Chapter V: Part 5

It is stated that the corpse is kept nine days after death--certainly a long period of time, when it is remembered that Indians as a rule endeavor to dispose of their dead as soon as possible. This may be accounted for on the supposition that it is to give the friends and relatives an opportunity of assembling, verifying the death, and of making proper preparations for the ceremony. With regard to the verification of the dead person, William Sheldon[51] gives an account of a similar custom which was common among the Caraibs of Jamaica, and which seems to throw some light upon the unusual retention of deceased persons by the tribe in question, although it most be admitted that this is mere hypothesis:

They had some very extraordinary customs respecting deceased
persons. When one of them died, it was necessary that all his
relations should see him and examine the body in order to ascertain
that he died a natural death. They acted so rigidly on this
principle, that if one relative remained who had not seen the body
all the others could not convince that one that the death was
natural. In such a case the absent relative considered himself as
bound in honor to consider all the other relatives as having been
accessories to the death of the kinsman, and did not rest until he
had killed one of them to revenge the death of the deceased. If a
Caraib died in Martinico or Guadaloupe and but his relations lived
in St. Vincents, it was necessary to summon them to see the body,
and several months sometimes elapsed before it could be finally
interred. When a Caraib died he was immediately painted all over
with _roucou_, and had his mustachios and the black streaks in his
face made with a black paint, which was different from that used in
their lifetime. A kind of grave was then dug in the _carbet_ where
he died, about 4 feet square and 6 or 7 feet deep. The body was let
down in it, when sand was thrown in, which reached to the knees, and
the body was placed in it in a sitting posture, resembling that in
which they crouched round the fire or the table when alive, with the
elbows on the knees and the palms of the hands against the cheeks.
No part of the body touched the outside of the grave, which was
covered with wood and mats until all the relations had examined it.
When the customary examinations and inspections were ended the hole
was filled, and the bodies afterwards remained undisturbed. The hair
of the deceased was kept tied behind. In this way bodies have
remained several months without any symptoms of decay or producing
any disagreeable smell. The _roucou_ not only preserved them from
the sun, air, and insects during their lifetime, but probably had
the same effect after death. The arms of the Caraibs were placed by
them when they were covered over for inspection, and they were
finally buried with them.

Again, we are told that during the burning the bystanders are very merry. This hilarity is similar to that shown by the Japanese at a funeral, who rejoice that the troubles and worries of the world are over for the fortunate dead. The plundering of strangers present, it may be remembered, also took place among the Indians of the Carolinas. As already mentioned on a preceding page, the cruel manner in which the widow is treated seems to be a modification of the Hindoo suttee, but, if the account be true, it would appear that death might be preferable to such torments.

It is interesting to note that in Corsica, as late as 1743, if a husband died, women threw themselves upon the widow and beat her severely. Brohier quaintly remarks that this custom obliged women to take good care of their husbands.

George Gibbs, in Schoolcraft,[52] states that among the Indians of Clear Lake, California, “the body is consumed upon a scaffold built over a hole, into which the ashes are thrown and covered.”

According to Stephen Powers,[53] cremation was common among the Se-nél of California. He thus relates it.

The dead are mostly burned. Mr. Willard described to me a scene of
incremation that he once witnessed, which was frightful for its
exhibitions of fanatic frenzy and infatuation. The corpse was that
of a wealthy chieftain, and as he lay upon the funeral pyre they
placed in his month two gold twenties, and other smaller coins in
his ears and hands, on his breast, &c. besides all his finery, his
feather mantles, plumes, clothing, shell money, his fancy bows,
painted arrows, &c. When the torch was applied they set up a
mournful ululation, chanting and dancing about him, gradually
working themselves into a wild and ecstatic raving, which seemed
almost a demoniacal possession, leaping, howling, lacerating their
flesh. Many seemed to lose all self-control. The younger
English-speaking Indians generally lend themselves charily to such
superstitious work, especially if American spectators are present,
but even they were carried away by the old contagious frenzy of
their race. One stripped off a broadcloth coat, quite new and fine,
and ran frantically yelling and cast it upon the blazing pile.
Another rushed up, and was about to throw on a pile of California
blankets, when a white man, to test his sincerity, offend him $16
for them, jingling the bright coins before his eyes, but the savage
(for such he had become again for the moment) otherwise so
avaricious, hurled him away with a yell of execration and ran and
threw his offering into the flames. Squaws, even more frenzied,
wildly flung upon the pyre all they had in the world--their dearest
ornaments, their gaudiest dresses, their strings of glittering
shells. Screaming, wailing, tearing their hair, beating their
breasts in their mad and insensate infatuation, some of them would
have cast themselves bodily into the flaming ruins and perished with
the chief had they not been restrained by their companions. Then the
bright, swift flames, with their hot tongues, licked this “cold
obstruction” into chemic change, and the once “delighted spirit” of
the savage was borne up. * * *

