s of which the shell heaps bear
no testimony * * * do not come within my line.

Figure 5, copied from Dall, represents the Alaskan mummies.

Martin Sauer, secretary to Billings' Expedition,[36] speaks of the
Aleutian Islanders embalming their dead, as follows:

They pay respect, however, to the memory of the dead, for they
embalm the bodies of the men with dried moss and grass; bury them in
their best attire, in a sitting posture, in a strong box, with their
darts and instruments; and decorate the tomb with various coloured
mats, embroidery, and paintings. With women, indeed, they use less
ceremony. A mother will keep a dead child thus embalmed in their hut
for some months, constantly wiping it dry; and they bury it when it
begins to smell, or when they get reconciled to parting with it.

Regarding these same people, a writer in the San Francisco Bulletin
gives this account:

The schooner William Sutton, belonging to the Alaska Commercial
Company, has arrived from the seal islands of the company with the
mummified remains of Indians who lived on an island north of
Ounalaska one hundred and fifty years ago. This contribution to
science was secured by Captain Henning, an agent of the company who
has long resided at Ounalaska. In his transactions with the Indians
he learned that tradition among the Aleuts assigned Kagamale, the
island in question, as the last resting-place of a great chief,
known as Karkhayahouchak. Last year the captain was in the
neighborhood of Kagamale in quest of sea-otter and other furs, and
he bore up for the island, with the intention of testing the truth
of the tradition he had heard. He had more difficulty in entering
the cave than in finding it, his schooner having to beat on and off
shore for three days. Finally he succeeded in affecting a landing,
and clambering up the rocks he found himself in the presence of the
dead chief, his family and relatives.

The cave smelt strongly of hot sulphurous vapors. With great care
the mummies were removed, and all the little trinkets and ornaments
scattered around were also taken away.

In all there are eleven packages of bodies. Only two or three have
as yet been opened. The body of the chief is inclosed in a large
basket-like structure, about four feet in height. Outside the
wrappings are finely wrought sea-grass matting, exquisitely close in
texture, and skins. At the bottom is a b