Chapter VI: Front Matter (6)

It is vain to search for truth in mythologic philosophy, but it is important to search for veritable philosphies, that they may be properly compared and that the products of the human mind in its various stages of culture may be known; important in the reconstruction of the history of philosophy; and important in furnishing necessary data to psychology. No labor can be more fruitless than the search in mythology for true philosophy; and the efforts to build up from the terminology and narratives of mythologies an occult symbolism and system of allegory is but to create a new and fictitious body of mythology.

There is a symbolism inherent in language and found in all philosophy, true or false, and such symbolism was cultivated as an occult art in the early history of civilization when picture-writing developed into conventional writing, and symbolism is an interesting subject for study, but it has been made a beast of burden to carry packs of metaphysic nonsense.

SOCIOLOGY.

Here again North America presents a wide and interesting field to the investigator, for it has within its extent many distinct governments, and these governments, so far as investigations have been carried, are found to belong to a type more primitive than any of the feudalities from which the civilized nations of the earth sprang, as shown by concurrently recorded history.

Yet in this history many facts have been discovered suggesting that feudalities themselves had an origin in something more primitive. In the study of the tribes of the world a multitude of sociologic institutions and customs have been discovered, and in reviewing the history of feudalities it is seen that many of their important elements are survivals from tribal society.

So important are these discoveries that all human history has to be rewritten, the whole philosophy of history reconstructed. Government does not begin in the ascendency of chieftains through prowess in war, but in the slow specialization of executive functions from communal associations based on kinship. Deliberative assemblies do not start in councils gathered by chieftains, but councils precede chieftaincies. Law does not begin in contract, but is the development of custom. Land tenure does not begin in grants from the monarch or the feudal lord, but a system of tenure in common by gentes or tribes is developed into a system of tenure in severalty. Evolution in society has not been from militancy to industrialism, but from organization based on kinship to organization based on property, and alongside of the specializations of the industries of peace the arts of war have been specialized.

So, one by one, the theories of metaphysical writers on sociology are overthrown, and the facts of history are taking their place, and the philosophy of history is being erected out of materials accumulating by objective studies of mankind.

PSYCHOLOGY.

Psychology has hitherto been chiefly in the hands of subjective philosophers and is the last branch of anthropology to be treated by scientific methods. But of late years sundry important labors have been performed with the end in view to give this department of philosophy a basis of objective facts; especially the organ of the mind has been studied and the mental operations of animals have been compared with those of men, and in various other ways the subject is receiving scientific attention.

The new psychology in process of construction will have a threefold basis: A physical basis on phenomena presented by the organ of the mind as shown in man and the lower animals; a linguistic basis as presented in the phenomena of language, which is the instrument of mind; a functional basis as exhibited in operations of the mind.

The phenomena of the third class may be arranged in three subclasses. First, the operations of mind exhibited in individuals in various stages of growth, various degrees of culture, and in various conditions, normal and abnormal; second, the operations of mind as exhibited in technology, arts, and industries; third, the operations of mind as exhibited in philosophy; and these are the explanations given of the phenomena of the universe. On such a basis a scientific psychology must be erected.

* * * * *

As methods of study are discovered, a vast field opens to the American scholar. Now, as at all times in the history of civilization, there has been no lack of interest in this subject, and no lack of speculative writers; but there is a great want of trained observers and acute investigators.

If we lay aside the mass of worthless matter which has been published, and consider only the material used by the most careful writers, we find on every hand that conclusions are vitiated by a multitude of errors of fact of a character the most simple. Yesterday I read an article on the “Growth of Sculpture,” by Grant Allen, that was charming; yet, therein I found this statement:

So far as I know, the Polynesians and many other savages have not
progressed beyond the full-face stage of human portraiture above
described. Next in rank comes the drawing of a profile, as we find
it among the Eskimos and the bushmen. Our own children soon attain
to this level, which is one degree higher than that of the full
face, as it implies a special point of view, suppresses half the
features, and is not diagrammatic or symbolical of all the separate
parts. Negroes and North American Indians cannot understand profile;
they ask what has become of the other eye.

Perhaps Mr. Allen derives his idea of the inability of the Indians to understand profiles from a statement of Catlin, which I have seen used for this and other purposes by different anthropologists until it seems to have become a _favorite fact_.

Turning to Catlin’s _Letters and Notes on the Manners, Customs, and Condition of the North American Indians_, (vol. 2, page 2) we find him saying:

After I had painted these, and many more whom I have not time at
present to name, I painted the portrait of a celebrated warrior of
the Sioux, by the name of Mah-to-chee-ga (the Little Bear), who was
unfortunately slain in a few moments after the picture was done by
one of his own tribe; and which was very near costing me my life,
for having painted a side view of his face, leaving one-half of it
out of the picture, which had been the cause of the affray; and
supposed by the whole tribe to have been intentionally left out by
me, as “good for nothing.” This was the last picture that I painted
amongst the Sioux, and the last, undoubtedly, that I shall ever
paint in that place. So tremendous and so alarming was the
excitement about it that my brushes were instantly put away, and I
embarked the next day on the steamer for the sources of the
Missouri, and was glad to get underweigh.

Subsequently, Mr. Catlin elaborates this incident into the “Story of the Dog” (vol. 2, page 188 _et seq._).

Now, whatsoever of truth or of fancy there may be in this story, it cannot be used as evidence that the Indians could not understand or interpret profile pictures, for Mr. Catlin himself gives several plates of Indian pictographs exhibiting profile faces. In my cabinet of pictographs I have hundreds of side views made by Indians of the same tribe of which Mr. Catlin was speaking.

