Chapter LXXII: Section 6: Mortuary Practices

Champlain (_f_) in his voyage of 1603, says of the Northeastern Algonquins that their graves were covered with large pieces of wood, and one post was erected upon them, the upper part of which was painted red.

The same author, in 1613, writing of the Algonquins of the Ottawa river, at the Isle des Alumettes, gives more details of the pictures on their grave posts:

On it the likeness of the man or woman who is buried there is
roughly engraved. If a man, they put on a buckler, a spear, war
club, and bows and arrows. If he is a chief he will have a plume on
his head and some other designs or ornaments. If a boy, they give
him one bow and a single arrow. If a woman or girl, they put on a
kettle, an earthen pot, a wooden spoon, and a paddle. The wooden
tomb is 6 or 7 feet long and 4 wide, painted yellow and red.

Some northern tribes--probably Cree--according to the Jesuit Relations (_a_), gave a notice of death to absent relations or dear friends of the deceased by hanging the object signifying his name on the path by which the traveler must return, e. g., if the name of the deceased was Piré (Partridge) the skin of a partridge was suspended. The main object of the notice was that the traveler, thereby knowing of the death, should not on his return to the lodge or village ask after or mention the deceased. Perhaps this explains the custom of placing pictographs of personal names and totemic marks on some prominent point or on trails without any apparent incident.

The same Relation describes a custom of the same Indians of shaping out of wood a portraiture of the more distinguished dead and inserting it over their graves, afterwards painting and greasing it as if it were the live man.

In Keating’s Long (_g_) it is told that the Sac Indians are particular in their demonstrations of grief for departed friends. These consist in darkening their faces with charcoal, fasting, abstaining from the use of vermillion and other ornaments in dress, etc. They also make incisions in their arms, legs, and other parts of the body; these are not made for the purposes of mortification, or to create a pain which shall by dividing their attention efface the recollection of their loss, but entirely from a belief that their grief is internal and that the only way of dispelling it is to give it a vent through which to escape.

This is an explanation of the practice which has been verified in the field work of the Bureau of Ethnology and corresponds with the concept of finding relief from disease and pain by similar incisions, to let out the supposed invading entity that causes distress.

The same authority, p. 332, gives the following account of Dakota burial scaffolds:

On these scaffolds, which are from 8 to 10 feet high, corpses
were deposited in a box made from part of a broken canoe. Some hair
was suspended which we at first mistook for a scalp; but our guide
informed us that these were locks of hair torn from their heads by
the relations to testify their grief. In the center, between the
four posts which supported the scaffold, a stake was planted in the
ground; it was about 6 feet high, and bore an imitation of human
figures; five of which had a design of a petticoat, indicating
them to be females; the rest, amounting to seven, were naked, and
were intended for male figures. Of the latter, four were headless,
showing that they had been slain; the three other male figures were
unmutilated but held a staff in their hands which, as our guide
informed us, designated that they were slaves. The post, which is
an usual accompaniment to the scaffold that supports a warrior’s
remains, does not represent the achievements of the deceased, but
those of the warriors that assembled near his remains, danced the
dance of the post, and related their martial exploits.

Maximilian, Prince of Wied (_d_), tells that as a sign of mourning the Sioux daub themselves with white clay.

According to Powers, (_d_) “A Yokaia widow’s style of mourning is peculiar. In addition to the usual evidence of grief she mingles the ashes of the dead husband with pitch, making a white tar or ungent with which she smears a band about two inches wide all around the edge of her hair (which is previously cut off close to the head), so that at a little distance she appears to be wearing a white chaplet.”

Mr. Dorsey reports that mud is used by a mourner in the sacred-bag war party among the Osages. Several modes of showing mourning by styles of paint and markings are presented in this paper under the headings of Color and of Tattooing. Other practices connected with the present topic, and which may explain some pictographs, are described in the work of Dr. H. C. Yarrow, acting assistant surgeon, U. S. Army, on The Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians, in the First Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology.

Fig. 724 is copied from a piece of ivory in the museum of the Alaska Commercial Company, San Francisco, California, and was interpreted by an Alaskan native in San Francisco in 1882.

