When that woman died they did not take her through the door, but made an opening in the wall on the left hand side of the door as one stands on the inside of the house facing the door. From this time on they have never taken a dead body through the door, but always make an opening in the side of the house on the left hand side, through which they take the body. The Indians teach their children never to stop or stand in the door-way, in going or coming in. One will never see any one, old or young, stop, stand or sit in the door of an Indian house. Since the death of this woman they always burn the basket material of the deceased, or any unfinished work that belongs to the one that has just died.
There is a coarse grass, a sort of saw grass, that grows on the ridges and under the tan-oaks and fir timber which they use in nearly all their baskets, and this grass we call ham-mo. When one dies and the body is taken out of the house, they place some of this woven grass over the door on the inside, in a manner that one would not notice it, unless it was shown to them. The family will wear strands around their necks, and this is done to prevent them from seeing or meeting the spirit which hovers around and near the body for five days before departing for the unknown realms beyond.
The custom of cutting the hair on the death of a near kindred extends back to the time when they were in the old land, Cheek-cheek-alth.
CHAPTER IX.
THE INDIAN DEVIL.
THE Klamath Indians in bringing down their legends from the creation of man until the present day, say that some were made to be good and honorable, some bad and some were real bad and mean, which they termed devils, or Oh-mah-ha. We have the conception of the invisible Satan, (Sey-elth, or wicked old woman) and a real living devil such as walks the earth, and we fear them as they will harm us if they get the opportunity. We have had these living Indian devils (living human beings) all through the long and weary centuries, ever since the creation of man-kind, such devils as we find in every race and nation of the earth. Our Indian devils are Indians who for some reason or cause leave the tribe and go far away into the lonely mountains, and into the depths of the forests, where they live near the streams and places almost inaccessible. In their loneliness they roam through the forests and over the mountains like some wild animals of prey. They forget the language of their mothers and become something like wild beasts, fleeing from the sight of human beings.
In olden times, the women, especially were always careful to keep together on their camping trips when they were gathering the acorn crop, grass seeds, pine nuts, etc., for fear of these Indian devils. These Indian devils would sometimes watch the camps of the Indians very closely and follow them about as they moved from place to place, watching for an opportunity to seize one of the young women and carry her off to make her his wife. If a young woman strayed away too far by herself, she was often made a captive by one of these devils. The women of the tribe had great fear of them as they had great horrors of becoming the wife of a wild man.
Sometimes the women would be captivated by the Indian devils and would be gone away from their tribe for years, when they would return and tell of their wild life and experiences. They would become the mother of children and the children would inherit the wild habits of their father, as they would always be whistling, making strange noises, romping wildly about and always on the go, roaming everywhere in the wilds. These women were never happy when they came back to their people, as after a time they would long to go back to their devil husbands and children. They always managed to get away and return to the old wild life, as it held such a fascination for them, when they once experienced the wilds that they could not resist the calling of such a life.