SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION--BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY

J. W. POWELL DIRECTOR

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF MORTUARY CUSTOMS AMONG THE NORTH AMERICANINDIANS

BY DR. H. C. YARROW ACT ASST SU G USA

WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1880

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY

_Washington D. C. July 8, 1880_

This little volume is the third of a series designed to promoteanthropologic researches among the North American Indians. The firstwas prepared by myself and entitled "Introduction to the Study ofIndian Languages, " the second by Col. Garrick Mallery entitledIntroduction to the Study of Sign Language among the North AmericanIndians. 

The following are in course of preparation and will soon appear. 

Introduction to the Study of Medicine Practices among the NorthAmerican Indians

Introduction to the Study of Mythology among the North AmericanIndians

Introduction to the Study of Sociology among the North AmericanIndians

The mortuary customs of savage or barbaric people have a deepsignificance from the fact that in them are revealed much of thephilosophy of the people by whom they are practiced. Early beliefsconcerning the nature of human existence in life and after death andthe relations of the living to the dead are recorded in these customs. The mystery concerning the future love for the departed who were lovedwhile here, reverence for the wise and good who may after death bewiser and better, hatred and fear of those who were enemies here andmay have added powers of enmity in the hereafter--all these and likeconsiderations have led in every tribe to a body of customs ofexceeding interest as revealing the opinions, the philosophy of thepeople themselves. 

In these customs, also are recorded evidences of the social conditionof the people, the affection in which friends and kindred are held, the very beginnings of altruism in primitive life. 

In like manner these customs constitute a record of the moralcondition of the people, as in many ways they exhibit the ethicstandards by which conduct in human life is judged. For such reasonsthe study of mortuary customs is of profound interest to theanthropologist. 

It is hoped that by this method of research the observations of manymen may be brought together and placed on permanent record, and thatthe body of material may be sufficient, by a careful comparativestudy, to warrant some general discussion concerning the philosophy ofthis department of human conduct. 

General conclusions can be reached with safety only after materialsfrom many sources have been obtained. It will not be safe for thecollector to speculate much upon that which he observes. His owntheory or explanation of customs will be of little worth, but thetheory and explanation given by the Indians will be of the greatestvalue. What do the Indians do, and say, and believe? When these arebefore us it matters little whether our generalizations be true orfalse. Wiser men may come and use the facts to a truer purpose. It isproposed to make a purely objective study of the Indians, and, as faras possible, to leave the record unmarred by vain subjectivespeculations. 

The student who is pursuing his researches in this field shouldcarefully note all of the customs, superstitions, and opinions of theIndians relating to--

1. The care of the lifeless body prior to burial, much of which hewill find elaborated into sacred ceremonies. 

2. The method of burial, including the site of burial, the attitude inwhich the body is placed, and the manner in which it is investured. Here, also, he will find interesting and curious ceremonialobservances. The superstitions and opinions of the people relating tothese subjects are of importance. 

3. The gifts offered to the dead; not only those placed with the bodyat the time of burial, but those offered at a subsequent time for thebenefaction of the departed on his way to the other world, and for hisuse on arrival. Here, too, it is as important for us to know theceremonies with which the gifts are made as to know the character ofthe gifts themselves. 

4. An interesting branch of this research relates to the customs ofmourning, embracing the time of mourning, the habiliments, the self-mutilations, and other penances, and the ceremonies with which theseare accompanied. In all of these cases the reason assigned by theIndians for their doings, their superstitions, and explanations are ofprime importance. 

5. It is desirable to obtain from the Indians their explanation ofhuman life, their theory of spirits and of the life to come. 

A complete account of these customs in any tribe will necessitate thewitnessing of many funeral rites, as the custom will differ at thedeath of different persons, depending upon age, sex, and socialstanding. To obtain their explanations and superstitions, it will benecessary to interrogate the Indians themselves. This is not an easytask, for the Indians do not talk with freedom about their dead. Theawe with which they are inspired, their reverence and love for thedeparted, and their fear that knowledge which may be communicated maybe used to the injury of those whom they have loved, or of themselves, lead them to excessive reticence on these subjects. Their feelingsshould not be rudely wounded. The better and more thoughtful membersof the tribe will at last converse freely on these subjects with thosein whom they have learned to place confidence. The stories of ignorantwhite men and camp attaches should be wholly discarded, and allaccounts should be composed of things actually observed, and ofrelations made by Indians of probity. 

This preliminary volume by Dr. H. C Yarrow has been the subject ofcareful research and of much observation, and will serve in many waysas a hint to the student. The literature of the subject is vast, butto a large extent worthless, from the fact that writers have beenhasty travelers or subjective speculators on the matter. It is strangehow much of accepted history must be rejected when the statements arecarefully criticised and compared with known facts. It has frequentlybeen stated of this or that tribe that mutilations, as the cutting offof fingers and toes, of ears and nose, the pulling out of teeth, &c. , are extensively practiced as a mode of mourning find wild scenes ofmaiming and bloodshed are depicted as following upon the death of abeloved chief or great man yet among these tribes maimed persons arerarely found It is probable that there is some basis of fact for thestatement that mutilations are in rare instances practiced among sometribes. But even this qualified statement needs absolute proof. 

I am pleased to assure those who will take part in this work byearnest and faithful research that Dr Yarrow will treat themgenerously by giving them full credit for their work in his finalpublication. 

I must not fail to present my thanks to the Surgeon General of theUnited States Army and his corps of officers for the interest andassistance they have rendered. 

J W POWELL

WASHINGTON, D C, _April_ 5, 1880

DEAR SIR: I have the honor to offer for your consideration thefollowing paper upon the Mortuary Customs of the North AmericanIndians, and trust it may meet with your approval as an introductionto the study of a subject which, while it has been alluded to by mostauthors, has received little or no systematic treatment. For this andother reasons I was induced some three years since to commence anexamination and collection of data relative to the matter, and thepresent paper is the outcome of that effort. From the vast amount ofmaterial in the Bureau of Ethnology, even at the present time, a largevolume might be prepared, but it was thought wiser to endeavor toobtain a still greater array of facts, especially from livingobservers. If the desired end is attained I shall not count as lostthe labor which has been bestowed. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, H C. YARROW. 

