Chapter VII: Front Matter (7)

At about midnight supper is announced, and every person in
attendance marches out into another room and partakes of a frugal
Indian meal, generally composed of wild game; Chilé Colorado or
red-pepper tortillas, and guayaves, with a good supply of mush and
milk, which completes the festive board of the _veloris_ or wake.
When the deceased is in good circumstances, the crowd in attendance
is treated every little while during the wake to alcoholic
refreshments. This feast and feasting is kept up until the Catholic
priest arrives to perform the funeral rites.

When the priest arrives, the corpse is done up or rather baled up in
a large and well-tanned buffalo robe, and tied around tight with a
rope or lasso made for the purpose; then six or eight men act as
pall-bearers, conducting the body to the place of burial, which is
in front of their church or chapel. The priest conducts the funeral
ceremonies in the ordinary and usual way of mortuary proceedings
observed by the Catholic church all over the world. While the
grave-diggers are filling up the grave, the friends, relatives,
neighbors, and, in fact, all persons that attend the funeral, give
vent to their sad feelings by making the whole pueblo howl; after
the tremendous uproar subsides, they disband and leave the body to
rest until Gabriel blows his trumpet. When the ceremonies are
performed with all the pomp of the Catholic church, the priest
receives a fair compensation for his services; otherwise he
officiates for the yearly rents that all the Indians of the pueblo
pay him, which amount in the sum total to about $2,000 per annum.

These Pueblo Indians are very strict in their mourning observance,
which last for one year after the demise of the deceased. While in
mourning for the dead, the mourners do not participate in the
national festivities of the tribe, which are occasions of state with
them, but they retire into a state of sublime quietude which makes
more civilized people sad to observe; but when the term of mourning
ceases, at the end of the year, they have high mass said for the
benefit of the soul of the departed; after this they again appear
upon the arena of their wild sports and continue to be gay and happy
until the next mortal is called from this terrestrial sphere to the
happy hunting-ground, which is their pictured celestial paradise.
The above cited facts, which are the most interesting points
connected with the burial customs of the Indians of the pueblo San
Geronimo de Taos, are not in the least exaggerated, but are the
absolute facts, which I have witnessed myself in many instances for
a period of more than twenty years that I have resided but a short
distant from said pueblo, and, being a close observer of their
peculiar burial customs, am able to give you this true and
undisguised information relative to your circular on “burial
customs.”

Another example of the care which is taken to prevent the earth coming in contact with the corpse may be found in the account of the burial of the Wichita Indians of Indian Territory, furnished by Dr. Fordyce Grinnell, whose name has already been mentioned in connection with the Comanche customs. The Wichitas call themselves _Kitty-ka-tats_, or those of the tattooed eyelids.

When a Wichita dies the town-crier goes up and down through the
village and announces the fact. Preparations are immediately made
for the burial, and the body is taken without delay to the grave
prepared for its reception. If the grave is some distance from the
village, the body is carried thither on the back of a pony, being
first wrapped in blankets and then laid prone, across the saddle,
one person walking on either side to support it. The grave is dug
from three to four feet deep and of sufficient length for the
extended body. First blankets and buffalo-robes are laid in the
bottom of the grave, then the body, being taken from the horse and
unwrapped, is dressed in its best apparel and with ornaments is
placed upon a couch of blankets and robes, with the head towards the
west and the feet to the east; the valuables belonging to the
deceased are placed with the body in the grave. With the man are
deposited his bows and arrows or gun, and with the woman her cooking
utensils and other implements of her toil. Over the body sticks are
placed six or eight inches deep and grass over these, so that when
the earth is filled in, it need not come in contact with the body or
its trappings. After the grave is filled with earth, a pen of poles
is built around it, or as is frequently the case, stakes are driven
so that they cross each other from either side about midway over the
grave, thus forming a complete protection from the invasion of wild
animals. After all this is done, the grass or other _debris_ is
carefully scraped from about the grave for several feet, so that the
ground is left smooth and clean. It is seldom the case that the
relatives accompany the remains to the grave, but they more often
employ others to bury the body for them, usually women. Mourning is
similar in this tribe, as in others, and it consists in cutting off
the hair, fasting, &c. Horses are also killed at the grave.

The Caddoes, _Ascena_, or Timber Indians, as they call themselves, follow nearly the same mode of burial as the Wichitas, but one custom prevailing is worthy of mention:

If a Caddo is killed in battle, the body is never buried, but is
left to be devoured by beasts or birds of prey, and the condition of
such individuals in the other world is considered to be far better
than that of persons dying a natural death.

In a work by Bruhier[5.9] the following remarks, freely translated by the writer, may be found, which note a custom having great similarity to the exposure of bodies to wild beasts mentioned above:

The ancient Persians threw out the bodies of their dead on the
roads, and if they were promptly devoured by wild beasts it was
esteemed a great honor, a misfortune if not. Sometimes they
interred, always wrapping the dead in a wax cloth to prevent odor.

