Insects FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA. — À small 
number of fossil insects obtained by Prof. G. M. Dawson in British 
Columbia, from tertiary beds, have been described by Mr. Scudder in the 
Report of Progress for 1875-76 of the Geological Survey of Cangas: 
The specimens are better preserved, as a general rule, than any that have 
been obtained from other American localities. Besides fragmentary 
indeterminate remains not mentioned, there are twenty-four species OF 
more which can at least be referred to families. Beetles were, with but 
_ one exception, absent from the collection, which consisted of Hymenop- 
