| OCR Text |
Show IDE AD ON THE FROZEN HILLS. Eaklmo Cuatom, Centuries Old, Comas Prom Imposalblllty of Digging Dig-ging Oraves. I'nrt Hope, Alaska The Interment In the Kplaropal burying ground here, under the dlrei'Hmi of lllahnp P T. Howe, of the akulla and bones of an eatlmated number nf l.snn Kakhnos, picked up on the surfuce of the ground! where they had lain for years, and perhaps centuries, bss arouaed un-uaual un-uaual Intereat. All along the ahorea or tha Arctic thla apparently hearileaa cuatom of leaving the dead a prey to wolvea and half wolf doga has prevailed from Urns Immemorial. There la nothing that more lm-presses lm-presses the Arctic traveler than theaa ever preaent akulla aa they atare out from their dark mnaa beds on the froien hills of the nonhland. Home of them have kept their lung vigils through centuries and crumble at the touch like chalk Other, are startling-ly startling-ly freah from the framewurk ut the living. The cuatom of leaving the dead on the Arctic hilltops to be lha food uf aavage beaala la natural and unavoidable. unavoid-able. The digging of a grave In the far north, even In aummur, with the toola poaaeaaed uy the Kuklmos sa net to Impuaalble. for even In July tba ground Immediately beneath the muaa that covers the surfsca ovary-where ovary-where Is froien aa hard aa granite. Even where no underground Ice Is found the Kaklmoe would conalder the making of a grave a cruel proceeding for the thought of having to lie In Icy water la unbearable to an Knkliio. So tha dead are left on the dry hilltops. Although the dead are left on their moaey beda underneath the tinpro-tectlng tinpro-tectlng stare, It must not be thought that Ibera Is no sorrow when death vlalla an Keklmo village. There are no mora affectionate people In the world, but their grief. Ilka that of children, chil-dren, la acute and la soon over with. Men, women and children sob when the eye of the sick one no longer responds re-sponds to tha peculiar death test, and In tha old days their scrrow waa doubly Intense when, at the requeit of the patient, the end waa haatened by a friendly knife thrust, and the help-leaa help-leaa sufferer waa put out of pain forever. for-ever. For half ao hour the weeping may continue. |