M. Pierre Muret,[5.10] from whose book Bruhier probably obtained his information, gives at considerable length an account of this peculiar method of treating the dead among the Persians, as follows:

It is a matter of astonishment, considering the _Persians_ have ever
had the renown of being one of the most civilized Nations in the
world, that notwithstanding they should have used such barbarous
customs about the Dead as are set down in the Writings of some
Historians; and the rather because at this day there are still to be
seen among them those remains of Antiquity, which do fully satisfie
us, that their Tombs have been very magnificent. And yet
nevertheless, if we will give credit to _Procopius_ and _Agathias_,
the _Persians_ were never wont to bury their Dead Bodies, so far
were they from bestowing any Funeral Honours upon them: But, as
these Authors tell us, they exposed them stark naked in the open
fields, which is the greatest shame our Laws do allot to the most
infamous Criminals, by laying them open to the view of all upon the
highways: Yea, in their opinion it was a great unhappiness, if
either Birds or Beasts did not devour their Carcases; and they
commonly made an estimate of the Felicity of these poor Bodies,
according as they were sooner or later made a prey of. Concerning
these, they resolved that they must needs have been very bad indeed,
since even the beasts themselves would not touch them; which caused
an extream sorrow to their Relations, they taking it for an ill
boding to their Family, and an infallible presage of some great
misfortune hanging over their heads; for they persuaded themselves,
that the Souls which inhabited those Bodies being dragg’d into Hell,
would not fail to come and trouble them; and that being always
accompanied with the Devils, their Tormentors, they would certainly
give them a great deal of disturbance.

And on the contrary, when these Corpses were presently devoured,
their joy was very great, they enlarged themselves in praises of the
Deceased; every one esteeming them undoubtedly happy, and came to
congratulate their relations on that account: For as they believed
assuredly, that they were entered into the _Elysian_ Fields, so they
were persuaded, that they would procure the same bliss for all those
of their family.

They also took a great delight to see Skeletons and Bones scatered
up and down in the fields, whereas we can scarcely endure to see
those of Horses and Dogs used so. And these remains of Humane
Bodies, (the sight whereof gives us so much horror, that we
presently bury them out of our sight, whenever we find them
elsewhere than in Charnel-houses or Church-yards) were the occasion
of their greatest joy; beecause they concluded from thence the
happiness of those that had been devoured, wishing after their Death
to meet with the like good luck.

The same author states, and Bruhier corroborates the assertion, that the Parthians, Medes, Iberians, Caspians, and a few others, had such a horror and aversion of the corruption and decomposition of the dead, and of their being eaten by worms, that they threw out the bodies into the open fields to be devoured by wild beasts, a part of their belief being that persons so devoured would not be entirely extinct, but enjoy at least a partial sort of life in their living sepulchers. It is quite probable that for these and other reasons the Bactrians and Hircanians trained dogs for this special purpose, called _Canes sepulchrales_, which received the greatest care and attention, for it was deemed proper that the souls of the deceased should have strong and lusty frames to dwell in.

The Buddhists of Bhotan are said to expose the bodies of their dead on top of high rocks.

According to Tegg, whose work is quoted frequently, in the London Times of January 28, 1876, Mr. Monier Williams writes from Calcutta regarding the “Towers of Silence,” so called, of the Parsees, who, it is well known, are the descendants of the ancient Persians expelled from Persia by the Mohammedan conquerors, and settled at Surat about 1,100 years since. This gentleman’s narrative is freely made use of to show how the custom of the exposure of the dead to birds of prey has continued up to the present time.

The Dakhmas, or Parsee towers of silence, are erected in a garden on
the highest point of Malabar Hill, a beautiful, rising ground on one
side of Black Bay, noted for the bungalows and compounds of the
European and wealthier inhabitants of Bombay scattered in every
direction over its surface.

The garden is approached by a well-constructed, private road, all
access to which, except to Parsees, is barred by strong iron gates.

The garden is described as being very beautiful, and he says:

No English nobleman’s garden could be better kept, and no pen could
do justice to the glories of its flowering shrubs, cypresses, and
palms. It seemed the very ideal, not only of a place of sacred
silence, but of peaceful rest.

The towers are five in number, built of hardest black granite, about 40 feet in diameter and 25 in height, and constructed so solidly as almost to resist absolutely the ravages of time. The oldest and smallest of the towers was constructed about 200 years since, when the Parsees first settled in Bombay, and is used only for a certain family. The next oldest was erected in 1756, and the three others during the next century. A sixth tower of square shape stands alone, and is only used for criminals.

The writer proceeds as follows:

Though wholly destitute of ornament and even of the simplest
moldings, the parapet of each tower possesses an extraordinary
coping, which instantly attracts and fascinates the gaze. It is a
coping formed not of dead stone, but of living vultures. These
birds, on the occasion of my visit, had settled themselves side by
side in perfect order and in a complete circle around the parapets
of the towers, with their heads pointing inwards, and so lazily did
they sit there, and so motionless was their whole mien, that except
for their color, they might have been carved out of the stonework.

