ons were scattered
about in all directions; and as I was on most of their positions
unnoticed by the natives, I suspect the feeling does not extend much
beyond their relatives, and then only till decay has destroyed body,
goods, and chattels. The chiefs, no doubt, are watched, as their
canoes are repainted, decorated, and greater care taken by placing
them in sequestered spots."

The motive for sacrificing or destroying property on occasion of
death will be referred to in treating of their religious ideas.
Wailing for the dead is continued for a long time, and it seems to
be rather a ceremonial performance than an act of spontaneous grief.
The duty, of course, belongs to the woman, and the early morning is
usually chosen for the purpose. They go out alone to some place a
little distant from the lodge or camp and in a loud, sobbing voice
repeat a sort of stereotyped formula; as, for instance, a mother, on
the loss of her child, "_A seahb shed-da bud-dah ah ta bud!
ad-de-dah_," "Ah chief!" "My child dead, alas!" When in dreams they
see any of their deceased friends this lamentation is renewed.

With most of the Northwest Indians it was quite common, as mentioned by
Mr. Gibbs, to kill or bury with the dead a living slave, who, failing to
die within three days, was strangled by another slave; but the custom
has also prevailed among other tribes and peoples, in many cases the
individuals offering themselves as voluntary sacrifices. Bancroft states
that--

In Panama, Nata, and some other districts, when a cacique died,
those of his concubines that loved him enough, those that he loved
ardently and so appointed, as well as certain servants, killed
themselves and were interred with him. This they did in order that
they might wait upon him in the land of spirits.

It is well known to all readers of history to what an extreme this
revolting practice has prevailed in Mexico, South America, and Africa.

AQUATIC BURIAL.

As a confirmed rite or ceremony, this mode of disposing of the dead has
never been followed by any of our North American Indians, although
occasionally the dead have been disposed of by sinking in springs or
water-courses, by throwing into the sea, or by setting afloat in canoes.
Among the nations of antiquity the practice was not uncommon, for we are
informed that the Ichthyophagi, or fish-eaters, mentioned by Ptolemy,
living in a region bordering on the Pe