It seems as if the savage shared in Shakspeare’s shudder at the
thought of rotting in the dismal grave, for it is the one passion of
his superstition to think of the soul, of his departed friend set
free and purified by the swift purging heat of the flames not
dragged down to be clogged and bound in the mouldering body, but
borne up in the soft, warm chariots of the smoke toward the
beautiful sun, to bask in his warmth and light, and then to fly away
to the Happy Western Land. What wonder if the Indian shrinks with
unspeakable horror from the thought of _burying his friend’s
soul!_--of pressing and ramming down with pitiless clods that inner
something which once took such delight in the sweet light of the
sun! What wonder if it takes years to persuade him to do otherwise
and follow our custom! What wonder if even then he does it with sad
fears and misgivings! Why not let him keep his custom! In the
gorgeous landscapes and balmy climate of California an Indian
incremation is as natural to the savage as it is for him to love the
beauty of the sun. Let the vile Esquimaux and the frozen Siberian
bury their dead if they will; it matters little, the earth is the
same above as below; or to them the bosom of the earth may seem even
the better; but in California do not blame the savage if he recoils
at the thought of going underground! This soft pale halo of the
lilac hills--ah, let him console himself if he will with the belief
that his lost friend enjoys it still! The narrator concluded by
saying that they destroyed full $500 worth of property. “The
blankets,” said he with a fine Californian scorn of much absurd
insensibility to such a good bargain, “the blankets that the
American offered him $16 for were not worth half the money.”

After death the Se-nél hold that bad Indians return into coyotes.
Others fall off a bridge which all souls must traverse, or are
hooked off by a raging bull at the further end, while the good
escape across. Like the Yokaia and the Konkan, they believe it
necessary to nourish the spirits of the departed for the space of a
year. This is generally done by a squaw, who takes pinole in her
blanket, repairs to the scene of the incremation, or to places
hallowed by the memory of the dead, when she scatters it over the
ground, meantime rocking her body violently to and fro in a dance
and chanting the following chorous:

Hel-lel-li-ly,
Hel-lel-lo,
Hel-lel-lu.

This refrain is repeated over and over indefinitely, but the words
have no meaning whatever.

Henry Gillman[54] has published an interesting account of the exploration of a mound near Waldo, Fla., in which he found abundant evidence that cremation had existed among the former Indian population. It is as follows:

In opening a burial-mound at Cade’s Pond, a small body of water
situated about two miles northeastward of Santa Fé Lake, Fla., the
writer found two instances of cremation, in each of which the skull
of the subject, which was unconsumed, was used as the depository of
his ashes. The mound contained besides a large number of human
burials, the bones being much decayed. With them were deposited a
great number of vessels of pottery, many of which are painted in
brilliant colors, chiefly red, yellow, and brown, and some of them
ornamented with indented patterns, displaying not a little skill in
the ceramic art, though they are reduced to fragments. The first of
the skulls referred to was exhumed at a depth of 2½ feet. It rested
on its apex (base uppermost), and was filled with fragments of half
incinerated human bones, mingled with dark-colored dust, and the
sand which invariably sifts into crania under such circumstances.
Immediately beneath the skull lay the greater part of a human tibia,
presenting the peculiar compression known as a platycnemism to the
degree of affording a latitudinal index of .512; while beneath and
surrounding it lay the fragments of a large number of human bones,
probably constituting an entire individual. In the second instance
of this peculiar mode in cremation, the cranium was discovered on
nearly the opposite side of the mound, at a depth of 2 feet, and,
like the former, resting on its apex. It was filled with a black
mass--the residuum of burnt human bones mingled with sand. At three
feet to the eastward lay the shaft of a flattened tibia, which
presents the longitudinal index of .527. Both the skulls were free
from all action of fire, and though subsequently crumbling to pieces
on their removal, the writer had opportunity to observe their strong
resemblance to the small, orthocephalic crania which he had exhumed
from mounds in Michigan. The same resemblance was perceptible in the
other cranium belonging to this mound. The small narrow, retreating
frontal, prominent parietal protuberances, rather protuberant
occipital, which was not in the least compressed, the well defined
supraciliary ridges, and the superior border of the orbits,
presenting a quadrilateral outline, were also particularly noticed.
The lower facial bones, including the maxillaries, were wanting. On
consulting such works as are accessible to him, the writer finds no
mention of any similar relics having been discovered in mounds in
Florida, or elsewhere. For further particulars reference may be had
to a paper on the subject read before the Saint Louis meeting of the
American Association, August, 1878.

The discoveries made by Mr. Gillman would seem to indicate that the people whose bones he excavated resorted to a process of partial cremation, some examples of which will be given on another page. The use of crania as receptacles is certainly remarkable, if not unique.

The fact is well-known to archæologists that whenever cremation was practiced by Indians it was customary as a rule to throw into the blazing pyre all sorts of articles supposed to be useful to the dead, but no instance is known of such a wholesale destruction of property as occurred when the Indians of Southern Utah burned their dead, for Dr. E. Foreman relates, in the American Naturalist for July, 1876, the account of the exploration of a mound in that Territory, which proves that at the death of a person not only were the remains destroyed by fire, but all articles of personal property, even the very habitation which had served as a home. After the process was completed, what remained unburned was covered with earth and a mound formed.