No one is allowed to enter the towers except the corpse-bearers, nor is any one permitted within thirty feet of the immediate precincts. A model was shown Mr. Williams, and from it he drew up this description:

Imagine a round column or massive cylinder, 12 or 14 feet high and
at least 40 feet in diameter, built throughout of solid stone except
in the center, where a well, 5 or 6 feet across, leads down to an
excavation under the masonry, containing four drains at right angles
to each other, terminated by holes filled with charcoal. Round the
upper surface of this solid circular cylinder, and completely hiding
the interior from view, is a stone parapet, 10 or 12 feet in height.
This it is which, when viewed from the outside, appears to form one
piece with the solid stone-work, and being, like it, covered with
chunam, gives the whole the appearance of a low tower. The upper
surface of the solid stone column is divided into 72 compartments,
or open receptacles, radiating like the spokes of a wheel from the
central well, and arranged in three concentric rings, separated from
each other by narrow ridges of stone, which are grooved to act as
channels for conveying all moisture from the receptacles into the
well and into the lower drains. It should be noted that the number
“3” is emblematical of Zoroaster’s three precepts, and the number
“72” of the chapters of his Yasna, a portion of the Zend-Avestá.

Each circle of open stone coffins is divided from the next by a
pathway, so that there are three circular pathways, the last
encircling the central well, and these three pathways are crossed by
another pathway conducting from the solitary door which admits the
corpse-bearers from the exterior. In the outermost circle of the
stone coffins are placed the bodies of males, in the middle those of
the females, and in the inner and smallest circle nearest the well
those of children.

While I was engaged with the secretary in examining the model,
a sudden stir among the vultures made us raise our heads. At least a
hundred birds collected round one of the towers began to show
symptoms of excitement, while others swooped down from neighboring
trees. The cause of this sudden abandonment of their previous apathy
soon revealed itself. A funeral was seen to be approaching. However
distant the house of a deceased person, and whether he be rich or
poor, high or low in rank, his body is always carried to the towers
by the official corpse-bearers, called _Nasasalár_, who form a
distinct class, the mourners walking behind.

Before they remove the body from the house where the relatives are
assembled, funeral prayers are recited, and the corpse is exposed to
the gaze of a dog, regarded by the Parsees as a sacred animal. This
latter ceremony is called _sagdid_.

Then the body, swathed in a white sheet, is placed in a curved metal
trough, open at both ends, and the corpse-bearers, dressed in pure
white garments, proceed with it towards the towers. They are
followed by the mourners at a distance of at least 30 feet, in
pairs, also dressed in white, and each couple joined by holding a
white handkerchief between them. The particular funeral I witnessed
was that of a child. When the two corpse-bearers reached the path
leading by a steep incline to the door of the tower, the mourners,
about eight in number, turned back and entered one of the
prayer-houses. “There,” said the secretary, “they repeat certain
gáthás, and pray that the spirit of the deceased may be safely
transported, on the fourth day after death, to its final
resting-place.”

The tower selected for the present funeral was one in which other
members of the same family had before been laid. The two bearers
speedily unlocked the door, reverently conveyed the body of the
child into the interior, and, unseen by any one, laid it uncovered
in one of the open stone receptacles nearest the central well. In
two minutes they reappeared with the empty bier and white cloth, and
scarcely had they closed the door when a dozen vultures swooped down
upon the body and were rapidly followed by others. In five minutes
more we saw the satiated birds fly back and lazily settle down again
upon the parapet. They had left nothing behind but a skeleton.
Meanwhile, the bearers were seen to enter a building shaped like a
high barrel. There, as the secretary informed me, they changed their
clothes and washed themselves. Shortly afterwards we saw them come
out and deposit their cast-off funeral garments in a stone
receptacle near at hand. Not a thread leaves the garden, lest it
should carry defilement into the city. Perfectly new garments are
supplied at each funeral. In a fortnight, or, at most, four weeks,
the same bearers return, and, with gloved hands and implements
resembling tongs, place the dry skeleton in the central well. There
the bones find their last resting-place, and there the dust of whole
generations of Parsees commingling is left undisturbed for
centuries.

The revolting sight of the gorged vultures made me turn my back on
the towers with ill-concealed abhorrence. I asked the secretary how
it was possible to become reconciled to such usage. His reply was
nearly in the following words: “Our prophet Zoroaster, who lived
6,000 years ago, taught us to regard the elements as symbols of the
Deity. Earth, fire, water, he said, ought never, under any
circumstances, to be defiled by contact with putrefying flesh.
Naked, he said, came we into the world and naked we ought to leave
it. But the decaying particles of our bodies should be dissipated as
rapidly as possible and in such a way that neither Mother Earth nor
the beings she supports should be contaminated in the slightest
degree. In fact, our prophet was the greatest of health officers,
and, following his sanitary laws, we build our towers on the tops of
the hills, above all human habitations. We spare no expense in
constructing them of the hardest materials, and we expose our
putrescent bodies in open stone receptacles, resting on fourteen
feet of solid granite, not necessarily to be consumed by vultures,
but to be dissipated in the speediest possible manner and without
the possibility of polluting the earth or contaminating a single
being dwelling thereon. God, indeed, sends the vultures, and, as a
matter of fact, these birds do their appointed work much more
expeditiously than millions of insects would do if we committed our
bodies to the ground. In a sanitary point of view, nothing can be
more perfect than our plan. Even the rain-water which washes our
skeletons is conducted by channels into purifying charcoal. Here in
these five towers rest the bones of all the Parsees that have lived
in Bombay for the last two hundred years. We form a united body in
life and we are united in death.”

