quiet; and was given to understand, that the corpse was removed; nor could I learn in what manner it was disposed of. I was interrupted in making farther enquiries for this purpose, by the approach of three women of rank, who, whilst their attendants stood near them with their fly-flaps, sat down by us, and, entering into conversation, soon made me comprehend that our presence was a hindrance to the performance of some necessary rites. I had hardly got out of sight, before I heard their cries and lamentations; and meeting them a few hours afterward, I found they had painted the lower part of their faces perfectly black. The other opportunity I had of observing these ceremonies, was in the case of an ordinary person; when, on hearing some mournful female cries issue from a miserable-looking hut, I ventured into it, and found an old woman with her daughter, weeping over the body of an elderly man, who had but just expired, being still warm. The first step they took was to cover the body with cloth, after which, lying down by it, they drew the cloth over themselves, and then began a mournful kind of song, frequently repeating, _Aweh medooah! Aweh tanee!_ Oh my father! Oh my husband! A younger daughter was also at the same time lying prostrate, in a corner of the house, covered over with black cloth, repeating the same words. On leaving this melancholy scene, I found at the door a number of their neighbours collected together, and listening to their cries with profound silence. I was resolved not to miss this opportunity of seeing in what manner they dispose of the body; and, therefore, after satisfying myself before I went to bed that it was not then removed, I gave orders that the sentries should walk backward and forward before the house, and, in case they suspected any measures were taking for the removal of the body, to give me immediate notice. However, the sentries had not kept a good look-out, for in the morning I found the body was gone. On enquiring what they had done with it, they pointed toward the sea; indicating most probably thereby, that it had been committed to the deep, or perhaps that it had been carried beyond the bay, to some burying-ground in another part of the country. The chiefs are interred in the _morais_, or _He-ree-erees_, with the men sacrificed on the occasion, by the side of them; and we observed that the _morai_, where the chief had been buried, who, as I have already mentioned, was killed in the cave after so stout a resistance, was hung round with red cloth. CHAPTER VI. TRANSACTIONS DURING THE SECOND EXPEDITION TO THE NORTH, BY THE WAY OF KAMTSCHATKA; AND ON THE RETURN HOME BY THE WAY OF CANTON AND THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. SECTION I.