eliefs of the Modocs:

* * * It has always been one of the most passionate desires among
the Modok, as well as their neighbors, the Shastika, to live, die,
and be buried where they were born. Some of their usages in regard
to the dead and their burial may be gathered from an incident that
occurred while the captives of 1873 were on their way from the Lava
Beds to Fort Klamath, as it was described by an eye-witness.
Curly-headed Jack, a prominent warrior, committed suicide with a
pistol. His mother and female friends gathered about him and set up
a dismal wailing; they besmeared themselves with his blood and
endeavored by other Indian customs to restore his life. The mother
took his head in her lap and scooped the blood from his ear, another
old woman placed her hand upon his heart, and a third blew in his
face. The sight of the group--these poor old women, whose grief was
unfeigned, and the dying man--was terrible in its sadness. Outside
the tent stood Bogus-Charley, Huka Jim, Shucknasty Jim, Steamboat
Frank, Curly-headed Doctor, and others who had been the dying man's
companions from childhood, all affected to tears. When he was
lowered into the grave, before the soldiers began to cover the body,
Huka Jim was seen running eagerly about the camp trying to exchange
a two-dollar bill of currency for silver. He owed the dead warrior
that amount of money, and he had grave doubts whether the currency
would be of any use to him in the other world--sad commentary on our
national currency!--and desired to have the coin instead. Procuring
it from one of the soldiers he cast it in and seemed greatly
relieved. All the dead man's other effects, consisting of clothing,
trinkets, and a half dollar, were interred with him, together with
some root-flour as victual for the journey to the spirit land.

The superstitious fear Indians have of the dead or spirit of the dead
may be observed from the following narrative by Swan.[106] It regards
the natives of Washington Territory:

My opinion about the cause of these deserted villages is this: It is
the universal custom with these Indians never to live in a lodge
where a person has died. If a person of importance dies, the lodge
is usually burned down, or taken down and removed to some other part
of the bay; and it can be readily seen that in the case of the Palux
Indians, who had been attacked by the Chehalis people, as befo