It would appear that the reasons given for this peculiar mode of disposing of the dead by the Parsee secretary are quite at variance with the ideas advanced by Muret regarding the ancient Persians, and to which allusion has already been made. It might be supposed that somewhat similar motives to those governing the Parsees actuated those of the North American Indians who deposit their dead on scaffolds and trees, but the theory becomes untenable when it is recollected that great care is taken to preserve the dead from the ravages of carnivorous birds, the corpse being carefully enveloped in skins and firmly tied up with ropes or thongs.

Figures 3 and 4 are representations of the Parsee towers of silence, drawn by Mr. Holmes, mainly from the description given.

George Gibbs[5.11] gives the following account of burial among the Klamath and Trinity Indians of the Northwest coast, the information having been originally furnished him by James G. Swan.

The graves, which are in the immediate vicinity of their houses,
exhibit very considerable taste and a laudable care. The dead are
inclosed in rude coffins formed by placing four boards around the
body, and covered with earth to some depth; a heavy plank, often
supported by upright head and foot stones, is laid upon the top, or
stones are built up into a wall about a foot above the ground, and
the top flagged with others. The graves of the chiefs are surrounded
by neat wooden palings, each pale ornamented with a feather from the
tail of the bald eagle. Baskets are usually staked down by the side,
according to the wealth or popularity of the individual, and
sometimes other articles for ornament or use are suspended over
them. The funeral ceremonies occupy three days, during which the
soul of the deceased is in danger from _O-mah-á_, or the devil. To
preserve it from this peril, a fire is kept up at the grave, and the
friends of the deceased howl around it to scare away the demon.
Should they not be successful in this the soul is carried down the
river, subject, however, to redemption by _Péh-ho-wan_ on payment of
a big knife. After the expiration of three days it is all well with
them.

The question may well be asked, is the big knife a “sop to Cerberus”?

To Dr. Charles E. McChesney, acting assistant surgeon, United States Army, one of the most conscientious and careful of observers, the writer is indebted for the following interesting account of the mortuary customs of the

WAH-PETON AND SISSETON SIOUX OF DAKOTA.

A large proportion of these Indians being members of the
Presbyterian church (the missionaries of which church have labored
among them for more than forty years past), the dead of their
families are buried after the customs of that church, and this
influence is felt to a great extent among those Indians who are not
strict church members, so that they are dropping one by one the
traditional customs of their tribe, and but few can now be found who
bury their dead in accordance with their customs of twenty or more
years ago. The dead of those Indians who still adhere to their
modern burial customs are buried in the ways indicated below.

_Warrior._--After death they paint a warrior red across the mouth,
or they paint a hand in black color, with the thumb on one side of
the mouth and the fingers separated on the other cheek, the rest of
the face being painted red. (This latter is only done as a mark of
respect to a specially brave man.) Spears, clubs, and the
medicine-bag of the deceased when alive are buried with the body,
the medicine-bag being placed on the bare skin over the region of
the heart. There is not now, nor has there been, among these Indians
any special preparation of the grave. The body of a warrior is
generally wrapped in a blanket or piece of cloth (and frequently in
addition is placed in a box) and buried in the grave prepared for
the purpose, always, as the majority of these Indians inform me,
with the head towards the _south_. (I have, however, seen many
graves in which the head of the occupant had been placed to the
_east_. It may be that these graves were those of Indians who
belonged to the church; and a few Indians inform me that the head is
sometimes placed towards the _west_, according to the occupant’s
belief when alive as to the direction from which his guiding
medicine came, and I am personally inclined to give credence to this
latter as sometimes occurring.) In all burials, when the person has
died a natural death, or had not been murdered, and whether man,
woman, or child, the body is placed in the grave with the face _up_.
In cases, however, when a man or woman has been murdered by one of
their own tribe, the body was, and is always, placed in the grave
with the face _down_, head to the _south_, and a piece of fat (bacon
or pork) placed in the mouth. This piece of fat is placed in the
mouth, as these Indians say, to prevent the spirit of the murdered
person driving or scaring the game from that section of country.
Those Indians who state that their dead are always buried with the
head towards the south say they do so in order that the spirit of
the deceased may go to the south, the land from which these Indians
believe they originally came.

_Women and children._--Before death the face of the person expected
to die is often painted in a red color. When this is not done before
death it is done afterwards; the body being then buried in a grave
prepared for its reception, and in the manner described for a
warrior, cooking-utensils taking the place of the warrior’s weapons.
In cases of boys and girls a kettle of cooked food is sometimes
placed at the head of the grave after the body is covered. Now, if
the dead body be that of a boy, all the boys of about his age go up
and eat of the food, and in cases of girls all the girls do
likewise. This, however, has never obtained as a custom, but is
sometimes done in cases of warriors and women also.

