. British North America: I. The far West, the home of the Salish and Déné . Indians sayafter dusk) before the burial, else the ghost wouldharm them. Formerly the corpse was never washed,no medicine was put on it, and the face was notpainted, except in the case of warriors. If the deceased had many slaves, some of themwere either killed at the grave and their bodies thrownin, or they were forced into the bottom of the graveand buried alive. After a sufficient quantity of earthhad been covered over them, their master was put inand buried on top of them. If a woman died, the baskets in which she
. British North America: I. The far West, the home of the Salish and Déné . Indians sayafter dusk) before the burial, else the ghost wouldharm them. Formerly the corpse was never washed,no medicine was put on it, and the face was notpainted, except in the case of warriors. If the deceased had many slaves, some of themwere either killed at the grave and their bodies thrownin, or they were forced into the bottom of the graveand buried alive. After a sufficient quantity of earthhad been covered over them, their master was put inand buried on top of them. If a woman died, the baskets in which she hadcarried roots, berries, etc., were hung up near her grave,or in some part of the mountain which she had fre-quented. A hole was always made in the bottom, orthe basket otherwise damaged, before being hung up. After burial, the deceased was addressed by anelderly person, and asked to take pity on the widowor widower and not to trouble her or him. Some foodwas often thrown on the ground near the grave to beused by the deceased while visiting his grave, and that Plate 29. A Coast Salish Morti-ary Column, showing the Deceaseds Totem To face page 205 SOCIAL CUSTOMS 205 he might not visit the house in search of food, thereby-causing sickness to the people. On the burial of a child, its clothes and cradle werehung up near the grave, or, if no tree or bushes wereat hand, they were buried in the vicinity of the , when a mother died leaving an infantchild, the latter was wrapped up in a robe and buriedalive along ^.ie mother, in its birch-bark or othercradle. This was done because, they say, the childwould die in any event, and it was hard to find anyother woman to suckle it. A small heap of boulders was often placed on topof the grave to mark its site. Over most graves wereerected conical huts made of poles covered with barkor with fir-branches. On some graves were wooden figures, almost life sizeor larger than life size, carved as nearly as possible inthe like
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