It should never be forgotten that accounts of travelers and other persons who write for the sake of making good stories must be used with the utmost caution. Catlin is only one of a thousand such who can be used with safety only by persons so thoroughly acquainted with the subject that they are able to divide facts actually observed from creations of fancy. But Mr. Catlin must not be held responsible for illogical deductions even from his facts. I know not how Mr. Allen arrived at his conclusion, but I do know that pictographs in profile are found among very many, if not all, the tribes of North America.

Now, for another example. Peschel, in _The Races of Man_ (page 151), says:

The transatlantic history of Spain has no case comparable in
iniquity to the act of the Portuguese in Brazil, who deposited the
clothes of scarlet-fever or small-pox patients on the hunting
grounds of the natives, in order to spread the pestilence among
them; and of the North Americans, who used strychnine to poison the
wells which the Redskins were in the habit of visiting in the
deserts of Utah; of the wives of Australian settlers, who, in times
of famine, mixed arsenic with the meal which they gave to starving
natives.

In a foot-note on the same page, Burton is given as authority for the statement that the people of the United States poisoned the wells of the redskins.

Referring to Burton, in _The City of the Saints_ (page 474), we find him saying:

The Yuta claim, like the Shoshonee, descent from an ancient people
that immigrated into their present seats from the Northwest. During
the last thirty years they have considerably decreased, according to
the mountaineers, and have been demoralized mentally and physically
by the emigrants. Formerly they were friendly, now they are often at
war with the intruders. As in Australia, arsenic and corrosive
sublimate in springs and provisions have diminished their number.

Now, why did Burton make this statement? In the same volume he describes the Mountain Meadow massacre, and gives the story as related by the actors therein. It is well known that the men who were engaged in this affair tried to shield themselves by diligently publishing that it was a massacre by Indians incensed at the travelers because they had poisoned certain springs at which the Indians were wont to obtain their supplies of water. When Mr. Burton was in Salt Lake City he, doubtless, heard these stories.

So the falsehoods of a murderer, told to hide his crime, have gone into history as facts characteristic of the people of the United States in their treatment of the Indians. In the paragraph quoted from Burton some other errors occur. The Utes and Shoshonis do not claim to have descended from an ancient people that immigrated into their present seats from the Northwest. Most of these tribes, perhaps all, have myths of their creation in the very regions now inhabited by them.

Again, these Indians have not been demoralized mentally or physically by the emigrants, but have made great progress toward civilization.

The whole account of the Utes and Shoshonis given in this portion of the book is so mixed with error as to be valueless, and bears intrinsic evidence of having been derived from ignorant frontiersmen.

Turning now to the first volume of Spencer’s _Principles of Sociology_ (page 149), we find him saying:

And thus prepared, we need feel no surprise on being told that the
Zuni Indians require “much facial contortion and bodily
gesticulation to make their sentences perfectly intelligible;” that
the language of the Bushman needs so many signs to eke out its
meaning, that “they are unintelligible in the dark;” and that the
Arapahos “can hardly converse with one another in the dark.”

When people of different languages meet, especially if they speak languages of different stocks, a means of communication is rapidly established between them, composed partly of signs and partly of oral words, the latter taken from one or both of the languages, but curiously modified so as hardly to be recognized. Such conventional languages are usually called “jargons,” and their existence is rather brief.

When people communicate with each other in this manner, oral speech is greatly assisted by sign-language, and it is true that darkness impedes their communication. The great body of frontiersmen in America who associate more or less with the Indians depend upon jargon methods of communication with them; and so we find that various writers and travelers describe Indian tongues by the characteristics of this jargon speech. Mr. Spencer usually does.

The Zuni and the Arapaho Indians have a language with a complex grammar and copious vocabulary well adapted to the expression of the thoughts incident to their customs and status of culture, and they have no more difficulty in conveying their thoughts with their language by night than Englishmen have in conversing without gaslight. An example from each of three eminent authors has been taken to illustrate the worthlessness of a vast body of anthropologic material to which even the best writers resort.

Anthropology needs trained devotees with philosophic methods and keen observation to study every tribe and nation of the globe almost _de novo_; and from materials thus collected a science may be established.

* * * * *
* * * *

_Errors and Inconsistencies: Anthropologic Data_

objective studies of mankind. [_final . missing_]
“Story of the Dog” (vol. 2, page 188 _et seq._).
[_“et seq” without period_]

* * * * *
* * * *
* * * * *

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION--BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.

J. W. Powell, Director.

A Further Contribution

to the

STUDY OF THE MORTUARY CUSTOMS

of the

North American Indians.

By

Dr. H. C. YARROW,
Act. Asst. Surg., U.S.A.

[Transcriber’s Note (Mortuary Customs):

Much of this article is quoted from other published sources. The
resulting inconsistencies in spelling and punctuation are unchanged.

Most footnotes are bibliographic. Asterisks after a few footnote
numbers [5.44*] were added by the transcriber to identify those
notes that give further information.]

CONTENTS.