Maj. J. W. POWELL, _In charge of Bureau of Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution_

_The wisest of beings tells us that it is better to go to the Houseof Mourning than to that of laughter. And those who have well considerd the grounds he bad for thus his judgment will not by the title ofthis book (as melancholy as it appears) be affrighted from theperusing it. 

What we read to have been and still to be the custom of some nationsto make sepulchres the repositories of their greatest riches is (I amsure) universally true in a moral sense however it may be thought inthe literal there being never a grave but what conceals a treasurethough all have not the art to discover it I do not here invite thecovetous miser to disturb the dead who can frame no idea of treasuredistinct from gold and silver but him who knows that wisdom and virtueare the true and sole riches of man. Is not truth a treasure thinkyou? Which yet Democritus assures us is buried in a deep pit or graveand he bad reason for whereas we meet elsewhere with nothing but painand deceit we no sooner look down into a grave but truth faceth us andtells us our own. _--MURET

INQUIRIES AND SUGGESTIONS

upon the

MORTUARY CUSTOMS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 

BY H. C. YARROW. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The primitive manners and customs of the North American Indians arerapidly passing away under influences of civilization and otherdisturbing elements. In view of this fact, it becomes the duty of allinterested in preserving a record of these customs to laborassiduously, while there is still time, to collect such data as may beobtainable. This seems the more important now, as within the last tenyears an almost universal interest has been awakened in ethnologicresearch, and the desire for more knowledge in this regard isconstantly increasing. A wise and liberal government, recognizing theneed, has ably seconded the efforts of those engaged in such studiesby liberal grants from the public funds; nor is encouragement wantedfrom the hundreds of scientific societies throughout the civilizedglobe. The public press, too--the mouth-piece of the people--is everon the alert to scatter broadcast such items of ethnologic informationas its corps of well-trained reporters can secure. To induce furtherlaudable inquiry, and assist all those who may be willing to engage inthe good work, is the object of this preliminary work on the mortuarycustoms of North American Indians, and it is hoped that many morelaborers may through it be added to the extensive and honorable listof 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 greatimportance attached to burial ceremonies have formed an almostinvariable part of all works relating to the different peoples of ourglobe; in fact no particular portion of ethnologic research hasclaimed more attention. In view of these facts, it might seem almost awork of supererogation to continue a further examination of thesubject, for nearly every author in writing of our Indian tribes makessome mention of burial observances; but these notices are scatteredfar and wide on the sea of this special literature, and many of theaccounts, unless supported by corroborative evidence, may beconsidered as entirely unreliable. To bring together and harmonizeconflicting statements, and arrange collectively what is known of thesubject has been the writer's task, and an enormous mass ofinformation has been acquired, the method of securing which has beenas follows:

In the first instance a circular was prepared, which is here given;this at the time was thought to embrace all items relating to thedisposal of the dead and attendant ceremonies, although since itsdistribution other important questions have arisen which will bealluded to subsequently. 

"WASHINGTON, D. C, _June_ 15, 1877. 

"To--

"SIR: Being engaged in preparing a memoir upon the 'Burial Customs ofthe Indians of North America, both ancient and modern, and thedisposal of their dead, ' I beg leave to request your kind co-operationto enable me to present as exhaustive an exposition of the subject aspossible, and to this end earnestly invite your attention to thefollowing points in regard to which information is desired:

"1st. Name of the tribe

"2d. Locality. 

"3d. Manner of burial, ancient and modern. 

"4th. Funeral ceremonies. 

"5th. Mourning observances, if any. 

"With reference to the first of these inquiries, 'Name of the tribe, 'the Indian name is desired as well as the name by which the tribe isknown to the whites. 

"As to 'Locality, ' the response should give the range of the tribe, and be full and geographically accurate. 

"As to the 'Manner of burial, ' &c, it is important to have everyparticular bearing on this branch of the subject, and much minutenessis desirable. 

"For instance:

"(_a_) Was the body buried in the ground; if so, in whatposition, and how was the grave prepared and finished?

"(_b_) If cremated, describe the process, and what disposal wasmade of the ashes. 

"(_c_) Were any utensils, implements, ornaments, &c. , or foodplaced in the grave? In short, every _fact_ is sought that maypossibly add to a general knowledge of the subject. 

"Answers to the fourth and fifth queries should give as full andsuccinct a description as possible of funereal and other mortuaryceremonies at the time of death and subsequently, the period ofmourning, manner of its observance, &c. 

"In obtaining materials for the purpose in question it is particularlydesirable that well-authenticated sources of information only be drawnupon, and, therefore, any points gathered from current rumor or merehearsay, and upon which there is doubt, should be submitted tosearching scrutiny before being embraced in answers to the severalinterrogatories, and nothing should be recorded as a _fact_ untilfully established as such. 

"In seeking information from Indians, it is well to remember the greattendency to exaggeration they show, and since absolute facts willalone serve our purpose, great caution is suggested in thisparticular. 

"It is earnestly desired to make the work in question as complete aspossible, and therefore it is especially hoped that your response willcover the ground as pointed out by the several questions as thoroughlyas you may be able and willing to make it. 

"In addition to notes, a reference to published papers either byyourself or others is desirable, as well as the names of those personswho may be able to furnish the needed information. 

"Permit me to assure you that, while it is not offered in the way ofinducement to secure the service asked, since it is barely possiblethat you can be otherwise than deeply interested in the extension ofthe bounds of knowledge, full credit will be given you in the work forwhatever information you may be pleased to furnish. 

"This material will be published under the auspices of Prof. J. W. Powell, in charge of the U. S Geographical and Geological Survey ofthe Rocky Mountain Region. 

"Communications may be addressed to me either at the address givenabove or at the Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. C. 

"Respectfully, yours, "H. C. YARROW. "

This was forwarded to every Indian agent, physicians at agencies, to agreat number of Army officers who had served or were serving atfrontier posts, and to individuals known to be interested inethnologic matters. A large number of interesting and valuableresponses were received, many of them showing how customs have changedeither under influences of civilization or altered circumstances ofenvironment. 

Following this, a comprehensive list of books relating to NorthAmerican Indians was procured, and each volume subjected to carefulscrutiny, extracts being made from those that appeared in the writer'sjudgment reliable. Out of a large number examined up to the presenttime, several hundred have been laid under contribution, and the laborof further collation still continues. 