Cremation has never been practiced by these Indians. It is now, and
always has been, a custom among them to remove a lock of hair from
the top or scalp lock of a warrior, or from the left side of the
head of a woman, which is carefully preserved by some near relative
of the deceased, wrapped in pieces of calico and muslin, and hung in
the lodge of the deceased and is considered the ghost of the dead
person. To the bundle is attached a tin cup or other vessel, and in
this is placed some food for the spirit of the dead person. Whenever
a stranger happens in at meal time, this food, however, is not
allowed to go to waste; if not consumed by the stranger to whom it
is offered, some of the occupants of the lodge eat it. They seem to
take some pains to please the ghost of the deceased, thinking
thereby they will have good luck in their family so long as they
continue to do so. It is a custom with the men when they smoke to
offer the pipe to the ghost, at the same time asking it to confer
some favor on them, or aid them in their work or in hunting, &c.

There is a feast held over this bundle containing the ghost of the
deceased, given by the friends of the dead man. This feast may be at
any time, and is not at any particular time, occurring, however,
generally as often as once a year, unless, at the time of the first
feast, the friends designate a particular time, such, for instance,
as when the leaves fall, or when the grass comes again. This bundle
is never permitted to leave the lodge of the friends of the dead
person, except to be buried in the grave of one of them. Much of the
property of the deceased person is buried with the body, a portion
being placed under the body and a portion over it. Horses are
sometimes killed on the grave of a warrior, but this custom is
gradually ceasing, in consequence of the value of their ponies.
These animals are therefore now generally given away by the person
before death, or after death disposed of by the near relatives. Many
years ago it was customary to kill one or more ponies at the grave.
In cases of more than ordinary wealth for an Indian, much of his
personal property is now, and has ever been, reserved from burial
with the body, and forms the basis for a gambling party, which will
be described hereafter. No food is ever buried in the grave, but
some is occasionally placed at the head of it; in which case it is
consumed by the friends of the dead person. Such is the method that
was in vogue with these Indians twenty years ago, and which is still
adhered to, with more or less exactness, by the majority of them,
the exceptions being those who are strict church members and those
very few families who adhere to their ancient customs.

Before the year 1860 it was a custom, for as long back as the oldest
members of these tribes can remember, and with the usual tribal
traditions handed down from generation to generation, in regard to
this as well as to other things, for these Indians to bury in a tree
or on a platform, and in those days an Indian was only buried in the
ground as a mark of disrespect in consequence of the person having
been murdered, in which case the body would be buried in the ground,
_face down_, head toward the south and with a piece of fat in the
mouth. * * * The platform upon which the body was deposited was
constructed of four crotched posts firmly set in the ground, and
connected near the top by cross-pieces, upon which was placed
boards, when obtainable, and small sticks of wood, sometimes hewn so
as to give a firm resting-place for the body. This platform had an
elevation of from six to eight or more feet, and never contained but
one body, although frequently having sufficient surface to
accommodate two or three. In burying in the crotch of a tree and on
platforms, the head of the dead person was always placed towards the
south; the body was wrapped in blankets or pieces of cloth securely
tied, and many of the personal effects of the deceased were buried
with it; as in the case of a warrior, his bows and arrows,
war-clubs, &c., would be placed alongside of the body, the Indians
saying he would need such things in the next world.

I am informed by many of them that it was a habit, before their
outbreak, for some to carry the body of a near relative whom they
held in great respect with them on their moves, for a greater or
lesser time, often as long as two or three years before burial.
This, however, never obtained generally among them, and some of them
seem to know nothing about it. It has of late years been entirely
dropped, except when a person dies away from home, it being then
customary for the friends to bring the body home for burial.

_Mourning ceremonies._--The mourning ceremonies before the year 1860
were as follows: After the death of a warrior the whole camp or
tribe would be assembled in a circle, and after the widow had cut
herself on the arms, legs, and body with a piece of flint, and
removed the hair from her head, she would go around the ring any
number of times she chose, but each time was considered as an oath
that she would not marry for a year, so that she could not marry for
as many years as times she went around the circle. The widow would
all this time keep up a crying and wailing. Upon the completion of
this the friends of the deceased would take the body to the platform
or tree where it was to remain, keeping up all this time their
wailing and crying. After depositing the body, they would stand
under it and continue exhibiting their grief, the squaws by hacking
their arms and legs with flint and cutting off the hair from their
head. The men would sharpen sticks and run them through the skin of
their arms and legs, both men and women keeping up their crying
generally for the remainder of the day, and the near relatives of
the deceased for several days thereafter. As soon as able, the
warrior friends of the deceased would go to a near tribe of their
enemies and kill one or more of them if possible, return with their
scalps, and exhibit them to the deceased person’s relatives, after
which their mourning ceased, their friends considering his death as
properly avenged; this, however, was many years ago, when their
enemies were within reasonable striking distance, such, for
instance, as the Chippewas and the Arickarees, Gros Ventres and
Mandan Indians. In cases of women and children, the squaws would cut
off their hair, hack their persons with flint, and sharpen sticks
and run them through the skin of the arms and legs, crying as for a
warrior.