List of illustrations 89
Introductory 91
Classification of burial 92
Inhumation 93
Pit burial 93
Grave burial 101
Stone graves or cists 113
Burial in mounds 115
Burial beneath or in cabins, wigwams, or houses 122
Cave burial 126
Embalmment or mummification 130
Urn burial 137
Surface burial 138
Cairn burial 142
Cremation 143
Partial cremation 150
Aerial sepulture 152
Lodge burial 152
Box burial 155
Tree and scaffold burial 158
Partial scaffold burial and ossuaries 168
Superterrene and aerial burial in canoes 171
Aquatic burial 180
Living sepulchers 182
Mourning, sacrifice, feasts, etc. 183
Mourning 183
Sacrifice 187
Feasts 190
Superstition regarding burial feasts 191
Food 192
Dances 192
Songs 194
Games 195
Posts 197
Fires 198
Superstitions 199

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

[In the original, Figure 12 was printed before Figure 11 (both
full-page Plates). Figure 45 (_on_ page 196) was printed before the
group of plates 34-44 (_between_ pages 196 and 197).]

1.--Quiogozon or dead house 94
2.--Pima burial 98
3.--Towers of silence 105
4.--Towers of silence 106
5.--Alaskan mummies 135
6.--Burial urns 138
7.--Indian cemetery 139
8.--Grave pen 141
9.--Grave pen 141
10.--Tolkotin cremation 145
11.--Eskimo lodge burial 154
12.--Burial houses 154
13.--Innuit grave 156
14.--Ingalik grave 157
15.--Dakota scaffold burial 158
16.--Offering food to the dead 159
17.--Depositing the corpse 160
18.--Tree-burial 161
19.--Chippewa scaffold burial 162
20.--Scarification at burial 164
21.--Australian scaffold burial 166
22.--Preparing the dead 167
23.--Canoe-burial 171
24.--Twana canoe-burial 172
25.--Posts for burial canoes 173
26.--Tent on scaffold 174
27.--House burial 175
28.--House burial 175
29.--Canoe-burial 178
30.--Mourning-cradle 181
31.--Launching the burial cradle 182
32.--Chippewa widow 185
33.--Ghost gamble 195
34.--Figured plum stones 196
35.--Winning throw, No. 1 196
36.--Winning throw, No. 2 196
37.--Winning throw, No. 3 196
38.--Winning throw, No. 4 196
39.--Winning throw, No. 5 196
40.--Winning throw, No. 6 196
41.--Auxiliary throw, No. 1 196
42.--Auxiliary throw, No. 2 196
43.--Auxiliary throw, No. 3 196
44.--Auxiliary throw, No. 4 196
45.--Auxiliary throw, No. 5 196
46.--Burial posts 197
47.--Grave fire 198

* * * * *

A Further Contribution to the

STUDY OF THE MORTUARY CUSTOMS

of the North American Indians.

By H. C. Yarrow.

* * * * *

INTRODUCTORY.

In view of the fact that the present paper will doubtless reach many readers who may not, in consequence of the limited edition, have seen the preliminary volume on mortuary customs, it seems expedient to reproduce in great part the prefatory remarks which served as an introduction to that work; for the reasons then urged, for the immediate study of this subject, still exist, and as time flies on become more and more important.

The primitive manners and customs of the North American Indians are rapidly passing away under influences of civilization and other disturbing elements. In view of this fact, it becomes the duty of all interested in preserving a record of these customs to labor assiduously, while there is still time, to collect such data as may be obtainable. This seems the more important now, as within the last ten years an almost universal interest has been awakened in ethnologic research, and the desire for more knowledge in this regard is constantly increasing. A wise and liberal government, recognizing the need, has ably seconded the efforts of those engaged in such studies by liberal grants, from the public funds; nor is encouragement wanted from the hundreds of scientific societies throughout the civilized globe. The public press, too--the mouth-piece of the people--is ever on the alert to scatter broadcast such items of ethnologic information as its corps of well-trained reporters can secure. To induce further laudable inquiry, and assist all those who may be willing to engage in the good work, is the object of this further paper on the mortuary customs of North American Indians, and it is hoped that many more laborers may through it be added to the extensive and honorable list of those who have already contributed.

It would appear that the subject chosen should awaken great interest, since the peculiar methods followed by different nations and the great importance attached to burial ceremonies have formed an almost invariable part of all works relating to the different peoples of our globe; in fact, no particular portion of ethnologic research has claimed more attention. In view of these facts, it might seem almost a work of supererogation to continue a further examination of the subject, for nearly every author in writing of our Indian tribes makes some mention of burial observances; but these notices are scattered far and wide on the sea of this special literature, and many of the accounts, unless supported by corroborative evidence, may be considered as entirely unreliable. To bring together and harmonize conflicting statements, and arrange collectively what is known of the subject, has been the writer’s task, and an enormous mass of information has been acquired, the method of securing which has been already described in the preceding volume and need not be repeated at this time. It has seemed undesirable at present to enter into any discussion regarding the causes which may have led to the adoption of any particular form of burial or coincident ceremonies, the object of this paper being simply to furnish illustrative examples, and request further contributions from observers; for, notwithstanding the large amount of material already at hand, much still remains to be done, and careful study is needed before any attempt at a thorough analysis of mortuary customs can be made. It is owing to these facts and from the nature of the material gathered that the paper must be considered more as a compilation than an original effort, the writer having done little else than supply the thread to bind together the accounts furnished.

It is proper to add that all the material obtained will eventually be embodied in a quarto volume, forming one of the series of Contributions to North American Ethnology prepared under the direction of Maj. J. W. Powell, Director of the Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution, from whom, since the inception of the work, most constant encouragement and advice has been received, and to whom all American ethnologists owe a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid.

