308 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. XIX.—B. P. 
a lodge is built oyer the grave, which is watched with 
the greatest care, but the memory of the departed is 
not cherished; on the contrary, any mention of him is 
considered the greatest offence. The wife or wives 
(polygamy is allowed, although not common) cut off 
their long hair, from a feeling that no one ought to 
touch what their lord and master delighted to fondle. 
Births are now of very rare occurrence, the sure 
precursor of the speedy extinction of the race ; still 
the custom practised from time immemorial, that of 
excluding the woman from the village during the time 
of her confinement, is rigorously adhered to. A 
small hut is built for her in the lonely forest, all her 
food is brought there by friends of her own sex, who 
take it in turns to sleep in the hut with her; but if 
there are tigers abroad, and some of those in Mosquito 
are quite as formidable as the East Indian type, then 
it is allowable for the husband or nearest relative to 
keep watch with his gun or bow and arrows. The 
custom is very prevalent of flattening the heads of the 
children, but owing to the heavy masses of tangled hair 
allowed to grow wild over the head of these In¬ 
dians, this disfiguration is not so easily perceptible as 
it is with the flatheads of Vancouver and British 
Columbia. I could never learn from any native the 
rationale of this custom* they apparently continue the 
practice because their forefathers did the same. 
The aborigines are a strange admixture of inconsis¬ 
tencies ; they are intelligent and high-spirited, but 
often frivolous to an extraordinary degree. They are 
remarkably hospitable and kind; but at the same time 
