When a person dies the body is prepared by binding it with cords, the
knees being drawn up and the heels placed against the body. The arms are
tied down, and a covering of deerskin or sealskin is wrapped around the
body and fastened. The nearest relatives on approach of death remove the
invalid to the outside of the house, for if he should die within he must
not be carried out of the door but through a hole cut in the side wall,
and it must then be carefully closed to prevent the spirit of the person
from returning. The body is exposed in the open air along the side of a
large rock, or taken to the shore or hilltop, where stones of different
sizes are piled around it to prevent the birds and animals from getting
at it. (See Fig. 21.) It is considered a great offense if a dog be seen
eating the flesh from a body. In case of a beloved child dying it is
sometimes taken with the people to whom it belonged if they start for
another locality before decomposition has progressed too far.
[Illustration: FIG. 21. Eskimo grave.]
The dying person resigns himself to fate with great calmness. During
illness, even though it be of most painful character, complaint is
seldom heard; and so great is fortitude that the severest paroxysms of
pain rarely produce even a movement of the muscles of the countenance.
The friends often exhibit an excessive amount of grief, but only in
exceptional instances is much weeping indulged in. The loss of a husband
often entails great hardships on the wife and small children, who eke
out a scanty living by the aid of others who are scarcely able to
maintain themselves.
These people have an idea of a future state and believe that death is
merely the separation of the soul and the material body. The spirits of
the soul go either up to the sky, "keluk," when they are called
Kelugmyut, or down into the earth, "Nuna," and are called "Nunamyut."
These two classes of spirits can hold communication with each other.
The place to which the soul goes depends on the conduct of the person on
earth and especially on the manner of his death. Those who have died by
violence or starvation and women who die in childbirth are supposed to
go to the region above, where, though not absolutely in want, they still
lack many of the luxuries enjoyed by the Nunamyut. All desire to go to
the lower region and afterwards enjoy the pleasure of communicating with
the living, which privilege is denied to those who go above.
If death result from natural causes the spirit is supposed to dwell on
the earth after having undergone a probation of four years rest in the
grave. During this time the grave may be visited and food offered and
songs sung, and the offering, consisting of oil and flesh, with tobacco
for smoking and chewing, is consumed by the living at the grave.
Articles of clothing may also be deposited near the grave for the spirit
to clothe itself after the garments have disappeared in the process of
decay. It is customary to place such articles as may be deemed of
immediate use for the departed soul in the grave at the time the body is
interred. Ammunition, gun, kaiak and its appurtenances, with a shirt,
gloves, knife, and a cup from which to drink are usually so deposited.
The spirit of the dead man appropriates the spirits of these articles as
soon as they decay. It is often said when an article becomes lost that
so-and-so (mentioning his name), has taken it.
Some of the people prefer to expose their dead on the flat top of a high
point extending into the water. The remains of others are placed along
the shore and covered with rocks, while still others are taken to the
smooth ridges on which may nearly always be found a huge bowlder carried
by glacial action and deposited there. Here generally on the south side
the body is placed on the bare rocky ridge and stones are piled around
and upon it.
While these people have but little fear of the dead man's bones they do
not approve of their being disturbed by others. The Indians, however,
are known to rifle the graves of Eskimo to obtain the guns, clothing,
etc., which the relatives of the deceased have placed there.
There are no such elaborate ceremonies pertaining to the festivals of
the dead among the people of Hudson strait as obtain among the Eskimo of
Alaska.