Having thus called attention to the work, the classification of the subject may be given, and examples furnished of the burial ceremonies among different tribes, calling especial attention to similar or almost analogous customs among the peoples of the Old World.

For our present purpose the following provisional arrangement of burials may be adopted, although further study may lead to some modifications.

CLASSIFICATION OF BURIAL.

1st. By INHUMATION in pits, graves, or holes in the ground, stone graves or cists, in mounds, beneath or in cabins, wigwams, houses or lodges, or in caves.

2d. By EMBALMMENT or a process of mummifying, the remains being afterwards placed in the earth, caves, mounds, boxes on scaffolds, or in charnel-houses.

3d. By DEPOSITION of remains in urns.

4th. By SURFACE BURIAL, the remains being placed in hollow trees or logs, pens, or simply covered with earth, or bark, or rocks forming cairns.

5th. By CREMATION, or partial burning, generally on the surface of the earth, occasionally beneath, the resulting bones or ashes being placed in pits in the ground, in boxes placed on scaffolds or trees, in urns, sometimes scattered.

6th. By AERIAL SEPULTURE, the bodies being left in lodges, houses, cabins, tents, deposited on scaffolds or trees, in boxes or canoes, the two latter receptacles supported on scaffolds or posts, or placed on the ground. Occasionally baskets have been used to contain the remains of children, these being hung to trees.

7th. By AQUATIC BURIAL, beneath the water, or in canoes, which were turned adrift.

These heads might, perhaps, be further subdivided, but the above seem sufficient for all practical needs.

The use of the term _burial_ throughout this paper is to be understood in its literal significance, the word being derived from the Teutonic Anglo-Saxon “_birgan_,” to conceal or hide away.

In giving descriptions of different burials and attendant ceremonies, it has been deemed expedient to introduce entire accounts as furnished, in order to preserve continuity of narrative, and in no case has the relator’s language been changed except to correct manifest unintentional, errors of spelling.

INHUMATION.

_PIT BURIAL._

The commonest mode of burial among North American Indians has been that of interment in the ground, and this has taken place in a number of different ways; the following will, however, serve as good examples of the process:

One of the simplest forms is thus noted by Schoolcraft:[5.1]

The Mohawks of New York made a large round hole in which the body
was placed upright or upon its haunches, after which it was covered
with timber, to support the earth which they lay over, and thereby
kept the body from being pressed. They then raised the earth in a
round hill over it. They always dressed the corpse in all its
finery, and put wampum and other things into the grave with it; and
the relations suffered not grass nor any wood to grow upon the
grave, and frequently visited it and made lamentation.

In Jones[5.2] is the following interesting account from Lawson[5.3] of the burial customs of the Indians formerly inhabiting the Carolinas:

Among the Carolina tribes the burial of the dead was accompanied
with special ceremonies, the expense and formality attendant upon
the funeral according with the rank of the deceased. The corpse was
first placed in a cane hurdle and deposited in an outhouse made for
the purpose, where it was suffered to remain for a day and a night,
guarded and mourned over by the nearest relatives with disheveled
hair. Those who are to officiate at the funeral go into the town,
and from the backs of the first young men they meet strip such
blankets and matchcoats as they deem suitable for their purpose. In
these the dead body is wrapped and then covered with two or three
mats made of rushes or cane. The coffin is made of woven reeds or
hollow canes tied fast at both ends. When everything is prepared for
the interment, the corpse is carried from the house in which it has
been lying into the orchard of peach-trees and is there deposited in
another hurdle. Seated upon mats are there congregated the family
and tribe of the deceased and invited guests. The medicine man, or
conjurer, having enjoined silence, then pronounces a funeral
oration, during which he recounts the exploits of the deceased, his
valor, skill, love of country, property, and influence; alludes to
the void caused by his death, and counsels those who remain to
supply his place by following in his footsteps; pictures the
happiness he will enjoy in the land of spirits to which he has gone,
and concludes his address by an allusion to the prominent traditions
of his tribe.

Let us here pause to remind the reader that this custom has prevailed throughout the civilized world up to the present day--a custom, in the opinion of many, “more honored in the breach than in the observance.”

At last [says Mr. Lawson], the Corpse is brought away from that
Hurdle to the Grave by four young Men, attended by the Relations,
the King, old Men, and all the Nation. When they come to the
Sepulcre, which is about six foot deep and eight foot long, having
at each end (that is, at the Head and Foot) a Light-Wood or
Pitch-Pine Fork driven close down the sides of the Grave firmly into
the Ground (these two Forks are to contain a Ridge-Pole, as you
shall understand presently), before they lay the Corps into the
Grave, they cover the bottom two or three time over with the Bark of
Trees; then they let down the Corps (with two Belts that the
_Indians_ carry their Burdens withal) very leisurely upon the said
Barks; then they lay over a Pole of the same Wood in the two Forks,
and having a great many Pieces of Pitch-Pine Logs about two Foot and
a half long, they stick them in the sides of the Grave down each End
and near the Top thereof, where the other Ends lie in the
Ridge-Pole, so that they are declining like the Roof of a House.
These being very thick plac’d, they cover them [many times double]
with Bark; then they throw the Earth thereon that came out of the
Grave and beat it down very firm. By this Means the dead Body lies
in a Vault, nothing touching him.

After a time the body is taken up, the bones cleaned, and deposited in an ossuary called the Quiogozon.

