UNSEEN hands have been tending the 117- year-old grave of a native North American who was buried on Teesside.

Instead of flowers, birds' feathers are regularly placed round the last resting place of the Mohican.

The tribute is creating a talking point for visitors to Linthorpe Cemetery, in Middlesbrough, where Skarunyete lies buried, thousands of miles from his Canadian home.

He was brought to Britain by travelling salesman William Hannaway Rowe in 1885, but died of pneumonia in Middesbrough.

His death triggered the biggest funeral the town had ever seen.

Researchers looking for material for a play about him were surprised to discover that he has not been forgotten and that his grave is still tended.

Matt Hutchinson, education officer with Cleveland Arts : "When we took a group of children there, someone had placed feathers on the grave.

"They thought we had put them there. We hadn't, but someone is paying homage.''

Local historian Jenny Braddy, who has led guided walks around the historic burial ground for ten years, said she herself had been inspired to put feathers there.

She said: "I will do it myself if there are any feathers lying around.

"The grave was vandalised quite a few years ago and was not marked for some time, so people used to put feathers on the grave and still continue to do so."

She said that the cemetery's only native North American had always caught the public's imagination.

"I think there was always a feeling he was a stranger in a strange land and that struck a chord for people in Middlesbrough, particularly in the 19th Century," she said.

There are plans to have the cemetery designated a nature reserve because of its rich wildlife.

As a result, there are always the feathers of pigeons, crows and gulls lying on the ground for people tending the grave to use.