It is proper to add that all the material obtained will eventually beembodied in a quarto volume, forming one of the series ofcontributions to North American Ethnology prepared under the directionof Maj. J. W. Powell, Director of the Bureau of Ethnology, SmithsonianInstitution, from whom, since the inception of the work, most constantencouragement and advice has been received, and to whom all Americanethnologists owe a debt of gratitude which can never be repaid. 

Having thus called attention to the work and the methods pursued incollecting data, the classification of the subject may be given andexamples furnished of the burial ceremonies among different tribes, calling especial attention to similar or almost analogous customsamong the peoples of the Old World. 

For our present purpose the following provisional arrangement ofburials may be adopted:

1st. By INHUMATION in pits, graves, holes in the ground, mounds;cists, and caves. 

2d. By CREMATION, generally on the surface of the earth, occasionallybeneath, the resulting bones or ashes being placed in pits, in theground, in boxes placed on scaffolds or trees, in urns, sometimesscattered. 

3d. By EMBALMENT or a process of mummifying, the remains beingafterwards placed in the earth, caves, mounds, or charnel-houses. 

4th. By AERIAL SEPULTURE, the bodies being deposited on scaffolds ortrees, in boxes or canoes, the two latter receptacles supported onscaffolds or posts, or on the ground. Occasionally baskets have beenused to contain the remains of children, these being hung to trees. 

5th. By AQUATIC BURIAL, beneath the water, or in canoes, which wereturned adrift. 

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

The use of the term _burial_ throughout this paper is to beunderstood in its literal significance, the word being derived fromthe 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 asfurnished, in order to preserve continuity of narrative. 

INHUMATION. 

The commonest mode of burial among North American Indians has beenthat of interment in the ground, and this has taken place in a numberof different ways; the following will, however, serve as good examplesof the process. 

"The Mohawks of New York made a large round hole in which the body wasplaced upright or upon its haunches, after which it was covered withtimber, to support the earth which they lay over, and thereby kept thebody from being pressed. They then raised the earth in a round hillover it. They always dressed the corpse in all its finery, and putwampum and other things into the grave with it; and the relationssuffered not grass nor any weed to grow upon the grave, and frequentlyvisited it and made lamentation. " [Footnote: Hist. Indian Tribes ofthe United States, 1853, part 3, p 183. ]

This account may be found in Schoolcraft. 

In Jones [Footnote: Antiq. Of Southern Indians, 1873, pp 108-110] isthe following interesting account from Lawson, of the burial customsof the Indians formerly inhabiting the Carolinas:

"Among the Carolina tribes, the burial of the dead was accompaniedwith special ceremonies, the expense and formality attendant upon thefuneral according with the rank of the deceased. The corpse was firstplaced in a cane bundle and deposited in an outhouse made for thepurpose, where it was suffered to remain for a day and a night guardedand mourned over by the nearest relatives with disheveled hair. Thosewho are to officiate at the funeral go into the town, and from thebacks of the first young men they meet strip such blankets andmatchcoats as they deem suitable for their purpose. In these the deadbody is wrapped and then covered with two or three mats made of rushesor cane. The coffin is made of woven reeds or hollow canes tied fastat both ends. When everything is prepared for the interment, thecorpse is carried from the house in which it has been lying into theorchard of peach-trees and is there deposited in another bundle. Seated upon mats are there congregated the family and tribe of thedeceased and invited guests. The medicine man, or conjurer, havingenjoined silence, then pronounces a funeral oration, during which herecounts the exploits of the deceased, his valor, skill, love ofcountry, property, and influence, alludes to the void caused by hisdeath, and counsels those who remain to supply his place by followingin his footsteps; pictures the happiness he will enjoy in the land ofspirits to which he has gone, and concludes his address by an allusionto the prominent traditions of his tribe. "

Let us here pause to remind the reader that this custom has prevailedthroughout the civilized world up to the present day--a custom, in theopinion of many, "more honored in the breach than the observance. "

"At last [says Mr. Lawson], the corpse is brought away from thathurdle to the grave by four young men, attended by the relations, theking, old men, and all the nation. When they come to the sepulchre, which is about six feet deep and eight feet long, having at each end(that is, at the head and foot) a light-wood or pitch-pine fork drivenclose down the sides of the grave firmly into the ground (these twoforks are to contain a ridgepole, as you shall understand presently), before they lay the corpse into the grave, they cover the bottom twoor three time over with the bark of trees; then they let down thecorpse (with two belts that the Indians carry their burdens withal)very leisurely upon the said barks; then they lay over a pole of thesame 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 sidesof the grave down each end and near the top, through of where (sic) theother ends lie in the ridge-pole, so that they are declining like theroof of a house. These being very thick placed, they cover them manytimes double with bark; then they throw the earth thereon that cameout of the grave and beat it down very firm. By this means the deadbody lies in a vault, nothing touching him. After a time the body istaken up, the bones cleaned, and deposited in an ossuary called theQuiogozon. "

Dr Fordyce Grinnell, physician to the Wichita Agency, IndianTerritory, furnishes the following description of the burialceremonies of the Wichita Indians, who call themselves. "_Kitty-la-tats_" or those of the tattooed eyelids. 

"When a Wichita dies the town-crier goes up and down through thevillage and announces the fact. Preparations are immediately made forthe burial, and the body is taken without delay to the grave preparedfor it reception. If the grave is some distance from the village thebody is carried thither on the back of a pony, being first wrapped inblankets and then laid prone across the saddle, one walking on eitherside to support it. The grave is dug from 3 to 4 feet deep and ofsufficient length for the extended body. First blankets and buffalorobes are laid in the bottom of the grave, then the body, being takenfrom the horse and unwrapped, is dressed in its best apparel and withornaments is placed upon a couch of blankets and robes, with the headtowards the west and the feet to the east; the valuables belonging tothe deceased are placed with the body in the grave. With the man aredeposited his bows and arrows or gun, and with the woman her cookingutensils and other implements of her toil. Over the body sticks areplaced six or eight inches deep and grass over these, so that when theearth is filled in it need not come in contact with the body or itstrappings. After the grave is filled with earth a pen of poles isbuilt around it, or, as is frequently the case, stakes are driven sothat they cross each other from either side about midway over thegrave, thus forming a complete protection from the invasion of wildanimals. After all this is done, the grass or other _debris_ iscarefully scraped from about the grave for several feet, so that theground is left smooth and clean. It is seldom the case that therelatives accompany the remains to the grave, but they more oftenemploy others to bury the body for them, usually women. Mourning issimilar in this tribe as in others, and consists in cutting off thehair, fasting, &c. Horses are also killed at the grave. "

The Caddoes, _Ascena_, or Timber Indians, as they callthemselves, follow nearly the same mode of burial as the Wichitas, butone custom prevailing is worthy of mention. 