First is a votive offering or “shaman stick,” erected to the memory of one departed. The “bird” carvings are considered typical of “good spirits,” and the above was erected by the remorse-stricken individual, who had killed the person shown.

The headless body represents the man who was killed. In this respect the Ojibwa manner of drawing a person “killed” is similar.

The right hand Indian represents the homicide who erected the “grave-post” or “sacred stick.” The arm is thrown earthward, resembling the Blackfeet and Dakota gesture for “kill.”

That portion of the Kauvuya tribe of Indians in Southern California known as the Playsanos, or _lowlanders_, formerly inscribed characters upon the gravestones of their dead, relating to the pursuits or good qualities of the deceased. Dr. W. J. Hoffman obtained several pieces or slabs of finely-grained sandstone near Los Angeles, California, during the summer of 1884, which had been used for this purpose. Upon these were the drawings, in incised lines, of the fin back whale, with figures of men pursuing them with harpoons. Around the drawings were close parallel lines with cross lines similar to those made on ivory by the southern Innuit of Alaska.

Figs. 725 to 727 were procured from a native Alaskan by Dr. Hoffman in 1882, and explained to him to be drawings made upon grave posts.

Fig. 725 commemorates a hunter, as land animals are shown to be his chief pursuit. The following is the explanation of the characters:

_a._ The baidarka, or boat, holding two persons; the occupants are shown, as are also the paddles, which project below the horizontal body of the vessel.

_b._ A rack for drying skins and fish. A pole is added above it, from which are seen floating streamers of calico or cloth.

_c._ A fox.

_d._ A land otter.

_e._ The hunter’s summer habitation. These are temporary dwellings and usually constructed at a distance from home. This also indicates the profession of a skin-hunter, as the permanent lodges, indicated as winter houses, i. e., with round or dome-like roof, are located near the seashore, and summer houses are only needed when at some distance from home, where a considerable length of time is spent in hunting.

The following is the explanation of Fig. 726. It is another design for a grave post, but is erected in memory of a fisherman:

_a._ The double-seated baidarka, or skin canoe.

_b._ The bow used in shooting seal and other marine animals.

_c._ A seal.

_d._ A whale.

The summer lodge is absent in this, as the fisherman did not leave the seashore in the pursuit of game on land.

Fig. 727 is a drawing of a village and neighboring burial-ground, prepared by an Alaskan native in imitation of originals seen by him among the natives of the mainland of Alaska, especially the Aigalúqamut. Carvings are generally on walrus ivory; sometimes on wooden slats. In the figure, _g_ is a representation of a grave post in position, bearing an inscription similar in general character to those in the last two preceding figures.

The details are explained as follows:

_a_, _b_, _c_, _d_. Various styles of habitations, denoting a settlement.

_e._ An elevated structure used for the storage of food.

_f._ A box with wrappings, containing the corpse of a child. The small lines, with ball attached, are ornamental appendages consisting of strips of cloth or skin, with charms, or, sometimes, tassels.

_g._ Grave post, bearing rude illustrations of the weapons or implements used by the deceased during his life.

_h._ A grave scaffold, containing adult. Besides the ornamental appendages, as in _f_ preceding, there is a “Shaman stick” erected over the box containing the corpse as a mark of good wishes of a sorrowing survivor. See object _a_, in Fig. 724.

Schoolcraft (_m_) gives a good account, with illustration, of the burial posts used by the Sioux and Chippewas. It has been quoted so frequently that it is not reproduced here. The most notable feature connected with the posts is that the totems depicted on them are reversed, to signify the death of the persons buried.

Fig. 728 represents the grave post of a Menomoni Indian of the bear totem. The stick is a piece of pine board 2-1/2 inches wide at the top, gradually narrowing down to a point; three-fourths of an inch thick, and about 2 feet long. On one side are two sets of characters, the oldest being incised with a sharp-pointed nail, while over these are a later set of drawings made with red ocher, represented in the illustration by shading. The figure of the bear, drawn with head to the ground, denotes the totem of which the deceased was a member, the remaining incised figures relating to some exploits the signification of which was not known. The red marks were put upon the stick at the time of the holding of a memorial service, when the father of the deceased furnished a feast to the medicine priests just previous to his being received into the society of shamans to fill the vacancy caused by the death. The number of red crosses denote the number of speeches made at the grave upon that occasion, while the band at the top refers to the person acting as master of ceremonies, who had been requested to make all the arrangements for the medicine ceremonies and initiation. So said some Menomoni in the neighborhood, but later the Indian who actually painted the red crosses came to Washington and explained that they signified the number of war parties in which the deceased had taken part.