It was an occasional occurrence twenty or more years ago for a squaw
when she lost a favorite child to commit suicide by hanging herself
with a lariat over the limb of a tree. This could not have prevailed
to any great extent, however, although the old men recite several
instances of its occurrence, and a very few examples within recent
years. Such was their custom before the Minnesota outbreak, since
which time it has gradually died out, and at the present time these
ancient customs are adhered to by but a single family, known as the
seven brothers, who appear to retain all the ancient customs of
their tribe. At the present time, as a mourning observance, the
squaws hack themselves on their legs with knives, cut off their
hair, and cry and wail around the grave of the dead person, and the
men in addition paint their faces, but no longer torture themselves
by means of sticks passed through the skin of the arms and legs.
This cutting and painting is sometimes done before and sometimes
after the burial of the body. I also observe that many of the women
of these tribes are adopting so much of the customs of the whites as
prescribes the wearing of black for certain periods. During the
period of mourning these Indians never wash their face, or comb
their hair, or laugh. These customs are observed with varying degree
of strictness, but not in many instances with that exactness which
characterized these Indians before the advent of the white man among
them. There is not now any permanent mutilation of the person
practiced as a mourning ceremony by them. That mutilation of a
finger by removing one or more joints, so generally observed among
the Minnetarree Indians at the Fort Berthold, Dak., Agency, is not
here seen, although the old men of these tribes inform me that it
was an ancient custom among their women, on the occasion of the
burial of a husband, to cut off a portion of a finger and have it
suspended in the tree above his body. I have, however, yet to see an
example of this having been done by any of the Indians now living,
and the custom must have fallen into disuse more than seventy years
ago.

In regard to the period of mourning, I would say that there does not
now appear to be, and, so far as I can learn, never was, any fixed
period of mourning, but it would seem that, like some of the whites,
they mourn when the subject is brought to their minds by some remark
or other occurrence. It is not unusual at the present time to hear a
man or woman cry and exclaim, “O, my poor husband!” “O, my poor
wife!” or “O, my poor child!” as the case may be, and, upon
inquiring, learn that the event happened several years before.
I have elsewhere mentioned that in some cases much of the personal
property of the deceased was and is reserved from burial with the
body, and forms the basis of a gambling party. I shall conclude my
remarks upon the burial customs, &c., of these Indians by an account
of this, which they designate as the “ghost’s gamble.”

The account of the game will be found in another part of this paper.

As illustrative of the preparation of the dead Indian warrior for the tomb, a translation of Schiller’s beautiful burial song is here given. It is believed to be by Bulwer, and for it the writer is indebted to the kindness of Mr. Benjamin Drew, of Washington, D.C.:

BURIAL OF THE CHIEFTAIN.

See on his mat, as if of yore,
How lifelike sits he here;
With the same aspect that he wore
When life to him was dear.
But where the right arm’s strength, and where
The breath he used to breathe
To the Great Spirit aloft in air,
The peace-pipe’s lusty wreath?
And where the hawk-like eye, alas!
That wont the deer pursue
Along the waves of rippling grass,
Or fields that shone with dew?
Are these the limber, bounding feet
That swept the winter snows?
What startled deer was half so fleet,
Their speed outstripped the roe’s.
These hands that once the sturdy bow
Could supple from its pride,
How stark and helpless hang they now
Adown the stiffened side!
Yet weal to him! at peace he strays
Where never fall the snows,
Where o’er the meadow springs the maize
That mortal never sows;
Where birds are blithe in every brake,
Where forests teem with deer,
Where glide the fish through every lake,
One chase from year to year!
With spirits now he feasts above;
All left us, to revere
The deeds we cherish with our love,
The rest we bury here.
Here bring the last gifts, loud and shrill
Wail death-dirge of the brave
What pleased him most in life may still
Give pleasure in the grave.
We lay the axe beneath his head
He swung when strength was strong,
The bear on which his hunger fed--
The way from earth is long!
And here, new-sharpened, place the knife
Which severed from the clay,
From which the axe had spoiled the life,
The conquered scalp away.
The paints that deck the dead bestow,
Aye, place them in his hand,
That red the kingly shade may glow
Amid the spirit land.

The position in which the body is placed, as mentioned by Dr. McChesney, face upwards, while of common occurrence among most tribes of Indians, is not invariable as a rule, for the writer discovered at a cemetery belonging to an ancient pueblo in the valley of the Chama, near Abiquiu, N. Mex., a number of bodies, all of which had been buried face downward. The account originally appeared in Field and Forest, 1877, vol. iii, No. 1, p. 9.

On each side of the town were noticed two small arroyas or water
washed ditches, within 30 feet of the walls, and a careful
examination of these revealed the objects of our search. At the
bottom of the arroyas, which have certainly formed subsequent to the
occupation of the village, we found portions of human remains, and
following up the walls of the ditch soon had the pleasure of
discovering several skeletons _in situ_. The first found was in the
eastern arroya, and the grave in depth was nearly 8 feet below the
surface of the mesa. The body had been placed in the grave face
downward, the head pointing to the south. Two feet above the
skeleton were two shining black earthen vases, containing small bits
of charcoal, the bones of mammals, birds, and partially consumed
corn, and above these “_ollas_” the earth to the surface was filled
with pieces of charcoal. Doubtless the remains found in the vases
served at a funeral feast prior to the inhumation. We examined very
carefully this grave, hoping to find some utensils, ornaments, or
weapons, but none rewarded our search. In all of the graves examined
the bodies were found in similar positions and under similar
circumstances in both arroyas, several of the skeletons being those
of children. No information could be obtained as to the probable age
of these interments, the present Indians considering them as dating
from the time when their ancestors with Moctezuma came from the
_north_.