Figure 1, after De Bry and Lafitau, represents what the early writers called the Quiogozon, or charnel-house, and allusions will be found to it in other parts of this volume. Discrepancies in these accounts impair greatly their value, for one author says that bones were deposited, another dried bodies.

It will be seen from the following account, furnished by M. B. Kent, relating to the Sacs and Foxes (_Oh-sak-ke-uck_) of the Nehema Agency, Nebraska, that these Indians were careful in burying their dead to prevent the earth coming in contact with the body, and this custom has been followed by a number of different tribes, as will be seen by examples given further on.

_Ancient burial._--The body was buried in a grave made about 2½
feet deep, and was laid always with the head towards the east, the
burial taking place as soon after death as possible. The grave was
prepared by putting bark in the bottom of it before the corpse was
deposited, a plank covering made and secured some distance above the
body. The plank was made by splitting trees, until intercourse with
the whites enabled them to obtain sawed lumber. The corpse was
always enveloped in a blanket, and prepared as for a long journey in
life, no coffin being used.

_Modern burial._--This tribe now usually bury in coffins, rude ones
constructed by themselves, still depositing the body in the grave
with the head towards the east.

_Ancient funeral ceremonies._--Every relative of the deceased had to
throw some article in the grave, either food, clothing, or other
material. There was no rule stating the nature of what was to be
added to the collection, simply a requirement that something must be
deposited, if it were only a piece of soiled and faded calico. After
the corpse was lowered into the grave some brave addressed the dead,
instructing him to walk directly westward, that he would soon
discover moccasin tracks, which he must follow until he came to a
great river, which is the river of death; when there he would find a
pole across the river, which, if he has been honest, upright, and
good, will be straight, upon which he could readily cross to the
other side; but if his life had been one of wickedness and sin, the
pole would be very crooked, and in the attempt to cross upon it he
would be precipitated into the turbulent stream and lost forever.
The brave also told him if he crossed the river in safety the Great
Father would receive him, take out his old brains, give him new
ones, and then he would have reached the happy hunting grounds,
always be happy and have eternal life. After burial a feast was
always called, and a portion of the food of which each and every
relative was partaking was burned to furnish subsistence to the
spirit upon its journey.

_Modern funeral ceremonies._--Provisions are rarely put into the
grave, and no portion of what is prepared for the feast subsequent
to burial is burned, although the feast is continued. All the
address delivered by the brave over the corpse after being deposited
in the grave is omitted. A prominent feature of all ceremonies,
either funeral or religious, consists of feasting accompanied with
music and dancing.

_Ancient mourning observances._--The female relations allowed their
hair to hang entirely unrestrained, clothed themselves in the most
unpresentable attire, the latter of which the males also do. Men
blacked the whole face for a period of ten days after a death in the
family, while the women blacked only the cheeks; the faces of the
children were blacked for three months; they were also required to
fast for the same length of time, the fasting to consist of eating
but one meal per day, to be made entirely of hominy, and partaken of
about sunset. It was believed that this fasting would enable the
child to dream of coming events and prophesy what was to happen in
the future. The extent and correctness of prophetic vision depended
upon how faithfully the ordeal of fasting had been observed.

_Modern mourning observances._--Many of those of the past are
continued, such as wearing the hair unrestrained, wearing uncouth
apparel, blacking faces, and fasting of children, and they are
adhered to with as much tenacity as many of the professing
Christians belonging to the evangelical churches adhere to their
practices, which constitute mere forms, the intrinsic value of which
can very reasonably be called in question.

The Creeks and Seminoles of Florida, according to Schoolcraft,[5.4] made the graves of their dead as follows:

When one of the family dies, the relatives bury the corpse about
four feet deep in a round hole dug directly under the cabin or rock
wherever he died. The corpse is placed in the hole in a sitting
posture, with a blanket wrapped about it, and the legs bent under
and tied together. If a warrior, he is painted, and his pipe,
ornaments, and warlike appendages are deposited with him. The grave
is then covered with canes tied to a hoop round the top of the hole,
then a firm layer of clay, sufficient to support the weight of a
man. The relations howl loudly and mourn publicly for four days. If
the deceased has been a man of eminent character, the family
immediately remove from the house in which he is buried and erect a
new one, with a belief that where the bones of their dead are
deposited the place is always attended by goblins and chimeras dire.

Dr. W. C. Boteler, physician to the Otoe Indian Agency, Gage County, Nebraska, in a personal communication to the writer, furnishes a most interesting account of the burial ceremonies of this tribe, in which it may be seen that graves are prepared in a manner similar to those already mentioned:

The Otoe and Missouri tribes of Indians are now located in southern
Gage County, Nebraska, on a reservation of 43,000 acres, unsurpassed
in beauty of location, natural resources, and adaptability for
prosperous agriculture. This pastoral people, though in the midst of
civilization, have departed but little from the rude practice and
customs of a nomadic life, and here may be seen and studied those
interesting dramas as vividly and satisfactorily as upon the remote
frontier.

During my residence among this people on different occasions, I have
had the opportunity of witnessing the Indian burials and many quaint
ceremonies pertaining thereto.

When it is found that the vital spark is wavering in an Otoe
subject, the preparation of the burial costume is immediately began.
The near relatives of the dying Indian surround the humble bedside,
and by loud lamentations and much weeping manifest a grief which is
truly commensurate with the intensity of Indian devotion and
attachment.