A. S. Tiffany[55] describes what he calls a cremation-furnace, discovered within seven miles of Davenport, Iowa.

* * * Mound seven miles, below the city, a projecting point known as
Eagle Point. The surface was of the usual black soil to the depth of
from 6 to 8 inches. Next was found a burnt indurated clay,
resembling in color and texture a medium-burned brick, and about 30
inches in depth. Immediately beneath this clay was a bed of charred
human remains 6 to 18 inches thick. This rested upon the unchanged
and undisturbed loam of the bluffs, which formed the floor of the
pit. Imbedded in this floor of unburned clay were a few very much
decomposed, but unburned, human bones. No implements of any kind
were discovered. The furnace appears to have been constructed by
excavating the pit and placing at the bottom of it the bodies or
skeletons which had possibly been collected from scaffolds, and
placing the fuel among and above the bodies, with a covering of
poles or split timbers extending over and resting upon the earth,
with the clay covering above, which latter we now find resting upon
the charred remains. The ends of the timber covering, where they
were protected by the earth above and below, were reduced to
charcoal, parallel pieces of which were found at right angles to the
length of the mound. No charcoal was found among or near the
remains, the combustion there having been complete. The porous and
softer portions of the bones were reduced to pulverized bone-black.
Mr. Stevens also examined the furnace. The mound had probably not
been opened after the burning.

This account is doubtless true, but the inferences may be incorrect.

Many more accounts of cremation among different tribes might be given to show how prevalent was the custom, but the above are thought to be sufficiently distinctive to serve as examples.

_PARTIAL CREMATION._

Allied somewhat to cremation is a peculiar mode of burial which is supposed to have taken place among the Cherokees, or some other tribe of North Carolina, and which is thus described by J. W. Foster:[56]

Up to 1819 the Cherokee held possession of this region, when, in
pursuance of a treaty, they vacated a portion of the lands lying in
the valley of the Little Tennessee River. In 1821 Mr. McDowell
commenced farming. During the first season’s operations the
plowshare, in passing over a certain portion of a field, produced a
hollow rumbling sound, and in exploring for the cause the first
object met with was a shallow layer of charcoal, beneath which was a
slab of burnt clay about 7 feet in length and 4 feet broad, which,
in the attempt to remove, broke into several fragments. Nothing
beneath this slab was found, but on examining its under side, to his
great surprise there was the mould of a naked human figure. Three of
these burned-clay sepulchers were thus raised and examined during
the first year of his occupancy, since which time none have been
found until recently. During the past season, (1878) the plow
brought up another fragment of one of these moulds, revealing the
impress of a plump human arm.

Col. C. W. Jenkes, the superintendent of the Corundum mines, which
have recently been opened in that vicinity, advises me thus:

“We have Indians all about us, with traditions extending back for
500 years. In this time they have buried their dead under huge piles
of stones. We have at one point the remains of 600 warriors under
one pile, but a grave has just been opened of the following
construction: A pit was dug, into which the corpse was placed, face
upward; then over it was moulded a covering of mortar, fitting the
form and features. On this was built a hot fire, which formed an
entire shield of pottery for the corpse. The breaking up of one such
tomb gives a perfect cast of the form of the occupant.”

Colonel Jenkes, fully impressed with the value of these
archeological discoveries, detailed a man to superintend the
exhumation, who proceeded to remove the earth from the mould, which
he reached through a layer of charcoal, and then with a trowel
excavated beneath it. The clay was not thoroughly baked, and no
impression of the corpse was left, except of the forehead and that
portion of the limbs between the ankles and the knees, and even
these portions of the mould crumbled. The body had been placed east
and west, the head toward the east. “I had hoped,” continues Mr.
McDowell, “that the cast in the clay would be as perfect as one I
found 51 years ago, a fragment of which I presented to Colonel
Jenkes, with the impression of a part of the arm on one side and on
the other of the fingers, that had pressed down the soft clay upon
the body interred beneath it.” The mound-builders of the Ohio
valley, as has been shown, often placed a layer of clay over the
dead, but not in immediate contact, upon which they builded fires;
and the evidence that cremation was often resorted to in their
disposition are too abundant to be gainsaid.

This statement is corroborated by Mr. Wilcox:[57]

Mr. Wilcox also stated that when recently in North Carolina his
attention was called to an unusual method of burial by an ancient
race of Indians in that vicinity. In numerous instances burial
places were discovered where the bodies had been placed with the
face up and covered with a coating of plastic clay about an inch
thick. A pile of wood was then placed on top and fired, which
consumed the body and baked the clay, which retained the impression
of the body. This was then lightly covered with earth.

It is thought no doubt can attach to the statements given, but the cases are remarkable as being the only instances of the kind met with in the extensive range of reading preparatory to a study of the subject of burial, although it must be observed that Bruhier states that the ancient Ethiopians covered the corpses of their dead with plaster (probably mud), but they did not burn these curious coffins.