The Coyotero Apaches, according to Dr. W. J. Hoffman,[5.12] in disposing of their dead, seem to be actuated by the desire to spare themselves any needless trouble, and prepare the defunct and the grave in this manner:

The Coyoteros, upon the death of a member of the tribe, partially
wrap up the corpse and deposit it into the cavity left by the
removal of a small rock or the stump of a tree. After the body has
been crammed into the smallest possible space the rock or stump is
again rolled into its former position, when a number of stones are
placed around the base to keep out the coyotes. The nearest of kin
usually mourn for the period of one month, during that time giving
utterance at intervals to the most dismal lamentations, which are
apparently sincere. During the day this obligation is frequently
neglected or forgotten, but when the mourner is reminded of his duty
he renews his howling with evident interest. This custom of mourning
for the period of thirty days corresponds to that formerly observed
by the Natchez.

Somewhat similar to this rude mode of sepulture is that described in the life of Moses Van Campen,[5.13] which relates to the Indians formerly inhabiting Pennsylvania:

Directly after, the Indians proceeded to bury those who had fallen
in battle, which they did by rolling an old log from its place and
laying the body in the hollow thus made, and then heaping upon it a
little earth.

As a somewhat curious, if not exceptional, interment, the following account, relating to the Indians of New York, is furnished, by Mr. Franklin B. Hough, who has extracted it from an unpublished journal of the agents of a French company kept in 1794:

CANOE BURIAL IN GROUND.

Saw Indian graves on the plateau of Independence Rock. The Indians
plant a stake on the right side of the head of the deceased and bury
them in a bark canoe. Their children come every year to bring
provisions to the place where their fathers are buried. One of the
graves had fallen in, and we observed in the soil some sticks for
stretching skins, the remains of a canoe, &c., and the two straps
for carrying it, and near the place where the head lay were the
traces of a fire which they had kindled for the soul of the deceased
to come and warm itself by and to partake of the food deposited
near it.

These were probably the Massasauga Indians, then inhabiting the
north shore of Lake Ontario, but who were rather intruders here, the
country being claimed by the Oneidas.

It is not to be denied that the use of canoes for coffins has occasionally been remarked, for the writer in 1873 removed from the graves at Santa Barbara, California, an entire skeleton which was discovered in a redwood canoe, but it is thought that the individual may have been a noted fisherman, particularly as the implements of his vocation--nets, fish-spears, &c.--were near him, and this burial was only an exemplification of the well-rooted belief common to all Indians, that the spirit in the next world makes use of the same articles as were employed in this one. It should be added that of the many hundreds of skeletons uncovered at Santa Barbara the one mentioned presented the only example of the kind.

Among the Indians of the Mosquito coast, in Central America, canoe burial in the ground, according to Bancroft, was common, and is thus described:

The corpse is wrapped in cloth and placed in one-half of a pitpan
which has been cut in two. Friends assemble for the funeral and
drown their grief in _mushla_, the women giving vent to their sorrow
by dashing themselves on the ground until covered with blood, and
inflicting other tortures, occasionally even committing suicide. As
it is supposed that the evil spirit seeks to obtain possession of
the body, musicians are called in to lull it to sleep while
preparations are made for its removal. All at once four naked men,
who have disguised themselves with paint so as not to be recognized
and punished by _Wulasha_, rush out from a neighboring hut, and,
seizing a rope attached to the canoe, drag it into the woods,
followed by the music and the crowd. Here the pitpan is lowered into
the grave with bow, arrow, spear, paddle, and other implements to
serve the departed in the land beyond, then the other half of the
boat is placed over the body. A rude hut is constructed over the
grave, serving as a receptacle for the choice food, drink, and other
articles placed there from time to time by relatives.

_STONE GRAVES OR CISTS._

These are of considerable interest, not only from their somewhat rare occurrence, except in certain localities, but from the manifest care taken by the survivors to provide for the dead what they considered a suitable resting place. In their construction they resemble somewhat, in the care that is taken to prevent the earth touching the corpse, the class of graves previously described.

A number of cists have been found in Tennessee, and are thus described by Moses Fiske:[5.14]

There are many burying grounds in West Tennessee with regular
graves. They dug them 12 or 18 inches deep, placed slabs at the
bottom ends and sides, forming a kind of stone coffin, and, after
laying in the body, covered it over with earth.

It may be added that, in 1873, the writer assisted at the opening of a number of graves of men of the reindeer period, near Solutré, in France, and they were almost identical in construction with those described by Mr. Fiske, with the exception that the latter were deeper, this, however, may be accounted for if it is considered how great a deposition of earth may have taken place during the many centuries which have elapsed since the burial. Many of the graves explored by the writer in 1875, at Santa Barbara, resembled somewhat cist graves, the bottom and sides of the pit being lined with large flat stones, but there were none directly over the skeletons.

The next account is by Maj. J. W. Powell, the result of his own observation in Tennessee.