While thus expressing before the near departed their grief at the
sad separation impending, the Indian women, or friendly braves, lose
no time in equipping him or her with the most ornate clothes and
ornaments that are available or in immediate possession. It is thus
that the departed Otoe is enrobed in death, in articles of his own
selection and by arrangements of his own taste and dictated by his
own tongue. It is customary for the dying Indian to dictate, ere his
departure, the propriety or impropriety of the accustomed
sacrifices. In some cases there is a double and in others no
sacrifice at all. The Indian women then prepare to cut away their
hair; it is accomplished with scissors, cutting close to the scalp
at the side and behind.

The preparation of the dead for burial is conducted with great
solemnity and care. Bead-work, the most ornate, expensive blankets
and ribbons comprise the funeral shroud. The dead, being thus
enrobed, is placed in a recumbent posture at the most conspicuous
part of the lodge and viewed in rotation by the mourning relatives
previously summoned by a courier, all preserving uniformity in the
piercing screams which would seem to have been learned by rote.

An apparent service is then conducted. The aged men of the tribe,
arranged in a circle, chant a peculiar funeral dirge around one of
their number, keeping time upon a drum or some rude cooking-utensil.

At irregular intervals an aged relative will arise and dance
excitedly around the central person, vociferating, and with wild
gesture, tomahawk in hand, imprecate the evil spirit, which he
drives to the land where the sun goes down. The evil spirit being
thus effectually banished, the mourning gradually subsides, blending
into succeeding scenes of feasting and refreshment. The burial feast
is in every respect equal in richness to its accompanying
ceremonies. All who assemble are supplied with cooked venison, hog,
buffalo, or beef, regular waiters distributing alike hot cakes
soaked in grease and coffee or water, as the case may be.

Frequently during this stage of the ceremony the most aged Indian
present will sit in the central circle, and in a continuous and
doleful tone narrate the acts of valor in the life of the departed,
enjoining fortitude and bravery upon all sitting around as an
essential qualification for admittance to the land where the Great
Spirit reigns. When the burial feast is well-nigh completed, it is
customary for the surviving friends to present the bereaved family
with useful articles of domestic needs, such as calico in bolt,
flannel cloth, robes, and not unfrequently ponies or horses. After
the conclusion of the ceremonies at the lodge, the body is carefully
placed in a wagon and, with an escort of all friends, relatives, and
acquaintances, conveyed to the grave previously prepared by some
near relation or friend. When a wagon is used, the immediate
relatives occupy it with the corpse, which is propped in a
semi-sitting posture; before the use of wagons among the Otoes, it
was necessary to bind the body of the deceased upon a horse and then
convey him to his last resting place among his friends. In past days
when buffalo were more available, and a tribal hunt was more
frequently indulged in, it is said that those dying on the way were
bound upon horses and thus frequently carried several hundred miles
for interment at the burial places of their friends.

At the graveyard of the Indians the ceremony partakes of a double
nature; upon the one hand it is sanguinary and cruel, and upon the
other blended with the deepest grief and most heartfelt sorrow.
Before the interment of the dead the chattels of the deceased are
unloaded from the wagons or unpacked from the backs of ponies and
carefully arranged in the vault-like tomb. The bottom, which is
wider than the top (graves here being dug like an inverted funnel),
is spread with straw or grass matting, woven generally by the Indian
women of the tribe or some near neighbor. The sides are then
carefully hung with handsome shawls or blankets, and trunks, with
domestic articles, pottery, &c., of less importance, are piled
around in abundance. The sacrifices are next inaugurated. A pony,
first designated by the dying Indian, is led aside and strangled by
men hanging to either end of a rope. Sometimes, but not always,
a dog is likewise strangled, the heads of both animals being
subsequently laid upon the Indian’s grave. The body, which is now
often placed in a plain coffin, is lowered into the grave, and if a
coffin is used the friends take their parting look at the deceased
before closing it at the grave. After lowering, a saddle and bridle,
blankets, dishes, &c., are placed upon it, the mourning ceases, and
the Indians prepare to close the grave. It should be remembered,
among the Otoe and Missouri Indians dirt is not filled in upon the
body, but simply rounded up from the surface upon stout logs that
are accurately fitted over the opening of the grave. After the
burying is completed, a distribution of the property of the deceased
takes place, the near relatives receiving everything, from the
merest trifle to the tent and homes, leaving the immediate family,
wife and children or father out-door pensioners.

Although the same generosity is not observed towards the whites
assisting in funeral rites, it is universally practiced as regards
Indians, and poverty’s lot is borne by the survivors with a
fortitude and resignation which in them amounts to duty, and marks a
higher grade of intrinsic worth than pervades whites of like
advantages and conditions. We are told in the Old Testament
Scriptures, “four days and four nights should the fires burn,” &c.
In fulfillment of this sacred injunction, we find the midnight vigil
carefully kept by these Indians four days and four nights at the
graves of their departed. A small fire is kindled for the purpose
near the grave at sunset, where the nearest relatives convene and
maintain a continuous lamentation till the morning dawn. There was
an ancient tradition that at the expiration of this time the Indian
arose, and mounting his spirit pony, galloped off to the happy
hunting-ground beyond.

Happily, with the advancement of Christianity these superstitions
have faded, and the living sacrifices are partially continued only
from a belief that by parting with their most cherished and valuable
goods they propitiate the Great Spirit for the sins committed during
the life of the deceased. This, though at first revolting, we find
was the practice of our own forefathers, offering up as burnt
offerings the lamb or the ox; hence we cannot censure this people,
but, from a comparison of conditions, credit them with a more strict
observance of our Holy Book than pride and seductive fashions permit
of us.