Another method, embracing both burial and cremation, has been practiced by the Pitt River or Achomawi Indians of California, who

Bury the body in the ground in a standing position, the shoulders
nearly even with the ground. The grave is prepared by digging a hole
of sufficient depth and circumference to admit the body, the head
being cut off. In the grave are placed the bows and arrows,
bead-work, trappings, &c., belonging to the deceased; quantities of
food, consisting of dried fish, roots, herbs, &c., were placed with
the body also. The grave was then filled up, covering the headless
body; then a bundle of fagots was brought and placed on the grave by
the different members of the tribe, and on these fagots the head was
placed, the pile fired, and the head consumed to ashes; after this
was done the female relatives of the deceased, who had appeared as
mourners with their faces blackened with a preparation resembling
tar or paint, dipped their fingers in the ashes of the cremated head
and made three marks on their right cheek. This constituted the
mourning garb, the period of which lasted until this black substance
wore off from the face. In addition to this mourning, the blood
female relatives of the deceased (who, by the way, appeared to be a
man of distinction) had their hair cropped short. I noticed while
the head was burning that the old women of the tribe sat on the
ground, forming a large circle, inside of which another circle of
young girls were formed standing and swaying their bodies to and fro
and singing a mournful ditty. This was the only burial of a male
that I witnessed. The custom of burying females is very different,
their bodies being wrapped or bundled up in skins and laid away in
caves, with their valuables and in some cases food being placed with
them in their mouths. Occasionally money is left to pay for food in
the spirit land.

This account is furnished by Gen. Charles H. Tompkins, deputy quartermaster-general, United States Army, who witnessed the burial above related, and is the more interesting as it seems to be the only well-authenticated case on record, although E. A. Barber[58] has described what may possibly have been a case of cremation like the one above noted:

A very singular case of aboriginal burial was brought to my notice
recently by Mr. William Klingbeil, of Philadelphia. On the New
Jersey bank of the Delaware River, a short distance below Gloucester
City, the skeleton of a man was found buried in a standing position,
in a high, red, sandy-clay bluff overlooking the stream. A few
inches below the surface the neck bones were found, and below these
the remainder of the skeleton, with the exception of the bones of
the hands and feet. The skull being wanting, it could not be
determined whether the remains were those of an Indian or of a white
man, but in either case the sepulture was peculiarly aboriginal.
A careful exhumation and critical examination by Mr. Klingbeil
disclosed the fact that around the lower extremities of the body had
been placed a number of large stones, which revealed traces of fire,
in conjunction with charred wood, and the bones of the feet had
undoubtedly been consumed. This fact makes it appear reasonably
certain that the subject had been executed, probably as a prisoner
of war. A pit had been dug, in which he was placed erect, and a fire
kindled around him. Then he had been buried alive, or, at least, if
he did not survive the fiery ordeal, his body was imbedded in the
earth, with the exception of his head, which was left protruding
above the surface. As no trace of the cranium could be found, it
seems probable that the head had either been burned or severed from
the body and removed, or else left a prey to ravenous birds. The
skeleton, which would have measured fully six feet in height, was
undoubtedly that of a man.

Blacking the face, as is mentioned in the first account, is a custom known to have existed among many tribes throughout the world, but in some cases different earths and pigments are used as signs of mourning. The natives of Guinea smear a chalky substance over their bodies as an outward expression of grief, and it is well known that the ancient Israelites threw ashes on their heads and garments. Placing food with the corpse or in its mouth, and money in the hand, finds its analogue in the custom of the ancient Romans, who, some time before interment, placed a piece of money in the corpse’s mouth, which was thought to be Charon’s fare for wafting the departed soul over the Infernal River. Besides this, the corpse’s mouth was furnished with a certain cake, composed of flour, honey, &c. This was designed to appease the fury of Cerberus, the infernal doorkeeper, and to procure a safe and quiet entrance. These examples are curious coincidences, if nothing more.

AERIAL SEPULTURE.

_LODGE-BURIAL._

Our attention should next be turned to sepulture above the ground, including lodge, house, box, scaffold, tree, and canoe burial, and the first example which may be given is that of burial in lodges, which is by no means common. The description which follows is by Stansbury,[59] and relates to the Sioux:

I put on my moccasins, and, displaying my wet shirt like a flag to
the wind, we proceeded to the lodges which had attracted our
curiosity. There were five of them pitched upon the open prairie,
and in them we found the bodies of nine Sioux laid out upon the
ground, wrapped in their robes of buffalo-skin, with their saddles,
spears, camp-kettles, and all their accoutrements piled up around
them. Some lodges contained three, others only one body, all of
which were more or less in a state of decomposition. A short
distance apart from these was one lodge which, though small, seemed
of rather superior pretensions, and was evidently pitched with great
care. It contained the body of a young Indian girl of sixteen or
eighteen years, with a countenance presenting quite an agreeable
expression: she was richly dressed in leggins of fine scarlet cloth
elaborately ornamented; a new pair of moccasins, beautifully
embroidered with porcupine quills, was on her feet, and her body was
wrapped in two superb buffalo-robes worked in like manner; she had
evidently been dead but a day or two, and to our surprise a portion
of the upper part of her person was bare, exposing the face and a
part of the breast, as if the robes in which she was wrapped had by
some means been disarranged, whereas all the other bodies were
closely covered up. It was, at the time, the opinion of our
mountaineers, that these Indians must have fallen in an encounter
with a party of Crows; but I subsequently learned that they had all
died of the cholera, and that this young girl, being considered past
recovery, had been arranged by her friends in the habiliments of the
dead, inclosed in the lodge alive, and abandoned to her fate, so
fearfully alarmed were the Indians by this to them novel and
terrible disease.