The burial places, or cemeteries are exceedingly abundant throughout
the State. Often hundreds of graves may be found on a single
hillside. The same people sometimes bury in scattered graves and in
mounds--the mounds being composed of a large number of cist graves.
The graves are increased by additions from time to time. The
additions are sometimes placed above and sometimes at the sides of
the others. In the first burials there is a tendency to a concentric
system with the feet towards the center, but subsequent burials are
more irregular, so that the system is finally abandoned before the
place is desired for cemetery purposes.

Some other peculiarities are of interest. A larger number of
interments exhibit the fact that the bodies were placed there before
the decay of the flesh, and in many instances collections of bones
are buried. Sometimes these bones are placed in some order about the
crania, and sometimes in irregular piles, as if the collection of
bones had been emptied from a sack. With men, pipes, stone hammers,
knives, arrowheads, &c., were usually found, with women, pottery,
rude beads, shells, &c., with children, toys of pottery, beads,
curious pebbles, &c.

Sometimes, in the subsequent burials, the side slab of a previous
burial was used as a portion of the second cist. All of the cists
were covered with slabs.

Dr. Jones has given an exceedingly interesting account of the stone graves of Tennessee, in his volume published by the Smithsonian Institution, to which valuable work[5.15] the reader is referred for a more detailed account of this mode of burial.

G. K. Gilbert, of the United States Geological Survey, informs the writer that in 1878 he had a conversation with an old Moquis chief as to their manner of burial, which is as follows: The body is placed in a receptacle or cist of stone slabs or wood, in a sitting posture, the hands near the knees, and clasping a stick (articles are buried with the dead), and it is supposed that the soul finds its way out of the grave by climbing up the stick, which is allowed to project above the ground after the grave is filled in.

The Indians of Illinois, on the Saline River, according to George Escoll Sellers,[5.16] inclosed their dead in cists, the description of which is as follows:

Above this bluff, where the spur rises at an angle of about 30°, it
has been terraced and the terrace as well as the crown of the spur
have been used as a cemetery; portions of the terraces are still
perfect; all the burials appear to have been made in rude stone
cists, that vary in size from 13 inches by 3 feet to 2 feet by 4
feet, and from 18 inches to 2 feet deep. They are made of
thin-bedded sandstone slabs, generally roughly shaped, but some of
them have been edged and squared with considerable care,
particularly the covering slabs. The slope below the terraces was
thickly strewed with these slabs, washed out as the terraces have
worn away, and which have since been carried off for door-steps and
hearth-stones. I have opened many of these cists; they nearly all
contain fragments of human bones far gone in decay, but I have never
succeeded in securing a perfect skull; even the clay vessels that
were interred with the dead have disintegrated, the portions
remaining being almost as soft and fragile as the bones. Some of the
cists that I explored were paved with valves of fresh-water shells,
but most generally with the fragments of the great salt-pans, which
in every case are so far gone in decay as to have lost the outside
markings. This seems conclusively to couple the tenants of these
ancient graves with the makers and users of these salt-pans. The
great number of graves and the quantity of slabs that have been
washed out prove either a dense population or a long occupancy, or
both.

W. J. Owsley, of Fort Hall, Idaho, furnishes the writer with a description of the cist graves of Kentucky, which differ somewhat from other accounts, inasmuch as the graves appeared to be isolated.

I remember that when a school-boy in Kentucky, some twenty-five
years ago, of seeing what was called “Indian graves,” and those that
I examined were close to small streams of water, and were buried in
a sitting or squatting posture and inclosed by rough, flat stones,
and were then buried from 1 to 4 feet from the surface. Those graves
which I examined, which examination was not very minute, seemed to
be isolated, no two being found in the same locality. When the
burials took place I could hardly conjecture, but it must have been,
from appearances, from fifty to one hundred years. The bones that I
took out on first appearance seemed tolerably perfect, but on short
exposure to the atmosphere crumbled, and I was unable to save a
specimen. No implements or relics were observed in those examined by
me, but I have heard of others who have found such. In that State,
Kentucky, there are a number of places where the Indians buried
their dead and left mounds of earth over the graves, but I have not
examined them myself. * * *

According to Bancroft,[5.17] the Dorachos, an isthmian tribe of Central America, also followed the cist form of burial.

In Veragua the Dorachos had two kinds of tombs, one for the
principal men, constructed with flat stones laid together with much
care, and in which were placed costly jars and urns filled with food
and wine for the dead. Those for the plebians were merely trenches,
in which were deposited some gourds of maize and wine, and the place
filled with stones. In some parts of Panama and Darien only the
chiefs and lords received funeral rites. Among the common people a
person feeling his end approaching either went himself or was led to
the woods by his wife, family, or friends, who, supplying him with
some cake or ears of corn and a gourd of water, then left him to die
alone or to be assisted by wild beasts. Others, with more respect
for their dead, buried them in sepulchers made with niches, where
they placed maize and wine and renewed the same annually. With some,
a mother dying while suckling her infant, the living child was
placed at her breast and buried with her, in order that in her
future state she might continue to nourish it with her milk.

_BURIAL IN MOUNDS._

In view of the fact that the subject of mound-burial is so extensive, and that in all probability a volume by a member of the Bureau of Ethnology may shortly be published, it is not deemed advisable to devote any considerable space to it in this paper, but a few interesting examples may be noted to serve as indications to future observers.