The noise which these medicine men make at their incantations is almost indescribable. Mr. Sproat describes their howling as being perfectly demoniacal, and says that no wild beast could utter sounds so calculated to strike sudden horror into the heart. Even himself, though a white man, and in perfect security, has often shuddered at the savage yells of the mystery men. Indeed, their object is to keep up the dread in which they are held, and, in order to do this, they must ever be doing something to keep themselves before the eyes of the people.
Sometimes they will assemble together on the outskirts of the village, set up a furious howling, and then rush like a pack of wolves through the village, the cannibals and dog-eaters tearing to pieces with their teeth any corpses or dogs that they may find. Sometimes a single man will leave the place and bury himself in the woods, whence he will suddenly rush, quite naked, reduced to a skeleton through his long fast, with his body and limbs covered with wounds inflicted by himself in his mad violence, and with foam flying from his lips, while he utters wild yells and beats furiously his drum or shakes his magic rattle. As is the case in Africa, women as well as men can enter this sacred order, and exercise quite as powerful an influence over the people as do their male colleagues.
Sometimes a man will leap up in the night terrified, and crying that he sees a spirit. All within the house are at once in motion. The women begin to sing, while the visionary tears his blanket to pieces, snatches feathers from his pillow, eating some of them, and scattering the others over his head. His nearest relation then makes incisions in his legs and arms, receives the blood in a dish, and scatters it over the place where the spirit is supposed to be standing. Should the spirit withstand this exorcism, it is evident that he wants property. Accordingly the friends of the visionary throw his property on the fire; his clothes, his mats, and even the very boxes in which they were kept, go to make up the demands of the spirit, which will not take its leave until all the property has been destroyed.
The mode of disposal of the dead varies extremely among the different tribes, and even in the same tribe is not always uniform. The bodies of slaves and people of no consequence are simply taken to the burial-ground—which is usually a small island—wrapped in mats, and merely laid on the ground, covered with sticks and stones. The bodies of chiefs and young girls of rank are placed in boxes, and hoisted into the branches of trees, where they are allowed to remain. The rank of the person is indicated by the height to which the body is raised, that of a great chief or of his daughter being nearly at the top of the tree, while that of an inferior chief will be on one of the lowest branches.
Over the coffin are thrown blankets and mats, and similar articles are hung on the boughs of neighboring trees. They are always torn into strips, partly perhaps as a sign of mourning, and partly to guard them from being stolen. With the dead man is deposited all the property which he has not given away before his death, except his best canoe, his share of the roof and wall boards, his weapons, and his slaves, all of which belong by right to his eldest son. In some cases even his house is burned, and in others the posts are dug up, and the whole house transported to another position.
Near the bodies of chiefs are placed large wooden images intended to represent the dead man. One of them, seen by Mr. Sproat, held a skull in its hand, which it was grimly contemplating; another, which represented a deceased orator, had its hand outstretched as in the act of speaking; and a third was shown as if grasping a wolf. The relatives often visit their burial-places. They come about dark, light a great fire, and feed it with oil and other inflammable materials, while they wail loudly at intervals.
To the honor of these tribes, it may be said that they never disturb the relics of the departed, even if they occupy the burial-ground of a hostile tribe. In consequence of the mode of burial, nothing can have a more dreary or forlorn look than an island which has been selected as a burial-ground. On the branches of the trees are the mouldering bodies of the dead, and on their boughs flutter the tattered remains of their clothing. And on the ground the scene is no better, for it is occupied with decaying boards, broken boxes, shattered canoes, rotten paddles, and other emblems of decay.
When the dead chief has been a man of very great importance, his emblem or crest is either painted or carved. In the former case it is painted on the coffin, but in the latter it is generally placed on a post or a tree near the body. According to Mr. Duncan, if the crest should happen to be an eagle or a raven, it is carved as if in the act of flying, and fixed to the edge of the coffin with its wings spread, as if it were typical of the escaping and aspiring spirit of the dead chief.
CHAPTER CXLV.
ALASKA.
MALEMUTES—INGELETES—CO-YUKONS.
LARGE STATURE — THE TO-TOOK — ORNAMENTS — BAIDARRES — UNDERGROUND HOUSES — MALEMUTE DANCE — CHIEF ALEUYANUK — INGELETES — HOUSES — HONESTY — CO-YUKONS — DRESS — MOURNING FOR THE DEAD — WAKE — DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD — APPEARANCE OF THE WOMEN — AFFECTION FOR CHILDREN — COMMUNITY OF GOODS — CHARACTER.