"If a Caddo is killed in battle, the body is never buried, but is leftto be devoured by beasts or birds of prey and the condition of suchindividuals in the other world is considered to be far better thanthat of persons dying a natural death. "

In a work by Bruhier [Footnote: L'incertitude des Signes de la Mort, 1740, tom 1, p. 430] the following remarks, freely translated by thewriter, may be found, which note a custom having great similarity tothe 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 agreat honor, a misfortune if not. Sometimes they interred, alwayswrapping the dead in a wax cloth to prevent odor. "

M. Pierre Muret, [Footnote: Rites of Funeral, Ancient and Modern, 1683, p 45] from whose book Bruhier probably obtained his information, gives at considerable length an account of this peculiar method oftreating the dead among the Persians, as follows:

"It is a matter of astonishment, considering the _Persians_ haveever had the renown of being one of the most civilized Nations in theworld, that notwithstanding they should have used such barbarouscustoms about the Dead as are set down in the Writings of someHistorians, and the rather because at this day there are still to beseen among them those remains of Antiquity, which do fully satisfieus, 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 werethey from bestowing any Funeral Honours upon them. But, as theseAuthors tell us, they exposed them stark naked in the open fields, which is the greatest shame our Laws do allot to the most infamousCriminals, by laying them open to the view of all upon the highways:Yea, in their opinion it was a great unhappiness, if either Birds orBeasts did not devour their Carcases; and they commonly made anestimate of the Felicity of these poor Bodies, according as they weresooner or later made a prey of. Concerning these, they resolved thatthey must needs have been very bad indeed, since even the beaststhemselves would not touch them; which caused an extream sorrow totheir Relations, they taking it for an ill boding to their Family, andan infallible presage of some great misfortune hanging over theirheads, for they persuaded themselves, that the Souls which inhabitedthose Bodies being dragg'd into Hell, would not fail to come andtrouble them, and that being always accompanied with the Devils, theirTormentors, 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 theDeceased; every one esteeming them undoubtedly happy, and came tocongratulate their relations on that account: For as they believedassuredly, that they were entered into the _Elysian_ Fields, sothey were persuaded, that they would procure the same bliss for allthose of their family. 

"They also took a great delight to see Skeletons and Bones scatered upand down in the fields, whereas we can scarcely endure to see those ofHorses and Dogs used so. And these remains of Humane Bodies, (thesight whereof gives us so much, horror, that we presently bury themout of our sight, whenever we find them elsewhere than in Charnel-houses or Church yards) were the occasion of their greatest joybecause they concluded from thence the happiness of those that hadbeen devoured wishing after then Death to meet with the like goodluck. "

The same author states and Bruhier corroborates the assertion that theParthians, Medes, Iberians, Caspians, and a few others had such ahorror and aversion of the corruption and decomposition of the deadand of their being eaten by worms that they threw out the bodies intothe open fields to be devoured by wild beasts, a part of their beliefbeing that persons so devoured would not be entirely extinct, butenjoy at least a partial sort of life in their living sepulchres. Itis quite probable that for these and other reasons the Bactrians andHircanians trained dogs for this special purpose called _Canessepulchrales_ which received the greatest care and attention, forit was deemed proper that the souls of the deceased should have strongand lusty frames to dwell in. 

George Gibbs [Footnote: Schoolcraft's Hist. Indian Tribes of theUnited States Pt. 3, 1853, p. 140] gives the following account ofburial among the Klamath and Trinity Indians of the Northwest coast. 

The graves which are in the immediate vicinity of their houses exhibitvery considerable taste and a laudable care. The dead are inclosed inrude coffins formed by placing four boards around the body and coveredwith earth to some depth; a heavy plank often supported by uprighthead and foot stones is laid upon the top or stones are built up intoa wall about a foot above the ground and the top flagged with others. The graves of the chiefs are surrounded by neat wooden palings, eachpale ornamented with a feather from the tail of the bald eagle. Baskets are usually staked down by the side according to the wealth orpopularity of the individual and sometimes other articles for ornamentor use are suspended over them. The funeral ceremonies occupy threedays during which the soul of the deceased is in danger from _O-mah-u_ or the devil. To preserve it from this peril a fire is kept upat the grave and the friends of the deceased howl around it to scareaway the demon. Should they not be successful in this the soul iscarried down the river, subject, however, to redemption by _Peh-howan_ on payment of a big knife. After the expiration of three daysit is all well with them. 

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

Capt. F. E. Grossman, [Footnote: Rep. Smithson. Inst. , 1871, p. 414]USA, furnishes the following account of burial among the Pimas ofArizona:

"The Pimas tie the bodies of their dead with ropes, passing the latteraround the neck and under the knees and then drawing them tight untilthe body is doubled up and forced into a sitting position. They digthe grave from four to five feet deep and perfectly round (about twofeet in diameter), then hollow out to one side of the bottom of thisgrave a sort of vault large enough to contain the body. Here the bodyis deposited, the grave is filled up level with the ground, and poles, trees, or pieces of timber placed upon the grave to protect theremains from the coyotes (a species of wolf). Burials usually takeplace at night, without much ceremony. The mourners chant during theburial, but signs of grief are rare. The bodies of their dead areburied, if possible, immediately after death has taken place, and thegraves are generally prepared before the patients die. Sometimes sickpersons (for whom the graves had already been dug) recovered; in suchcases the graves are left open until the persons for whom they wereintended die. Open graves of this kind can be seen in several of theirburial-grounds. Places of burial are selected some distance from thevillage, and, if possible, in a grove of mesquite bushes. Immediatelyafter the remains have been buried, the house and personal effects ofthe deceased are burned, and his horses and cattle killed, the meatbeing cooked as a repast for the mourners. The nearest relatives ofthe deceased, as a sign of their sorrow, remain in the village forweeks and sometimes months; the men cut off about six inches of theirlong hair, while the women cut their hair quite short"

The Coyotero Apaches, according to Dr. W. J. Hoffman, [Footnote: U. S. Geol. Surv. Of Terr. For 1876, p. 473] in disposing of their dead, seem to be actuated by the desire to spare themselves any needlesstrouble, and prepare the defunct and the grave in this manner. 

