ans of Bellingham Bay, according to Dr. J. F. Hammond, U.S.A., place
their dead in carved wooden sarcophagi, inclosing these with a
rectangular tent of some white material. Some of the tribes of the
northwest coast bury in houses similar to those shown in Figure 12.

[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Burial Houses.]

[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Eskimo lodge burial.]

Bancroft[61] states that certain of the Indians of Costa Rica, when a
death occurred, deposited the body in a small hut constructed of plaited
palm reeds. In this it is preserved for three years, food being
supplied, and on each anniversary of the death it is redressed and
attended to amid certain ceremonies. The writer has been recently
informed that a similar custom prevailed in Demerara. No authentic
accounts are known of analogous modes of burial among the peoples of the
Old World, although quite frequently the dead were interred beneath the
floors of their houses, a custom which has been followed by the Mosquito
Indians of Central America and one or two of our own tribes.

_BOX-BURIAL._

Under this head may be placed those examples furnished by certain tribes
on the northwest coast who used as receptacles for the dead wonderfully
carved, large wooden chests, these being supported upon a low platform
or resting on the ground. In shape they resemble a small house with an
angular roof, and each one has an opening through which food may be
passed to the corpse.

Some of the tribes formerly living in New York used boxes much
resembling those spoken of, and the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees did
the same.

Capt. J. H. Gageby, United States Army, furnishes the following relating
to the Creeks in Indian Territory.

* * * are buried on the surface, in a box or a substitute made of
branches of trees, covered with small branches, leaves, and earth.
I have seen several of their graves, which after a few weeks had
become uncovered and the remains exposed to view. I saw in one Creek
grave (a child's) a small sum of silver, in another (adult male)
some implements of warfare, bow and arrows. They are all interred
with the feet of the corpse to the east. In the mourning ceremonies
of the Creeks the nearer relatives smeared their hair and faces with
a composition made of grease and wood ashes, and would remain in
that condition for several days, and probably a month.

Josiah Priest[62] gives an account of the burial repositories of a tribe