It might, perhaps, be said that this form of burial was exceptional, and due to the dread of again using the lodges which had served as the homes of those afflicted with the cholera, but it is thought such was not the case, as the writer has notes of the same kind of burial among the same tribe and of others, notably the Crows, the body of one of their chiefs (Long Horse) being disposed of as follows:

The lodge poles inclose an oblong circle some 18 by 22 feet at the
base, converging to a point, at least 30 feet high, covered with
buffalo-hides dressed without hair except a part of the tail switch,
which floats outside like, and mingled with human scalps. The
different skins are neatly fitted and sewed together with sinew, and
all painted in seven alternate horizontal stripes of brown and
yellow, decorated with various lifelike war scenes. Over the small
entrance is a large bright cross, the upright being a large stuffed
white wolf-skin upon his war lance, and the cross-bar of bright
scarlet flannel, containing the quiver of bow and arrows, which
nearly all warriors still carry, even when armed with repeating
rifles. As the cross is not a pagan but a Christian (which Long
Horse was not either by profession or practice) emblem, it was
probably placed there by the influence of some of his white friends.
I entered, finding Long Horse buried Indian fashion, in full war
dress, paint and feathers, in a rude coffin, upon a platform about
breast high, decorated with weapons, scalps, and ornaments. A large
opening and wind-flap at the top favored ventilation, and though he
had lain there in an open coffin a full month, some of which was hot
weather, there was but little effluvia; in fact, I have seldom found
much in a burial-teepee, and when this mode of burial is thus
performed it is less repulsive than natural to suppose.

This account is furnished by Col. P. W. Norris, superintendent of Yellowstone National Park, he having been an eye-witness of what he relates in 1876; and although the account has been questioned, it is admitted for the reason that this gentleman persists, after a reperusal of his article, that the facts are correct.

General Stewart Van Vliet, U.S.A., informs the writer that among the Sioux of Wyoming and Nebraska when a person of consequence dies a small scaffold is erected inside his lodge and the body wrapped in skins deposited therein. Different utensils and weapons are placed by his side, and in front a horse is slaughtered; the lodge is then closed up.

Dr. W. J. Hoffman writes as follows regarding the burial lodges of the Shoshones of Nevada:

The Shoshones of the upper portion of Nevada are not known to have
at any time practiced cremation. In Independence Valley, under a
deserted and demolished _wickeup_ or “brush tent,” I found the
dried-up corpse of a boy, about twelve years of age. The body had
been here for at least six weeks, according to information received,
and presented a shriveled and hideous appearance. The dryness of the
atmosphere prevented decomposition. The Indians in this region
usually leave the body when life terminates, merely throwing over it
such rubbish as may be at hand, or the remains of their primitive
shelter tents, which are mostly composed of small branches, leaves,
grass, &c.

The Shoshones living on Independence Creek and on the eastern banks
of the Owyhee River, upper portion of Nevada, did not bury their
dead at the time of my visit in 1871. Whenever the person died, his
lodge (usually constructed of poles and branches of _Salix_) was
demolished and placed in one confused mass over his remains, when
the band removed a short distance. When the illness is not too
great, or death sudden, the sick person is removed to a favorable
place, some distance from their temporary camping ground, so as to
avoid the necessity of their own removal. Coyotes, ravens, and other
carnivores soon remove all the flesh so that there remains nothing
but the bones, and even these are scattered by the wolves. The
Indians at Tuscarora, Nevada, stated that when it was possible and
that they should by chance meet the bony remains of any Shoshone,
they would bury it, but in what manner I failed to discover as the
were very reticent, and avoided giving any information regarding the
dead. One corpse was found totally dried and shrivelled, owing to
the dryness of the atmosphere in this region.

Capt. F. W. Beechey[60] describes a curious mode of burial among the Esquimaux on the west coast of Alaska, which appears to be somewhat similar to lodge burial. Figure 11, after his illustration, affords a good idea of these burial receptacles.

Near us there was a burying ground, which in addition to what we had
already observed at Cape Espenburg furnished several examples of the
manner in which this tribe of natives dispose of their dead. In some
instances a platform was constructed of drift-wood raised about two
feet and a quarter from the ground, upon which the body was placed,
with its head to the westward and a double tent of drift-wood
erected over it, the inner one with spars about seven feet long, and
the outer one with some that were three times that length. They were
placed close together, and at first no doubt sufficiently so to
prevent the depredations of foxes and wolves, but they had yielded
at last, and all the bodies, and even the hides that covered them,
had suffered by these rapacious animals.

In these tents of the dead there were no coffins or planks, as at
Cape Espenburg, the bodies were dressed in a frock made of eider
duck skins, with one of deer skin over it, and were covered with a
sea horse hide, such as the natives use for their _baidars_.
Suspended to the poles, and on the ground near them, were several
Esquimaux implements, consisting of wooden trays, paddles, and a
tamborine, which, we were informed as well as signs could convey the
meaning of the natives, were placed there for the use of the
deceased, who, in the next world (pointing to the western sky) ate,
drank, and sang songs. Having no interpreter, this was all the
information I could obtain, but the custom of placing such
instruments around the receptacles of the dead is not unusual, and
in all probability the Esquimaux may believe that the soul has
enjoyments in the next world similar to those which constitute their
happiness in this.