"The Coyoteros, upon the death of a member of the tribe, partiallywrap up the corpse and deposit it into the cavity left by the removalof a small rock or the stump of a tree. After the body has beencrammed into the smallest possible space the rock or stump is againrolled into its former position, when a number of stones are placedaround the base to keep out the coyotes. The nearest of kin usuallymourn for the period of one month, during that time giving utteranceat intervals to the most dismal lamentations, which are apparentlysincere. During the day this obligation is frequently neglected orforgotten, but when the mourner is reminded of his duty he renews hishowling with evident interest. This custom of mourning for the periodof thirty days corresponds to that formerly observed by the Natchez. "

Somewhat similar to this rude mode of sepulture is that described inthe life of Moses Van Campen, which relates to the Indians formerlyinhabiting Pennsylvania:

"Directly after the Indians proceeded to bury those who had fallen inbattle, which they did by rolling an old log from its place and layingthe body in the hollow thus made, and then heaping upon it a littleearth"

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

"Saw Indian graves on the plateau of Independence Rock. The Indiansplant a stake on the right side of the head of the deceased and burythem in a bark canoe. Their children come every year to bringprovisions to the place where their fathers are buried. One of thegraves had fallen in and we observed in the soil some sticks forstretching skins, the remains of a canoe, &c. , and the two straps forcarrying it, and near the place where the head lay were the traces ofa fire which they had kindled for the soul of the deceased to come andwarm itself by and to partake of the food deposited near it. 

"These were probably the Massasauga Indians, then inhabiting the northshore of Lake Ontario, but who were rather intruders here, the countrybeing claimed by the Oneidas. "

It is not to be denied that the use of canoes for coffins hasoccasionally been remarked, for the writer in 1875 removed from thegraves at Santa Barbara an entire skeleton which was discovered in aredwood canoe, but it is thought that the individual may have been anoted fisherman, particularly as the implements of his vocation--nets, fish-spears, &c. --were near him, and this burial was only anexemplification of the well-rooted belief common to all Indians, thatthe spirit in the next world makes use of the same articles as wereemployed in this one. It should be added that of the many hundreds ofskeletons uncovered at Santa Barbara the one mentioned presented theonly example of the kind. 

Among the Indians of the Mosquito coast, in Central America, canoeburial in the ground, according to Bancroft [Footnote: Native Races ofPacific States, 1874, vol. 1, p 744. ], was common, and is thusdescribed:

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

BURIAL IN CABINS, WIGWAMS, OR HOUSES. 

While there is a certain degree of similitude between the above-notedmethods and the one to be mentioned subsequently--_lodge_ burial--they differ, inasmuch as the latter are examples of surface or aerialburial, and must consequently fall under another caption. Thenarratives which are now to be given afford a clear idea of the formerkind of burial. 

Bartram [Footnote: Bartram's Travels, 1791, pp. 515. ] relates thefollowing regarding the Muscogulges of the Carolinas:

"The Muscogulges bury their deceased in the earth; they dig a four-foot, square, deep pit under the cabin, or couch which the deceasedlaid on in his house, lining the grave with cypress bark, when theyplace the corpse in a sitting posture, as if it were alive, depositingwith him his gun, tomahawk, pipe, and such other matters as he had thegreatest value for in his lifetime. His eldest wife, or the queendowager, has the second choice of his possessions, and the remainingeffects are divided among his other wives and children. "

According to Bernard Roman, the "funeral customs of the Chickasaws didnot differ materially from those of the Muscogulges. They interred thedead as soon as the breath left the body, and beneath the couch inwhich the deceased expired. "

The Navajos of New Mexico and Arizona, a tribe living a considerabledistance from the Chickasaws, follow somewhat similar customs, asrelated by Dr. John Menard, formerly a physician to their agency. 

"The Navajo custom is to leave the body where it dies, closing up thehouse or hogan or covering the body with stones or brush. In case thebody is removed, it is taken to a cleft in the rocks and thrown in, and stones piled over. The person touching or carrying the body, firsttakes off all his clothes and afterwards washes his body with waterbefore putting them on or mingling with the living. When a body isremoved from a house or hogan, the hogan is burned down, and the placein every case abandoned, as the belief is that the devil comes to theplace of death and remains where a dead body is. Wild animalsfrequently (indeed, generally) get the bodies, and it is a very easymatter to pick up skulls and bones around old camping grounds, orwhere the dead are laid. In case it is not desirable to abandon aplace, the sick person is left out in some lone spot protected bybrush, where they are either abandoned to their fate or food broughtto them until they die. This is done only when all hope is gone. Ihave found bodies thus left so well inclosed with brush that wildanimals were unable to get at them; and one so left to die was revivedby a cup of coffee from our house and is still living and well. "

Mr. J. L. Burchard, agent to the Round Valley Indians of California, furnishes an account of burial somewhat resembling that of theNavajos:

"When I first came here the Indians would dig a round hole in theground, draw up the knees of the deceased Indian, and wrap the bodyinto as small a bulk as possible in blankets, tie them firmly withcords, place them in the grave, throw in beads, baskets, clothing, everything owned by the deceased, and often donating much extra; allgathered around the grave wailing most pitifully, tearing their faceswith their nails till the blood would run down their cheeks, pull outtheir hair, and such other heathenish conduct. These burials weregenerally made under their thatch houses or very near thereto. Thehouse where one died was always torn down, removed, rebuilt, orabandoned. The wailing, talks, &c. , were in their own jargon; noneelse could understand, and they seemingly knew but little of itsmeaning (if there was any meaning in it); it simply seemed to be thepromptings of grief, without sufficient intelligence to direct anyceremony; each seemed to act out his own impulse"

STONE GRAVES OR CISTS. 

