Chapter VII: Part XII: Savage Death and Burial

CHAP. XXVII.--Disrespect for human life not synonymous with
personal indifference to death--burial ceremonials in cannibal
Figi--the Figians no respecters of persons as regards this
custom--preparations for burying a living king--the “grave
grass”--paving the king’s grave--an affectionate son--“see,
his body moves, but it does so unconsciously”--Figian
symbols of mourning--mourning suits of leaves--the “causing
to laugh”--murder of the Figian sick--“pray don’t bury
me”--sexton’s work--the poorest savage sure of a comfortable
“narrow bed”--the howling of a dog considered ominous--ditto,
a cat’s clawing on the grave of a woman--how death came into
the world--the sacrifice of fingers--the token of the bloody
apron--the art of embalming--the corpse-praying priest--the
“sin hole”--ceremonies at the burial of King Finow--heroic
appeals to the departed king by his warriors--the scene at the
sepulchre--the journey of the sand bearers--shaving the head
and burning the cheek bones--twenty days’ mourning--the Mee
too Buggi--singular expression of fidelity--Finow’s faithful
fishermen--the Sandwich Islander’s badge of mourning--knocking
out the teeth--cutting the ears--putting the tongue in
black--a melancholy procession--the house of Keave--a pitiful
spectacle--no admittance to the sacred building--the Pahio
tabu--Heathen cities of refuge. Pages 337–360.

CHAP. XXVIII.--Burial rites in Samoa--burying alive--taking
his pigs to a better market--a Samoan inquest--Samoan
wakes--carrying a dead body about--Samoan coffins--dexterous
embalming--the mysterious grave fires--a trap to catch a lost
soul--burial customs of the New Zealanders--ornamenting
the dead body--the sexton in Borneo--the weeping-stone of
the Permujans--burning the dead in Western Sarawak--the
burning less efficacious than burying--the hereditary office
of sexton--difficulties of finding a sexton--sepulchral
rites of the Sea Dayaks--useful things for consumption in
the next world placed in the grave--Sea Dayaks who fall in
battle not disturbed--Mourning among the Indians of North
America--dirtiness the most favourite symbol--tombs in the
air--exorcising an evil spirit--custom of the Sacs and Foxes--of
the Tahkalis--of the New Caledonians--a New Caledonian
suttee--barbarous treatment of the widow--her scorching, and
her three years’ mourning and drudgery--the village of the
dead--burial unknown among the Mandans--a Mandan place of
skulls--praying to the dead--singular ceremonies attending the
interment of an Ojibbeway--Ojibbeway mourners--disposing of
the property of the dead--a Chippewa ghost story--an invisible
presence--a spirited ghost--veneration for the dead--a royal
funeral. Pages 361–385.

CHAP. XXIX.--Funeral rites in Damara land--dutiful behaviour
of the eldest son of the deceased--a Damara tomb--offering a
pail of milk at the grave--the Koossan method of disposing of
their dead--deserting the sick--duties of the dead Koossan’s
wife--returning in the night to burn down the house--the
ox-tail hair necklace worn by the Koossan widower--Koossan
chiefs buried in the cattle-fold--the magic woman among the
Koossans--no recovering spilt water--no cure, no pay--fate of
the unlucky mortal whom the magic woman denounces--death in
Central Africa--waking a defunct man--no half-mourning among
savages--the guests who are invited to the wake--_Bota woga_--a
tremendous boose--a slave barracoon at Santanga--the sight
that M. Chaillu saw--a thousand bleaching skeletons--funeral
ceremonies in Angola--a jollification in consequence of the
death of his mother--the mortal remains of a Bechuana--planting
the top of the head with grass--the burying-ground at
Fetish point--disinclination of the natives to approach the
place of graves--the tomb of old King Passol--a wealthy
grave-holder--burying at Anbago, Western Africa--the bereaved
wife carried a pick-a-back--security for “Gungo”--a Barrodo
Beondo funeral--occupying the bed of the deceased--“making
a cry” among the Bulloms and Timannecs--King Archibongo
and his devil house--the painted widows--the “chop-nut”
test--Malagasey burial rites--ceremonials observed on the
death of Prince Razahooatrino--lying in state--the attendant
slaves and the fly fanners--subscription among the mourners
to pay the funeral expenses--1500 oxen slain and eaten at a
funeral feast--stepping over dead oxen--no special places for
burial in Madagascar--death in Australia--the name of the dead
never mentioned by the surviving relatives--perching dead old
women on tree boughs--“take that for dying!”--the Abyssinian a
believer in the doctrine of purgatory--dancing and singing and
face-scratching--funeral of an Ailat man--how the Sambo Indian
is buried--the body in the pitpan--running away with the corpse
to cheat the devil--artful device of the corpse-bearers--cutting
down the palm trees--the way to find out if “Wulasha” has
been cheated--what the traveller Stephens saw at La Rayas, in
Mexico--a _Christian_ burial--death in Dahomey--the very last
grand custom--the king’s ingenious device for the more ready
performance of human sacrifice--a victim saved--how a Dahoman
king is buried--providing his majesty with means for paying his
way in the next world. Pages 386–418.

List of Wood-Cuts,

FROM DESIGNS BY HARDEN S. MELVILLE.

ENGRAVED BY H. NEWSOM WOODS.

PAGE

FORBE’S RECEPTION BY THE KING OF DAHOMEY 1

A MALAGASEY BALL 52

BORNEO 54

AUSTRALIAN WEAPONS 66

POLYNESIAN WAR CANOE 67

WAR DANCE OF NEW ZEALANDERS 88

DAYAK AND MALAY WEAPONS 93

POLYNESIAN GOODS BOAT 106

NORTH AMERICAN WAR WEAPONS 111

A CHIPPEWA WARRIOR 115

POLYNESIAN WAR TOOLS 122

THE EUROPEAN’S HUT IN THE WILDERNESS 133

TORRES’ STRAITS CANOE 147

AN AUSTRALIAN DUEL 154

AFRICAN ARMS 162

THE UNIVERSAL WEAPON 168

A SAVAGE BOWMAN 169

PAPUAN BLACKSMITHS 180

THE EXPLORER’S HIGHWAY 183

THE TWO DOGS OR NONE 192

BOATMEN OF ROCKINGHAM BAY 203

THE TRUE WORD EXPOUNDED IN WESTERN AFRICA 204

SAMOAN IDOL WORSHIP 218

A POLYNESIAN IDOL 221

SPECTRE OF A HEADLESS DOG 240

MAKING BROTHERS 243

THE DREAM OF LITTLE WASP 262

THE COVETOUS PAWNEE 275

AN IROQUOIS WARRIOR 280

A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF BOUDA 289

PUNISHMENT FOR KILLING FETISH SNAKES 293

CEREMONY OF TOUCHING THE BULL 301

DIVINATION SCENE 307

MAKING RAIN 312

DU CHAILLU’S PEEP INTO A HEATHEN TEMPLE 321

THE WIZARD IN THE STOCKS 324

INHABITANTS OF THE FAN COUNTRY 336

BURYING ALIVE IN FIGI 337

MOURNING SUIT OF LEAVES 341

FUNERAL OBSEQUIES OF KING FINOW 354

A SAMOAN SEPULCHRE 364

A MANDAN CHIEF 374

MANDAN PLACE OF SKULLS 375

“HE HEARD THEM RECOUNT THEIR VALIANT DEEDS” 380

DAMARA TOMB 387

AFRICAN WAKE 392

THE “MASTER OF LIFE” IN EQUATORIAL AFRICA 395

THE VERY LAST DAHOMAN “CUSTOM” 414