rticles, in some instances
the property, in others the representations of the property and utensils,
and of the achievements, of the deceased. There were two small wooden
images of a man and woman, no doubt meant to represent husband and wife and
a small doll which we supposed to represent a child (for _Mary March_ had
to leave her only child here, which died two days after she was taken);
several small models of their canoes; two small models of boats; an iron
axe; a bow and quiver of arrows were placed by the side of _Mary March's_
husband; and two fire-stones (radiated iron pyrites, from which they
produce fire, by striking them together) lay at his head; there were also
various kinds of culinary utensils, neatly made, of birch rind and
ornamented; and many other things, of some of which we did not know the use
or meaning."

"Another mode of sepulture which we saw here was, where the body of the
deceased had been wrapped in birch rind, and with his property, placed on a
sort of scaffold about four feet and a half from the ground. The scaffold
was formed of four posts, about seven feet high, fixed perpendicularly in
the ground, to sustain a kind of crib, five feet and a half in length, by
four in breadth, with a floor made of small squared beams, laid close
together horizontally, and on which the body and property rested."

"A third mode was, when the body, bent together, and wrapped in birch rind,
was enclosed in a kind of box, on the ground. The box was made of small
squared posts, laid on each other horizontally, and notched at the corners,
to make them meet close; it was about four feet by three, and two and a
half feet deep, and well lined with birch rind, to exclude the weather from
the inside. The body lay on its right side."

"A fourth and the most common mode of burying among these people, has been,
to wrap the body in birch rind, and cover it over with a heap of stones, on
the surface of the earth, in some retired spot; sometimes the body, thus
wrapped up, is put a foot or two under the surface, and the spot covered
with stones; in one place, where the ground was sandy and soft, they
appeared to have been buried deeper, and no stones placed over the graves."

"These people appear to have always shewn great respect for their dead; and
the most remarkable remains of them commonly observed by Europeans at the
sea-coast, are their burying-places. These are at particular chosen spots;
and it is well known that