These are of considerable interest, not only from their somewhat rareoccurrence, except in certain localities, but from the manifest caretaken by the survivors to provide for the dead what they considered asuitable resting-place. A number of cists have been found inTennessee, and are thus described by Moses Fiske: [Footnote: Trans. Amer. Antiq. Soc. , 1820 vol. 1, p. 302]

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

It may be added that, in 1873, the writer assisted at the opening of anumber of graves of men of the reindeer period, near Solutre, inFrance, and they were almost identical in construction with thosedescribed by Mr. Fiske, with the exception that the latter weredeeper; this, however, may be accounted for if it is considered howgreat a deposition of earth may have taken place during the manycenturies which have elapsed since the burial. Many of the gravesexplored by the writer in 1875, at Santa Barbara, resembled somewhatcist graves, the bottom and sides of the pit being lined with largeflat stones, but there were none directly over the skeletons. 

The next account is by Maj. J. W. Powell, the result of hisobservation in Tennessee. "These ancient cemeteries are exceedinglyabundant throughout the State, often hundreds of graves may be foundon a single hillside. In some places the graves are scattered and inothers collected in mounds, each mound being composed of a largenumber of cist graves. It is evident that the mounds were notconstructed at one time, but the whole collection of graves thereinwas made during long periods by the addition of a new grave from timeto time. In the first burials found at the bottom and near the centerof a mound a tendency to a concentric system, with the feet inward, isobserved, and additions are made around and above these firstconcentric graves, as the mound increases in size the burials becomemore and more irregular:

"Some other peculiarities are of interest. A larger number ofinterments exhibit the fact that the bodies were placed there beforethe decay of the flesh, while in other cases collections of bones areburied. Sometimes these bones were placed in some order about thecrania, and sometimes in irregular piles, as if the collection ofbones had been emptied from a sack. With men, pipes, stone hammers, knives, arrowheads, &c. , were usually found; with women, pottery, rudebeads, shells, &c. ; with children, toys of pottery, beads, curiouspebbles, &c. 

"Sometimes, in the subsequent burials, the side slab of a previousburial was used as a portion of the second cist. All of the cists werecovered with slabs. "

Dr. Jones has given an exceedingly interesting account of the stonegraves of Tennessee, in his volume published by the SmithsonianInstitution, to which valuable work [Footnote: Antiquities ofTennessee, Cont. To Knowledge, Smith. Inst. , 1876, No. 259, 4 deg. , pp. 1, 8, 37, 52, 55, 82. ] the reader is referred for a more detailed accountof this mode of burial. 

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 ofEthnology may shortly be published, it is not deemed advisable todevote any considerable space to it in this paper, but a fewinteresting examples may be noted to serve as indications to futureobservers. 

The first to which attention is directed is interesting as resemblingcist-burial combined with deposition in mounds. The communication isfrom Prof. F. W. Putnam, curator of the Peabody Museum of Archaology, Cambridge, made to the Boston Society of Natural History, and ispublished in volume XX of its proceedings, October 15, 1878:

"... He then stated that it would be of interest to the members, inconnection with the discovery of dolmens in Japan, as described byProfessor Morse, to know that within twenty-four hours there had beenreceived at the Peabody Museum a small collection of articles takenfrom rude dolmens (or chambered barrows, as they would be called inEngland), recently opened by Mr. E. Curtiss, who is now engaged, underhis direction, in exploration for the Peabody Museum. 

"These chambered mounds are situated in the eastern part of ClayCounty, Missouri, and form a large group on both sides of the MissouriRiver. The chambers are, in the three opened by Mr. Curtiss, about 8feet square, and from 4-1/2 to 5 feet high, each chamber having apassage-way several feet in length and 2 in width leading from thesouthern side and opening on the edge of the mound formed by coveringthe chamber and passage-way with earth. The walls of the chamberedpassages were about 2 feet thick, vertical, and well made of stones, which were evenly laid without clay or mortar of any kind. The top ofone of the chambers had a covering of large, flat rocks, but theothers seem to have been closed over with wood. The chambers werefilled with clay which had been burnt, and appeared as if it hadfallen in from above. The inside walls of the chambers also showedsigns of fire. Under the burnt clay, in each chamber, were found theremains of several human skeletons, all of which had been burnt tosuch an extent as to leave but small fragments of the bones, whichwere mixed with the ashes and charcoal. Mr. Curtiss thought that inone chamber he found the remains of 5 skeletons and in another 13. With these skeletons there were a few flint implements and minutefragments of vessels of clay. 

"A large mound near the chambered mounds was also opened, but in thisno chambers were found. Neither had the bodies been burnt. This moundproved remarkably rich in large flint implements, and also containedwell-made pottery and a peculiar "gorget" of red stone. The connectionof the people who placed the ashes of their dead in the stone chamberswith those who buried their dead in the earth mounds is, of course, yet to be determined. "

It is quite possible, indeed probable, that these chambers were usedfor secondary burials, the bodies having first been cremated. 

In the volume of the proceedings already quoted the same investigatorgives an account of other chambered mounds which are, like thepreceding, very interesting, the more so as adults only were inhumedtherein, children having been buried beneath the dwelling-floors:

"Mr. F. W. Putnam occupied the rest of the evening with an account ofhis explorations of the ancient mounds and burial places in theCumberland Valley, Tennessee. 

"The excavations had been carried on by himself, assisted by Mr. EdwinCurtiss, for over two years, for the benefit of the Peabody Museum atCambridge. During this time many mounds of various kinds had beenthoroughly explored, and several thousand of the singular stone gravesof the mound builders of Tennessee had been carefully opened.... Mr. Putnam's remarks were illustrated by drawings of several hundredobjects obtained from the graves and mounds, particularly to show thegreat variety of articles of pottery and several large and many uniqueforms of implements of chipped flint. He also exhibited and explainedin detail a map of a walled town of this old nation. This town wassituated on the Lindsley estate, in a bend of Spring Creek. The earthembankment, with its accompanying ditch, encircled an area of about 12acres. Within this inclosure there was one large mound with a flattop, 15 feet high, 130 feet long, and 90 feet wide, which was foundnot to be a burial mound. Another mound near the large one, about 50feet in diameter, and only a few feet high, contained 60 humanskeletons, each in a carefully-made stone grave, the graves beingarranged in two rows, forming the four sides of a square, and in threelayers.... The most important discovery lie made within the inclosurewas that of finding the remains of the houses of the people who livedin this old town. Of them about 70 were traced out and located on themap by Professor Buchanan, of Lebanon, who made the survey for Mr. Putnam. Under the floors of hard clay, which was in places much burnt, Mr. Putnam found the graves of children. As only the bodies of adultshad been placed in the one mound devoted to burial, and as nearlyevery site of a house he explored had from one to four graves ofchildren under the clay floor, he was convinced that it was a regularcustom to bury the children in that way. He also found that thechildren had been undoubtedly treated with affection, as in theirsmall graves were found many of the best pieces of pottery heobtained, and also quantities of shell-beads, several large pearls, and many other objects which were probably the playthings of thelittle ones while living. " [Footnote: A detailed account of thisexploration, with many illustrations, will be found in the EleventhAnnual Report of the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, 1878. ]

This cist mode of burial is by no means uncommon in Tennessee, as theyare frequently mentioned by writers on North American archaeology. 