From a careful review of the whole of their attendant ceremonies a
remarkable similarity can be marked. The arrangement of the corpse
preparatory to interment, the funeral feast, the local service by
the aged fathers, are all observances that have been noted among
whites, extending into times that are in the memory of those still
living.

The Pimas of Arizona, actuated by apparently the same motives that led the more eastern tribes to endeavor to prevent contact of earth with the corpse, adopted a plan which has been described by Capt. F. E. Grossman,[5.5] and the account is corroborated by M. Alphonse Pinart[5.6] and Bancroft.[5.7]

Captain Grossman’s account follows:

The Pimas tie the bodies of their dead with ropes, passing the
latter around their neck and under the knees, and then drawing them
tight until the body is doubled up and forced into a sitting
position. They dig the graves from four to five feet deep and
perfectly round (about two feet in diameter), and then hollow out to
one side of the bottom of this grave a sort of vault large enough to
contain the body. Here the body is deposited, the grave is filled up
level with the ground, and poles, trees, or pieces of timber placed
upon the grave to protect the remains from coyotes.

Burials usually take place at night without much ceremony. The
mourners chant during the burial, but signs of grief are rare. The
bodies of their dead are buried if possible, immediately after death
has taken place and the graves are generally prepared before the
patients die. Sometimes sick persons (for whom the graves had
already been dug) recover. In such cases the graves are left open
until the persons for whom they are intended die. Open graves of
this kind can be seen in several of their burial grounds. Places of
burial are selected some distance from the village, and, if
possible, in a grove of mesquite trees.

Immediately after the remains have been buried, the house and
personal effects of the deceased are burned and his horses and
cattle killed, the meat being cooked as a repast for the mourners.
The nearest relatives of the deceased as a sign of their sorrow
remain within their village for weeks, and sometimes months; the men
cut off about six inches of their long hair, while the women cut
their hair quite short. * * *

The custom of destroying all the property of the husband when he
dies impoverishes the widow and children and prevents increase of
stock. The women of the tribe, well aware that they will be poor
should their husbands die, and that then they will have to provide
for their children by their own exertions, do not care to have many
children, and infanticide, both before and after birth, prevails to
a great extent. This is not considered a crime, and old women of the
tribe practice it. A widow may marry again after a year’s mourning
for her first husband; but having children no man will take her for
a wife and thus burden himself with her children. Widows generally
cultivate a small piece of ground, and friends and relatives (men)
plow the ground for them.

Fig. 2, drawn from Captain Grossman’s description by my friend Dr. W. J. Hoffman, will convey a good idea of this mode of burial.

Stephen Powers[5.8] describes a similar mode of grave preparation among the Yuki of California:

The Yuki bury their dead in a sitting posture. They dig a hole six
feet deep sometimes and at the bottom of it “_coyote_” under, making
a little recess in which the corpse is deposited.

The Comanches of Indian Territory (_Nem_, _we, or us, people_), according to Dr. Fordyce Grinnell, of the Wichita Agency, Indian Territory, go to the opposite extreme, so far as the protection of the dead from the surrounding earth is concerned. The account as received is given entire, as much to illustrate this point as others of interest.

When a Comanche is dying, while the death-rattle may yet be faintly
heard in the throat, and the natural warmth has not departed from
the body, the knees are strongly bent upon the chest, and the legs
flexed upon the thighs. The arms are also flexed upon each side of
the chest, and the head bent forward upon the knees. A lariat, or
rope, is now used to firmly bind the limbs and body in this
position. A blanket is then wrapped around the body, and this again
tightly corded, so that the appearance when ready for burial is that
of an almost round and compact body, very unlike the composed pall
of his Wichita or Caddo brother. The body is then taken and placed
in a saddle upon a pony, in a sitting posture; a squaw usually
riding behind, though sometimes one on either side of the horse,
holds the body in position until the place of burial is reached,
when the corpse is literally tumbled into the excavation selected
for the purpose. The deceased is only accompanied by two or three
squaws, or enough to perform the little labor bestowed upon the
burial. The body is taken due west of the lodge or village of the
bereaved, and usually one of the deep washes or heads of cañons in
which the Comanche country abounds is selected, and the body thrown
in, without special reference to position. With this are deposited
the bows and arrows; these, however, are first broken. The saddle is
also placed in the grave, together with many of the personal
valuables of the departed. The body is then covered over with sticks
and earth, and sometimes stones are placed over the whole.

_Funeral ceremonies._--the best pony owned by the deceased is
brought to the grave and killed, that the departed may appear well
mounted and caparisoned among his fellows in the other world.
Formerly, if the deceased were a chief or man of consequence and had
large herds of ponies, many were killed, sometimes amounting to 200
or 300 head in number.

The Comanches illustrate the importance of providing a good pony for
the convoy of the deceased to the happy-grounds by the following
story, which is current among both Comanches and Wichitas:

“A few years since, an old Comanche died who had no relatives and
who was quite poor. Some of the tribe concluded that almost any kind
of a pony would serve to transport him to the next world. They
therefore killed at his grave an old, ill-conditioned, lop-eared
horse. But a few weeks after the burial of this friendless one, lo
and behold he returned, riding this same old worn-out horse, weary
and hungry. He first appeared at the Wichita camps, where he was
well known, and asked for something to eat, but his strange
appearance, with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks, filled with
consternation all who saw him, and they fled from his presence.
Finally one bolder than the rest placed a piece of meat on the end
of a lodge-pole and extended it to him. He soon appeared at his own
camp, creating, if possible, even more dismay than among the
Wichitas, and this resulted in both Wichitas and Comanches leaving
their villages and moving _en masse_ to a place on Rush Creek, not
far distant from the present site of Fort Sill.

