ESKIMO'S DEATH AND BURIAL.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 12767, 13 April 1910, Page 1

ESKIMO'S DEATH AND BURIAL.

The burial, reoently reported in American papers, of the remains of twelve hundred dead Eskimos in the Episcopal burying-ground at Point Barrow, Alaska, under the direction of Bishop P. T. Rowe, may, it is thought, bring about a change in burial customs in the extreme North of America. The methods of the Eskimos ' arc of the crudest, the dead bodies being simply taken to a hill-top and laid there, with no other covering than a walrusskin shroud, to be devoured by wolves and wild dogs, or to rot amid the rigours of the Arctic weather. Although the dead are disposed -of in this crude way it must not be thought, however, that there is no sorrow when death visits an Eskimo village. There are no more affectionate people in the world, this is the testimony of everyone familiar with thair ways; but they typify the childhood of the race. Their grief, like that of children, is acute, and is soon over. Mourning, as understood by the European, continues for half an hour, after which time the scene changes. The igloo, or hut. is crowded with neighbours. Only the little corner in which the corpse lies is vacant. Outside there are people with dog sleds to which are harnessed the finest dogs in the village. Soon the corpse is carried out, and if a man it is placed upon the sled which was, and, according to Eskimo ethics, still is ? his own. A small boy runs ahead with the cry "Hak! Hak!" and the funeral procession is instantly under way. A dozen dog sleds, with their ivory runners creaking in the cold are flying over the snow. On they go, some behind, some ahead, some abreast of the improvised hearse. There is no system, no precedence, no ceremony. It is too cold for ceremony, so on they fly the sleds bumping and bounding over the uneven surface of the snow. At the top of some ridge (says the "Victoria Daily Colonist,") maybe a mile from the village, the cortege halts. The dead man is lifted from the sled and laid upon the snow. His weapons, his sled, and all the personal property that the communistic society in which he lived allowed him to possess are left there- beside him. Than and there all mourning ceases. . A dog race follows, all the teams of the village taking part, and almost as soon . as the body.touches the ground they ! are off. Across the tundra they fly, . ! dogs, detached pups, men, women, . children; and chief mourners, all rac- ' ing and shouting frantically. The oc- ! casion is marked by confusion and wild . hilarity. j