The examples which follow are specially characteristic, some of themserving to add strength to the theory that mounds were for the mostpart used for secondary burial, although intrusions were doubtlesscommon. 

Of the burial mounds of Ohio, Caleb Atwater [Footnote: Trans. Amer. Antiq. Soc. , 1820, i, p. 174 et seq. ] gives this description. 

"Near the center of the round fort ... Was a tumulus of earth about 10feet in height and several rods in diameter at its base. On itseastern side, and extending six rods from it, was a semicircularpavement composed of pebbles such as are now found in the bed of theScioto River, from whence they appear to have been brought. The summitof this tumulus was nearly 30 feet in diameter, and there was a raisedway to it, leading from the east, like a modern turnpike. The summitwas level. The outline of the semicircular pavement and the walk isstill discernible. The earth composing this mound was entirely removedseveral years since. The writer was present at its removal andcarefully examined the contents. It contained--

"1st. Two human skeletons lying on what had been the original surfaceof the earth. 

"2d. A great quantity of arrow-heads, some of which were so large asto induce a belief that they were used as spear-heads. 

"3d. The handle either of a small sword or a large knife, made of anelk's horn. Around the end where the blade had been inserted was aferule of silver, which, though black, was not much injured by time. Though the handle showed the hole where the blade had been inserted, yet no iron was found, but an oxyde remained of similar shape andsize. 

"4th. Charcoal and wood ashes on which these articles lay, which weresurrounded by several bricks very well burnt. The skeleton appeared tohave been burned in a large and very hot fire, which had almostconsumed the bones of the deceased. This skeleton was deposited alittle to the south of the center of the tumulus; and about 20 feet tothe north of it was another, with which were--

"5th. A large mirrour about 3 feet in breadth and 1-1/2 inches inthickness This mirrour was of isinglass (_mica membranacea_), andon it--

"6th. A plate of iron which had become an oxyde, but before it wasdisturbed by the spade resembled a plate of cast iron. The mirrouranswered the purpose very well for which it was intended. Thisskeleton had also been burned like the former, and lay on charcoal anda considerable quantity of wood ashes. A part of the mirrour is in mypossession, as well as a piece of brick taken from the spot at thetime. The knife or sword handle was sent to Mr. Peal's Museum atPhiladelphia. 

"To the southwest of this tumulus, about 40 rods from it, is another, more than 90 feet in height, which is shown on the plate representingthese works. It stands on a large hill, which appears to beartificial. This must have been the common cemetery, as it contains animmense number of human skeletons of all sizes and ages. The skeletonsare laid horizontally, with their heads generally towards the centerand the feet towards the outside of the tumulus. A considerable partof this work still stands uninjured, except by time. In it have beenfound, besides these skeletons, stone axes and knives and severalornaments, with holes through them, by means of which, with a cordpassing through these perforations they could be worn by their owners. On the south side of this tumulus, and not far from it, was asemicircular fosse, which, when I first saw it, was 6 feet deep. Onopening it was discovered at the bottom a great quantity of humanbones, which I am inclined to believe were the remains of those whohad been slain in some great and destructive battle first, becausethey belonged to persons who had attained their full size, whereas inthe mound adjoining were found the skeletons of persons of all ages, and, secondly, they were here in the utmost confusion, as if buried ina hurry. May we not conjecture that they belonged to the people whoresided in the town, and who were victorious in the engagement?Otherwise they would not have been thus honorably buried in the commoncemetery. "

CHILLICOTHE MOUND. 

"Its perpendicular height was about 15 feet, and the diameter of itsbase about 60 feet. It was composed of sand and contained human bonesbelonging to skeletons which were buried in different parts of it. Itwas not until this pile of earth was removed and the original surfaceexposed to view that a probable conjecture of its original designcould be formed. About 20 feet square of the surface had been leveledand covered with bark. On the center of this lay a human skeleton, over which had been spread a mat manufactured either from weeds orbark. On the breast lay what had been a piece of copper, in the formof a cross, which had now become verdigrise. On the breast also lay astone ornament with two perforations, one near each end, through whichpassed a string, by means of which it was suspended around thewearer's neck. On this string, which was made of sinews, and very muchinjured by time, were placed a great many heads made of ivory or bone, for I cannot certainly say which.... "

MOUNDS OF STONE. 

"Two such mounds have been described already in the county of Perry. Others have been found in various parts of the country. There is oneat least in the vicinity of Licking River, not many miles from Newark. There is another on a branch of Hargus's Creek, a few miles to thenortheast of Circleville. There were several not very far from thetown of Chillicothe. If these mounds were sometimes used as cemeteriesof distinguished persons, they were also used as monuments with a viewof perpetuating the recollection of some great transaction or event. In the former not more generally than one or two skeletons are found;in the latter none. These mounds are like those of earth, in form of acone, composed of small stones on which no marks of tools werevisible. In them some of the most interesting articles are found, suchas urns, ornaments of copper, heads of spears, &c. , of the same metal, as well as medals of copper and pickaxes of horneblende; ... Works ofthis class, compared with those of earth, are few, and they are noneof them as large as the mounds at Grave Creek, in the town ofCircleville, which belong to the first class. I saw one of these stonetumuli which had been piled on the surface of the earth on the spotwhere three skeletons had been buried in stone coffins, beneath thesurface. It was situated on the western edge of the hill on which the"walled town" stood, on Paint Creek. The graves appear to have beendug to about the depth of ours in the present times. After the bottomand sides were lined with thin flat stones, the corpses were placed inthese graves in an eastern and western direction, and large flatstones were laid over the graves; then the earth which had been dugout of the graves was thrown over them. A huge pile of stones wasplaced over the whole. It is quite probable, however, that this was awork of our present race of Indians. Such graves are more common inKentucky than Ohio. No article, except the skeletons, was found inthese graves; and the skeletons resembled very much the present raceof Indians. "