Fig. 729 shows the incised lines on the front of the post before color was applied. The manner of placing the grave posts at the head of the grave box is shown in Fig. 730, the left-hand grave being that of Oshkosh, the late head chief of the Menomoni in Wisconsin, after whom the city of Oshkosh was named.

Before the grave is a small board, upon which tobacco is placed to gratify the taste of the dead, and during the season of sugar making pieces of that delicacy are pushed through the small openings in the head board, that the spirit of the deceased may be gratified and give success to the donors at future seasons.

The right-hand grave box is that of another member of the family of Oshkosh, at which the board, with tobacco, is also placed, as well as the grave post. This, however, does not bear any indications of characters, which probably had been washed off by the rain.

Pieces of bark, stones, and sticks are also placed upon the grave boxes, but the signification of this practice could not be ascertained.

The next two figures come from the Dakotas.

Fig. 731.--Held a commemoration of the dead. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1826-’27. The ceremonial pipe-stem and the skull indicate the mortuary practice, which is further explained by the next figure.

Fig. 732.--A white man made medicine over the skull of Crazy-Horse’s brother. Cloud-Shield’s Winter Count, 1852-’53. He holds a pipe-stem in his hand. This figure refers to the custom of gathering periodically the bones of the dead that have been placed on scaffolds and burying them. It appears that a white man made himself conspicuous by conducting the ceremonies on the occasion noted.

Lewis and Clarke (_c_) mention the Chilluckittequaws, a division of the Chinooks of the Columbia river, as having for burial purposes vaults made of pine or cedar boards, closely connected, about 8 feet square and 6 in height. The walls as well as the door were decorated with strange figures cut and painted on them; besides these there were several wooden images of men, some of them so old and decayed as to have almost lost their shape, which were all placed against the sides of the vaults. These images do not appear to be at all the objects of adoration, but were probably intended as resemblances of those whose decease they indicate.

Whymper (_a_) reports that the Kalosh Indians of Alaska construct grave boxes or tombs which contain only the ashes of the dead. These people invariably burn the deceased. On one of the boxes he saw a number of faces painted, long tresses of human hair depending therefrom. Each head represented a victim of the deceased man’s ferocity. Thus the pictures are not likenesses or totemic marks of the cremated Kalosh, but of enemies whom he had killed, being in the nature of trophies or proofs of valor. Fig. 733 is a reproduction of the illustration.

Dall (_c_) says of the Yukon Indians:

Some wore hoops of birch wood around the neck and wrists, with
various patterns and figures cut on them. These were said to be
emblems of mourning for the dead.

Dr. Franz Boas (_f_) gives the following account of the funeral customs practiced by the Snanaimuq, a Salish tribe:

The face of the deceased is painted with red and black paint.
* * * A chief’s body is put in a carved box and the front posts
supporting his coffin are carved. His mask is placed between
these posts. The graves of great warriors are marked by a statue
representing a warrior with a war club. * * * After the death of
husband or wife, the survivor must paint his legs and his blanket
red. * * * At the end of the mourning period the red blanket is
given to an old man, who deposits it in the woods.

Didron (_a_) speaks of emblems on tombstones:

Even today, at Constantinople, in the cemetery of the Armenians,
every tombstone is marked with the insignia of the profession
followed by the defunct which the stone covers. For an Armenian
tailor there is a pair of shears, thread, and needles; for a mason,
hammer and trowel; for a shoemaker, a last, leather, and a leather
cutter; for a grocer, a pair of scales; for a banker, pieces of
money. It is the same with others. Among us [Frenchmen], in the
middle ages, a compass, a rule, and square are engraved on the tomb
of Hugues Libergier. In the cemetery of L’Est, at Paris, a palette
indicates the grave of a painter, a chisel and hammer mark that of
a sculptor. Animals are represented as talking and acting, masks
grimace and smile, to announce in the same inclosure the tombs of La
Fontaine and of Molière. Among the Romans it was the same: a fisher
had a boat on his tomb; a shepard, a sheep; a digger, a pickaxe;
a navigator, an anchor or a trident; a vine-dresser, a cask; an
architect, a capital or the instruments of his art.