The Blackfeet, Cheyennes, and Navajos also bury in lodges, and the Indians of Bellingham Bay, according to Dr. J. F. Hammond, U.S.A., place their dead in carved wooden sarcophagi, inclosing these with a rectangular tent of some white material. Some of the tribes of the northwest coast bury in houses similar to those shown in Figure 12.

Bancroft[61] states that certain of the Indians of Costa Rica, when a death occurred, deposited the body in a small hut constructed of plaited palm reeds. In this it is preserved for three years, food being supplied, and on each anniversary of the death it is redressed and attended to amid certain ceremonies. The writer has been recently informed that a similar custom prevailed in Demerara. No authentic accounts are known of analogous modes of burial among the peoples of the Old World, although quite frequently the dead were interred beneath the floors of their houses, a custom which has been followed by the Mosquito Indians of Central America and one or two of our own tribes.

_BOX-BURIAL._

Under this head may be placed those examples furnished by certain tribes on the northwest coast who used as receptacles for the dead wonderfully carved, large wooden chests, these being supported upon a low platform or resting on the ground. In shape they resemble a small house with an angular roof, and each one has an opening through which food may be passed to the corpse.

Some of the tribes formerly living in New York used boxes much resembling those spoken of, and the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees did the same.

Capt. J. H. Gageby, United States Army, furnishes the following relating to the Creeks in Indian Territory.

* * * are buried on the surface, in a box or a substitute made of
branches of trees, covered with small branches, leaves, and earth.
I have seen several of their graves, which after a few weeks had
become uncovered and the remains exposed to view. I saw in one Creek
grave (a child’s) a small sum of silver, in another (adult male)
some implements of warfare, bow and arrows. They are all interred
with the feet of the corpse to the east. In the mourning ceremonies
of the Creeks the nearer relatives smeared their hair and faces with
a composition made of grease and wood ashes, and would remain in
that condition for several days, and probably a month.

Josiah Priest[62] gives an account of the burial repositories of a tribe of Pacific coast Indians living on the Talomeco River, Oregon. The writer believes it to be entirely unreliable and gives it place as an example of credulity shown by many writers and readers.

The corpses of the Caciques were so well embalmed that there was no
bad smell, they were deposited in large wooden coffins, well
constructed, and placed upon benches two feet from the ground. In
smaller coffins, and in baskets, the Spaniards found the clothes of
the deceased men and women, and so many pearls that they distributed
them among the officers and soldiers by handsfulls.

In Bancroft[63] may be found the following account of the burial boxes of the Esquimaux.

The Eskimos do not as a rule bury their dead, but double the body up
and place it on the side in a plank box which is elevated three or
four feet from the ground and supported by four posts. The grave-box
is often covered with painted figures of birds, fishes and animals.
Sometimes it is wrapped in skins placed upon an elevated frame and
covered with planks or trunks of trees so as to protect it from wild
beasts. Upon the frame, or in the grave box are deposited the arms,
clothing, and sometimes the domestic utensils of the deceased.
Frequent mention is made by travelers of burial places where the
bodies lie exposed with their heads placed towards the north.

Frederic Whymper[64] describes the burial boxes of the Kalosh of that Territory.

Their grave boxes or tombs are interesting. They contain only the
ashes of the dead. These people invariably burn the deceased. On one
of the boxes I saw a number of faces painted, long tresses of human
hair depending therefrom. Each head represented a victim of the
(happily) deceased one’s ferocity. In his day he was doubtless more
esteemed than if he had never harmed a fly. All their graves are
much ornamented with carved and painted faces and other devices.

W. H. Dall,[65] well known as one of the most experienced and careful of American Ethnologic observers, describes the burial boxes of the Innuits of Unalaklik, Innuits of Yuka, and Ingaliks of Ulukuk as follows: Figs. 13 and 14 are after his illustrations in the volume noted.

INNUIT OF UNALAKLIK.

The usual fashion is to place the body doubled up on its side in a
box of plank hewed out of spruce logs and about four feet long. This
is elevated several feet above the ground on four posts which
project above the coffin or box. The sides are often painted with
red chalk in figures of fur animals, birds, and fishes. According to
the wealth of the dead man, a number of articles which belonged to
him are attached to the coffin or strewed around it; some of them
have kyaks, bows and arrows, hunting implements, snow-shoes, or even
kettles, around the grave or fastened to it; and almost invariably
the wooden dish, or “kantág,” from which the deceased was accustomed
to eat, is hung on one of the posts.

INNUIT OF YUKON.

