186 



The case was sometimes cradle shaped, especially when the 

 body was that of an infant. On these occasions it was often of 

 wood, ornamented as highly as their resources would allow, 

 painted with red, blue or green native pigments, carved, adorned 

 with pendants of carved wood and suspended by braided cords of 

 whale sinew from two wooden hoops, like the arches used in the 

 game of croquet. 



The innermost wrapping of infants was usually of the finest 

 fur, and from the invariable condition of the contained remains it 

 is probable that the bodies were encased without undergoing the 

 process previously described. The practice of suspension was 

 undoubtedly due to a desire to avoid the dampness induced by 

 contact with the soil. The bodies of infants thus prepared were 

 often retained in the house, by the fond mother, for a long time. 

 Afterwards they were sometimes suspended in the open air : but 

 adults were as far as I have been able to find out, invariably con- 

 signed to caves or rock-shelters. 



Among the localities which have been visited personally by the 

 writer, are caves in Unga, one of the Shumagin Islands, and 

 others on the islands of Amaknak and Atka, further west. In 

 all of these the remains of mummies existed ; but the effect of 

 falling rock from above, and great age, had in all the caves except 

 that of Unga, destroyed the more perishable portions of the re- 

 mains, and in the latter place only fragments remained. 



Many stories, however, came to hand in relation to a cave on 

 the "Islands of the Four Mountains" west of Unalashka, where 

 a large number of perfectly preserved specimens were said to ex- 

 ist, in relation to which the following legend was current among 

 the natives. 



Many years ago 1 there lived on the island of Kagamil (one of 

 the Four Mountains) a celebrated chief named Kat-hay-a-kut-chak, 

 small of stature but much feared and respected by the adjacent 

 natives for his courage and success in hunting. He had a son 

 whom he fondly loved, and who was about fifteen years old. For 

 this son he made a bidarka (or skin-boat) highly ornamented and 

 of small size. When it was finished, the boy entreated his father 

 for permission to try it, and after much coaxing was permitted to 

 do so, on condition that he did not go far from the shore. After 



