80 
and birds of prey, and adds that this is the reason for not eating foxes, 
wolves, ravens, and other scavengers. Under certain conditions, as for 
instance winter travel on the barren grounds, this exposure would be 
necessitated, even among the Satudene. 
According to Keith (1890, II, pages 96, 109), both the Lower Liard 
and the Great Bear Lake Indians placed their dead on scaffolds. Petitot 
says (1876, page 47) that among the tribes of Athapaskans who have 
retained their ancient customs, the dead were placed in rough coffins 
elevated from 3 to 7 feet above the ground. This statement was cor- 
roborated at Good Hope. 
Mackenzie (1802, intro, page cxvii) records the use of ground caches 
among the Chipewyan. McClean says (1849, vol. II, page 249) that 
among all the Chipewyan tribes (probably speaking of Mackenzie River 
Athapaskans), the body was laid at full length in a tomb made of wood, 
but Satudene informants say that the body was flexed, a cord being placed 
around the neck and under the knees and drawn until the neck cracked. 
Excavations of an old burial in such a log ground cache near Great Bear 
lake showed the body in a tightly flexed position lying on the left side. 
A-t the head was an old tea pail and the remains of a birch-bark -basket 
with the remnants of what probably was food. The weapons and tools 
in daily use were distributed at the side of the body. Wentzel (1890, I, 
page 87) also describes for the Beaver (Slave) what seems to be a ground 
cache, or perhaps something verging more toward the true burial house. 
The oldest mortuary custom remembered and described by Satudene 
informants was burial in pits, in an upright sitting position, the body flexed 
as has been described. In winter, the pits were said to have been excavated 
in the thawed ground under the fireplace of the tipi, the dwelling and the 
location then being abandoned. 
To summarize the aboriginal methods of disposal of the dead among 
the Satudene, it can be said that: (1) abandonment necessarily has been 
practised always under certain conditions; (2) scaffold burial is well 
authenticated; (3) interment in a reclining flexed position in ground 
caches during the nineteenth century is proved by excavation; and (4) pit 
burial in an upright flexed position is almost equally certain from the 
statements of informants. 
In recent times, the European method of burial in the ground has 
been substituted for all the older forms except perhaps occasional abandon- 
ment, and the destruction or interment of personal property has decreased, 
due to the influence of Christian missionaries; but there is still a distinct 
element of fear in associating with the objects of the dead. The feet and 
face of the dead are washed and the body dressed in the best clothes avail- 
able, clothes for this purpose often being supplied as a last gratuity by the 
traders. 
It is difficult to get a gravedigger. Formerly the person performing 
that office was subject to certain restrictions for three or four days follow- 
ing the burial. These purification taboos, formerly in vogue, consisted 
chiefly of carrying a walking stick and going to the various tents each 
morning and building the family fire. 
There is no knowledge of cremation among the Satudene. 