The dead are enclosed above ground in a box in the manner previously
described. The annexed sketch shows the form of the sarcophagus,
which, in this case, is ornamented with snow-shoes, a reel for
seal-lines, a fishing-rod, and a wooden dish or kantág. The latter
is found with every grave, and usually one is placed in the box with
the body. Sometimes a part of the property of the dead person is
placed in the coffin or about it; occasionally the whole is thus
disposed of. Generally the furs, possessions, and clothing (except
such as has been worn) are divided among the nearer relatives of the
dead, or remain in possession of his family if he has one; such
clothing, household utensils, and weapons as the deceased had in
daily use are almost invariably enclosed in his coffin. If there are
many deaths about the same time, or an epidemic occurs, everything
belonging to the dead is destroyed. The house in which a death
occurs is always deserted and usually destroyed. In order to avoid
this, it is not uncommon to take the sick person out of the house
and put him in a tent to die. A woman’s coffin may be known by the
kettles and other feminine utensils about it. There is no
distinction between the sexes in method of burial. On the outside of
the coffin, figures are usually drawn in red ochre. Figures of fur
animals usually indicate that the dead person was a good trapper; if
seal or deer skin, his proficiency as a hunter; representation of
parkies that he was wealthy; the manner of his death is also
occasionally indicated. For four days after a death the women in the
village do no sewing; for five days the men do not cut wood with an
axe. The relatives of the dead must not seek birds’ eggs on the
overhanging cliffs for a year, or their feet will slip from under
them and they will be dashed to pieces. No mourning is worn or
indicated, except by cutting the hair. Women sit and watch the body,
chanting a mournful refrain until he is interred. They seldom
suspect that others have brought the death about by shamánism, as
the Indians almost invariably do.

At the end of a year from the death, a festival is given, presents
are made to those who assisted in making the coffin, and the period
of mourning is over. Their grief seldom seems deep but they indulge
for a long time in wailing for the dead at intervals. I have seen
several women who refused to take a second husband, and had remained
single in spite of repeated offers for many years.

INGALIKS OF ULUKUK.

As we drew near, we heard a low, wailing chant, and Mikála, one of
my men, informed me that it was women lamenting for the dead. On
landing, I saw several Indians hewing out the box in which the dead
are placed. * * * The body lay on its side on a deer skin, the heels
were lashed to the small of the back, and the head bent forward on
the chest so that his coffin needed to be only about four feet long.

_TREE AND SCAFFOLD BURIAL._

We may now pass to what may be called aerial sepulture proper, the most common examples of which are tree and scaffold burial, quite extensively practiced even at the present time. From what can be learned the choice of this mode depends greatly on the facilities present, where timber abounds, trees being used, if absent, scaffolds being employed.

From William J. Cleveland, of the Spotted Tail Agency, Nebraska, has been received a most interesting account of the mortuary customs of the Brulé or Teton Sioux, who belong to the Lakotah alliance. They are called _Sicaugu_, in the Indian tongue _Seechaugas_, or the “burned thigh” people. The narrative is given in its entirety, not only on account of its careful attention to details, but from its known truthfulness of description. It relates to tree and scaffold burial.

FUNERAL CEREMONIES AND MOURNING OBSERVANCES.

Though some few of this tribe now lay their dead in rude boxes,
either burying them when implements for digging can be had, or, when
they have no means of making a grave, placing them on top of the
ground on some hill or other slight elevation, yet this is done in
imitation of the whites, and their general custom, as a people,
probably does not differ in any essential way from that of their
forefathers for many generations in the past. In disposing of the
dead, they wrap the body tightly in blankets or robes (sometimes
both) wind it all over with thongs made of the hide of some animal
and place it reclining on the back at full length, either in the
branches of some tree or on a scaffold made for the purpose. These
scaffolds are about eight feet high and made by planting four forked
sticks firmly in the ground, one at each corner and then placing
others across on top, so as to form a floor on which the body is
securely fastened. Sometimes more than one body is placed on the
same scaffold, though generally a separate one is made for each
occasion. These Indians being in all things most superstitious,
attach a kind of sacredness to these scaffolds and all the materials
used or about the dead. This superstition is in itself sufficient to
prevent any of their own people from disturbing the dead, and for
one of another nation to in any wise meddle with them is considered
an offense not too severely punished by death. The same feeling also
prevents them from ever using old scaffolds or any of the wood which
has been used about them, even for firewood, though the necessity
may be very great, for fear some evil consequences will follow. It
is also the custom, though not universally followed, when bodies
have been for two years on the scaffolds to take them down and bury
them under ground.

All the work about winding up the dead, building the scaffold, and
placing the dead upon it is done by women only, who, after having
finished their labor, return and bring the men, to show them where
the body is placed, that they may be able to find it in future.
Valuables of all kinds, such as weapons, ornaments, pipes, &c.--in
short, whatever the deceased valued most highly while living, and
locks of hair cut from the heads of the mourners at his death, are
always bound up with the body. In case the dead was a man of
importance, or if the family could afford it, even though he were
not, one or several horses (generally, in the former case, those
which the departed thought most of) are shot and placed under the
scaffold. The idea in this is that the spirit of the horse will
accompany and be of use to his spirit in the “happy hunting
grounds,” or, as these people express it, “the spirit land.”

