), they begin to mourn, more especially the
women, as soon as a person dies. Their mourning song consists
principally of the sounds represented by the three English notes mi
mi, do do, la la; those who attend the funeral are expected to bring
some articles to place in the coffin or about the grave as a token
of respect for the dead. The articles which I have seen for this
purpose have been cloth of some kind; a small piece of cloth is
returned by the mourners to the attendants as a token of
remembrance. They bury much sooner after death than white persons
do, generally as soon as they can obtain a coffin. I know of no
other native funeral ceremonies. Occasionally before being taken to
the grave, I have held Christian funeral ceremonies over them, and
these services increase from year to year. One reason which has
rendered them somewhat backward about having these funeral services
is, that they are quite superstitions about going near the dead,
fearing that the evil spirit which killed the deceased will enter
the living and kill them also. Especially are they afraid of having
children go near, being much more fearful of the effect of the evil
spirit on them than on older persons.

MOURNING OBSERVANCES.

They have no regular period, so far as I know, for mourning, but
often continue it after the burial, though I do not know that they
often visit the grave. If they feel the loss very much, sometimes
they will mourn nearly every day for several weeks; especially is
this true when they meet an old friend who has not been seen since
the funeral, or when they see an article owned by the deceased which
they have not seen for a long time. The only other thing of which I
think, which bears on this subject, is an idea they have, that
before a person dies--it may be but a short time or it may be
several months--a spirit from the spirit land comes and carries off
the spirit of the individual to that place. There are those who
profess to discover when this is done, and if by any of their
incantations they can compel that spirit to return, the person will
not die, but if they are not able, then the person will become dead
at heart and in time die, though it may not be for six months or
even twelve. You will also find a little on this subject in a
pamphlet which I wrote on the Twana Indians and which has recently
been published by the Department of the Interior,