Hewitt (_g_) says of the Dieri, a tribe of Central Australia:

A messenger who is sent to convey the intelligence of a death
is smeared all over with white clay. On his approach to the camp
the women all commence screaming and crying most passionately.
After a time the particulars of the death are made known to the
camp. The near relations and friends then only weep. Old men even
cry bitterly, and their friends comfort them as if they were
children. On the following day the near relations dress in mourning
by smearing themselves over with white clay. Widows and widowers
are prohibited by custom from uttering a word until the clay has
worn off, however long it may remain on them. They do not, however,
rub it off, as doing so would be considered a bad omen. It must
absolutely wear off of itself. During this period they communicate
by means of gesture language.

Dr. Ferdinand von Hochstetter (_a_) says:

The carved Maori figures which are met with on the road are the
memorials of chiefs who, while journeying to the restorative baths
of Rotorua, succumbed to their ills on the road. Some of the figures
are decked out with pieces of clothing or kerchiefs; and the most
remarkable feature in them is the close imitation of the tattooing
of the deceased, by which the Maoris are able to recognize for whom
the monument has been erected. Certain lines are peculiar to the
tribe, others to the family, and again others to the individual. A
close imitation of the tattooing of the face, therefore, is to the
Maori the same as to us a photographic likeness; it does not require
any description of name.

A representation of one of these carved posts is given in Fig. 734.

Another carved post of like character is represented in Fig. 735, concerning which the same author says, p. 338: “Beside my tent, at Tahuahu, on the right bank of the Mangapu, there stood an odd, half-decomposed figure carved of wood; it was designated to me by the natives as a Tiki, marking the tomb of a chief.”

Ball, on Nicobarese Ideographs, in Jour. Anthrop. Inst. of Gr. Br. & I. (_d_), says, describing Fig. 736, which appears to be connected with mortuary observances:

The example of Nicobarese picture writing in Fig. 736 was
obtained in the year 1873 on the island of Kondul, where I found it
hanging in the house of a man who was said to have died a short time
previously. * * *

The material of which it is made is either the glume of a bamboo
or the spathe of a palm which has been flattened out and framed with
split bamboos.

It is about 3 feet long by 18 inches broad. The objects are
painted with vermilion, their outlines being surrounded with
punctures, which allow the light to pass through. * * *

As in all such Nicobarese paintings, figures of the sun, moon,
and stars occupy prominent positions. Now, the sun and moon are
stated, by those who have known the Nicobarese best, to be especial
objects of adoration, and therefore these paintings may have some
religious significance.

At first it occurred to me that this was merely an inventory
of the property of the deceased, but as some of the objects are
certainly not such as we should expect to find in an enumeration
of property, e. g., the lizard, while the figures of men appear to
portray particular emotions, it seems probable that the objects
represented have a more or less conventional meaning, and that we
have here a document of as bona fide and translatable a character as
an Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription.

My own efforts to discover an interpretation from the natives on
the spot were not crowned with success. * * *

Mr. De Röepstorff, extra assistant superintendent of the
Andamans and Nicobars, to whom I applied for such information as he
might be able to collect upon the subject, assured me by letter, in
1873, that the screens had a religious significance and were used to
exorcise spirits, but he did not seem to regard them as capable of
being interpreted. * * *

The following is a list of the objects depicted, besides
animals; many of the common utensils in use in a Nicobarese
household are included:

(1) The sun and stars; (2) the moon and stars; (3) swallows or
(?) flying fish; (4) impression of the forepart of a human foot; (5)
a lizard (Hydrosaurus?); (6) four men in various attitudes; (7) two
dás for cutting jungle; (8) two earthen cooking vessels; (9) two
birds; (10) an ax; (11) two spears; (12) a ladder (?); (13) dish for
food; (14) cocoanut water-vessels; (15) palm tree; (16) a canoe;
(17) three pigs; (18) shed; (19) domestic fowl; (20) seaman’s chest;
(21) dog; (22) fish of different kinds; (23) turtle.