“When the troubled spirit from the sunsetting world was questioned
why he thus appeared among the inhabitants of earth, he made reply
that when he came to the gates of paradise the keepers would on no
account permit him to enter upon such an ill-conditioned beast as
that which bore him, and thus in sadness he returned to haunt the
homes of those whose stinginess and greed permitted him no better
equipment. Since this no Comanche has been permitted to depart with
the sun to his chambers in the west without a steed which in
appearance should do honor alike to the rider and his friends.”

The body is buried at the sunsetting side of the camp, that the
spirit may accompany the setting sun to the world beyond. The spirit
starts on its journey the following night after death has taken
place; if this occur at night, the journey is not begun until the
next night.

_Mourning observances._--All the effects of the deceased, the tents,
blankets, clothes, treasures, and whatever of value, aside from the
articles which have been buried with the body, are burned, so that
the family is left in poverty. This practice has extended even to
the burning of wagons and harness since some of the civilized habits
have been adopted. It is believed that these ascend to heaven in the
smoke, and will thus be of service to the owner in the other world.
Immediately upon the death of a member of the household, the
relatives begin a peculiar wailing, and the immediate members of the
family take off their customary apparel and clothe themselves in
rags and cut themselves across the arms, breast, and other portions
of the body, until sometimes a fond wife or mother faints from loss
of blood. This scarification is usually accomplished with a knife,
or, as in earlier days, with a flint. Hired mourners are employed at
times who are in no way related to the family, but who are
accomplished in the art of crying for the dead. These are invariably
women. Those nearly related to the departed, cut off the long locks
from the entire head, while those more distantly related, or special
friends, cut the hair only from one side of the head. In case of the
death of a chief, the young warriors also cut the hair, usually from
the left side of the head.

After the first few days of continued grief, the mourning is
conducted more especially at sunrise and sunset, as the Comanches
venerate the sun; and the mourning at these seasons is kept up, if
the death occurred in summer, until the leaves fall, or, if in the
winter, until they reappear.

It is a matter of some interest to note that the preparation of the corpse and the grave among the Comanches is almost identical with the burial customs of some of the African tribes, and the baling of the body with ropes or cords is a wide and common usage of savage peoples. The hiring of mourners is also a practice which has been very prevalent from remotest periods of time.

_GRAVE BURIAL._

The following interesting account of burial among the Pueblo Indians of San Geronimo de Taos, New Mexico, furnished by Judge Anthony Joseph, will show in a manner how civilized customs have become engrafted upon those of a more barbaric nature. It should be remembered that the Pueblo people are next to the Cherokees, Choctaws, and others in the Indian Territory, the most civilized of our tribes.

According to Judge Joseph, these people call themselves _Wee-ka-nahs_.

These are commonly known to the whites as _Piros_. The manner of
burial by these Indians, both ancient and modern, as far as I can
ascertain from information obtained from the most intelligent of the
tribe, is that the body of the dead is and has been always buried in
the ground in a horizontal position with the flat bottom of the
grave. The grave is generally dug out of the ground in the usual and
ordinary manner, being about 6 feet deep, 7 feet long, and about 2
feet wide. It is generally finished after receiving its occupant by
being leveled with the hard ground around it, never leaving, as is
customary with the whites, a mound to mark the spot. This tribe of
Pueblo Indians never cremated their dead, as they do not know, even
by tradition, that it was ever done or attempted. There are no
utensils or implements placed in the grave, but there are a great
many Indian ornaments, such as beads of all colors, sea-shells,
hawk-bells, round looking-glasses, and a profusion of ribbons of all
imaginable colors; then they paint the body with red vermilion and
white chalk, giving it a most fantastic as well as ludicrous
appearance. They also place a variety of food in the grave as a wise
provision for its long journey to the happy hunting-ground beyond
the clouds.

The funeral ceremonies of this tribe are very peculiar. First, after
death, the body is laid out on a fancy buffalo robe spread out on
the ground, then they dress the body in the best possible manner in
their style of dress; if a male, they put on his beaded leggins and
embroidered _saco_, and his fancy dancing-moccasins, and his large
brass or shell ear-rings; if a female, they put on her best manta or
dress, tied around the waist with a silk sash, put on her feet her
fancy dancing-moccasins; her _rosario_ around her neck, her brass or
shell ear-rings in her ears, and with her tressed black hair tied up
with red tape or ribbon, this completes her wardrobe for her long
and happy chase. When they get through dressing the body, they place
about a dozen lighted candles around it, and keep them burning
continually until the body is buried. As soon as the candles are
lighted, the _veloris_, or wake, commences; the body lies in state
for about twenty-four hours, and in that time all the friends,
relatives, and neighbors of the deceased or “_difunti_” visit the
wake, chant, sing, and pray for the soul of the same, and tell one
another of the good deeds and traits of valor and courage manifested
by the deceased during his earthly career, and at intervals in their
praying, singing, &c., some near relative of the deceased will step
up to the corpse and every person in the room commences to cry
bitterly and express aloud words of endearment to the deceased and
of condolence to the family of the same in their untimely
bereavement.