When an Indian dies, and in some cases even before death occurs, the
friends and relatives assemble at the lodge and begin crying over
the departed or departing one. This consists in uttering the most
heartrending, almost hideous wails and lamentations, in which all
join until exhausted. Then the mourning ceases for a time until some
one starts it again, when all join in as before and keep it up until
unable to cry longer. This is kept up until the body is removed.
This crying is done almost wholly by women, who gather in large
numbers on such occasions, and among them a few who are professional
mourners. These are generally old women and go whenever a person is
expected to die, to take the leading part in the lamentations,
knowing that they will be well paid at the distribution of goods
which follows. As soon as death takes place, the body is dressed by
the women in the best garments and blankets obtainable, new ones if
they can be afforded. The crowd gathered near continue wailing
piteously, and from time to time cut locks of hair from their own
heads with knives, and throw them on the dead body. Those who wish
to show their grief most strongly, cut themselves in various places,
generally in the legs and arms, with their knives or pieces of
flint, more commonly the latter, causing the blood to flow freely
over their persons. This custom is followed to a less degree by the
men.

A body is seldom kept longer than one day as, besides the desire to
get the dead out of sight, the fear that the disease which caused
the death will communicate itself to others of the family causes
them to hasten the disposition of it as soon as they are certain
that death has actually taken place.

Until the body is laid away the mourners eat nothing. After that is
done, connected with which there seems to be no particular ceremony,
the few women who attend to it return to the lodge and a
distribution is made among them and others, not only of the
remaining property of the deceased, but of all the possessions, even
to the lodge itself of the family to which he belonged. This custom
in some cases has been carried so far as to leave the rest of the
family not only absolutely destitute but actually naked. After
continuing in this condition for a time, they gradually reach the
common level again by receiving gifts from various sources.

The received custom requires of women, near relatives of the dead,
a strict observance of the ten days following the death, as follows:
They are to rise at a very early hour and work unusually hard all
day, joining in no feast, dance, game, or other diversion, eat but
little, and retire late, that they may be deprived of the usual
amount of sleep as of food. During this they never paint themselves,
but at various times go to the top of some hill and bewail the dead
in loud cries and lamentations for hours together. After the ten
days have expired they paint themselves again and engage in the
usual amusements of the people as before. The men are expected to
mourn and fast for one day and then go on the war-path against some
other tribe, or on some long journey alone. If he prefers, he can
mourn and fast for two or more days and remain at home. The custom
of placing food at the scaffold also prevails to some extent. If but
little is placed there it is understood to be for the spirit of the
dead, and no one is allowed to touch it. If much is provided, it is
done with the intention that those of the same sex and age as the
deceased shall meet there and consume it. If the dead be a little
girl, the young girls meet and eat what is provided; if it be a man,
then men assemble for the same purpose. The relatives never mention
the name of the dead.

“KEEPING THE GHOST.”

Still another custom, though at the present day by no means
generally followed, is still observed to some extent among them.
This is called _wanagee yuhapee_, or “keeping the ghost.” A little
of the hair from the head of the deceased being preserved is bound
up in calico and articles of value until the roll is about two feet
long and ten inches or more in diameter, when it is placed in a case
made of hide handsomely ornamented with various designs in different
colored paints. When the family is poor, however, they may
substitute for this case blue or scarlet blanket or cloth. The roll
is then swung lengthwise between two supports made of sticks, placed
thus × in front of a lodge which has been set apart for the purpose.
In this lodge are gathered presents of all kinds, which are given
out when a sufficient quantity is obtained. It is often a year and
sometimes several years before this distribution is made. During all
this time the roll containing the hair of the deceased is left
undisturbed in front of the lodge. The gifts as they are brought in
are piled in the back part of the lodge, and are not to be touched
until given out. No one but men and boys are admitted to the lodge
unless it be a wife of the deceased, who may go in if necessary very
early in the morning. The men sit inside, as they choose, to smoke,
eat, and converse. As they smoke they empty the ashes from their
pipes in the center of the lodge, and they, too, are left
undisturbed until after the distribution. When they eat, a portion
is always placed first under the roll outside for the spirit of the
deceased. No one is allowed to take this unless a large quantity is
so placed, in which case it may be eaten by any persons actually in
need of food, even though strangers to the dead. When the proper
time comes the friends of the deceased and all to whom presents are
to be given are called together to the lodge and the things are
given out by the man in charge. Generally this is some near relative
of the departed. The roll is now undone and small locks of the hair
distributed with the other presents, which ends the ceremony.

Sometimes this “keeping the ghost” is done several times, and it is
then looked upon as a repetition of the burial or putting away of
the dead. During all the time before the distribution of the hair,
the lodge, as well as the roll, is looked upon as in a manner
sacred, but after that ceremony it becomes common again and may be
used for any ordinary purpose. No relative or near friend of the
dead wishes to retain anything in his possession that belonged to
him while living, or to see, hear, or own anything which will remind
him of the departed. Indeed, the leading idea in all their burial
customs in the laying away with the dead their most valuable
possessions, the giving to others what is left of his and the family
property, the refusal to mention his name, &c., is to put out of
mind as soon and as effectual as possible the memory of the
departed.

From what has been said, however, it will be seen that they believe
each person to have a spirit which continues to live after the death
of the body. They have no idea of a future life in the body, but
believe that after death their spirits will meet and recognize the
spirits of their departed friends in the spirit land. They deem it
essential to their happiness here, however, to destroy as far as
practicable their recollection of the dead. They frequently speak of
death as a sleep, and of the dead as asleep or having gone to sleep
at such a time. These customs are gradually losing their hold upon
them, and are much less generally and strictly observed than
formerly.