Note 113 — Chapter XI

When an Indian dies, all of his property which has not been given away, is either buried with him, or, in extreme cases, burned, not for the purpose of accompanying him to the Spirit Land, but, so the people have told me, to prevent any temptation to indulge in the bad luck of mentioning his name. The only things that are exempted from this practice are the dead man's best canoes, his house-planks, and fishing and hunting implements, which, with any slaves he may possess, go to his eldest son. I have known the deceased's house and all its contents to be burned; but when this is not the case, then the materials are removed elsewhere, and another building is erected. Around his grave—a box raised from the ground on pillars, often quaintly carved, or a canoe, or a box fixed up a tree—are placed various articles belonging to him (or her). At one time they buried his money with him. But for obvious reasons this custom has fallen into abeyance.