The mounds of Sterling County, Illinois, are described by W. C. Holbrook, [Footnote: Amer. Natural, 1877, xi, No. 11, p. 688] asfollows:

"I recently made an, examination of a few of the many Indian moundsfound on Rock River, about two miles above Sterling, Ill. The firstone opened was an oval mound about 20 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 7feet high. In the interior of this I found a _dolmen_ orquadrilateral wall about 10 feet long, 4 feet high, and 4-1/2 feetwide. It had been built of lime-rock from a quarry near by, and wascovered with large flat stones No mortar or cement had been used. Thewhole structure rested on the surface of the natural soil, theinterior of which had been scooped out to enlarge the chamber. Insideof the _dolmen_ I found the partly decayed remains of eight humanskeletons, two very large teeth of an unknown animal, two fossils, oneof which is not found in this place, and a plummet. One of the longbones had been splintered; the fragments had united, but thereremained large morbid growths of bone (exostosis) in several places. One of the skulls presented a circular opening about the size of asilver dime. This perforation had been made during life, for the edgeshad commenced to cicatrize. I later examined three circular mounds, but in them I found no dolmens. The first mound contained three adulthuman skeletons, a few fragments of the skeleton of a child, the lowermaxillary of which indicated it to be about six years old. I alsofound claws of some carnivorous animal. The surface of the soil hadbeen scooped out and the bodies laid in the excavation and coveredwith about a foot of earth, fires had then been made upon the graveand the mound afterwards completed. The bones had not been charred. Nocharcoal was found among the bones, but occurred in abundance in astratum about one foot above them. Two other mounds, examined at thesame time, contained no remains. 

"Of two other mounds, opened later, the first was circular, about 4feet high, and 15 feet in diameter at the base, and was situated on anelevated point of land close to the bank of the river. From the top ofthis mound one might view the country for many miles in almost anydirection. On its summit was an oval altar 6 feet long and 4-1/2 wide. It was composed of flat pieces of limestone, which had been burnedred, some portions having been almost converted into lime. On andabout this altar I found abundance of charcoal. At the sides of thealtar were fragments of human bones, some of which had been charred. It was covered by a natural growth of vegetable mold and sod, thethickness of which was about 10 inches. Large trees had once grown inthis vegetable mold, but their stumps were so decayed I could not tellwith certainty to what species they belonged. Another large mound wasopened which contained nothing. "

The next account relates to the grave-mounds near Pensacola, Fla. , andwas originally published by Dr. George M. Sternberg, surgeon UnitedStates Army. [Footnote: Proc. Am. Ass. Adv. Of Science, 1875, p. 288]

"Before visiting the mound I was informed that the Indians were buriedin it in an upright position, each one with a clay pot on his head. This idea was based upon some superficial explorations which had beenmade from time to time by curiosity hunters. Their excavations had, indeed, brought to light pots containing fragments of skulls, but notburied in the position they imagined. Very extensive explorations madeat different times by myself have shown that only fragments of skullsand of the long bones of the body are to be found in the mound, andthat these are commonly associated with earthen pots, sometimes whole, but more frequently broken fragments only. In some instances portionsof the skull were placed in a pot, and the long bones were depositedin its immediate vicinity. Again, the pots would contain only sand, and fragments of bones would be found near them. The most successful'find' I made was a whole nest of pots, to the number of half a dozen, all in a good state of preservation, and buried with a fragment ofskull, which I take from its small size to have been that of a female. Whether this female was thus distinguished above all others buried inthe mound by the number of pots deposited with her remains because ofher skill in the manufacture of such ware, or by reason of the unusualwealth of her sorrowing husband, must remain a matter of conjecture. Ifound altogether fragments of skulls and thigh-bones belonging to atleast fifty individuals, but in no instance did I find anything like acomplete skeleton. There were no vertebra, no ribs, no pelvic bones, and none of the small bones of the hands and feet. Two or three skullsnearly perfect were found, but they were so fragile that it wasimpossible to preserve them. In the majority of instances onlyfragments of the frontal and parietal bones were found, buried in potsor in fragments of pots too small to have ever contained a completeskull. The conclusion was irresistible that this was not a burial-place for _the bodies_ of deceased Indians, but that the boneshad been gathered from some other locality for burial in this mound, or that cremation was practiced before burial, and the fragments ofbone not consumed by fire were gathered and deposited in the mound. That the latter supposition is the correct one I deem probable fromthe fact that in digging in the mound evidences of fire are found innumerous places, but without any regularity as to depth and position. These evidences consist in strata of from one to four inches inthickness, in which the sand is of a dark color and has mixed with itnumerous small fragments of charcoal. 

"My theory is that the mound was built by gradual accretion in thefollowing manner. That when a death occurred a funeral pyre waserected on the mound, upon which the body was placed. That after thebody was consumed, any fragments of bones remaining were gathered, placed in a pot, and buried, and that the ashes and cinders werecovered by a layer of sand brought from the immediate vicinity forthat purpose. This view is further supported by the fact that only theshafts of the long bones are found, the expanded extremities, whichwould be most easily consumed, having disappeared; also, by the factthat no bones of children were found. Their bones being smaller, andcontaining a less proportion of earthy matter, would be entirelyconsumed.... 

"At the Santa Rosa mound the method of burial was different. Here Ifound the skeletons complete, and obtained nine well-preservedskulls.... The bodies were not apparently deposited upon any regularsystem, and I found no objects of interest associated with theremains. It may be that this was due to the fact that the skeletonsfound were those of warriors who had fallen in battle in which theyhad sustained a defeat. This view is supported by the fact that theywere all males, and that two of the skulls bore marks of ante-morteminjuries which must have been of a fatal character. "

Writing of the Choctaws, Bartram, [Footnote: Bartram's Travels, 1791, p. 513. ] in alluding to the ossuary or bone-house, mentions that sosoon as this is filled a general inhumation takes place, in thismanner. 

"Then the respective coffins are borne by the nearest relatives of thedeceased to the place of interment, where they are all piled one uponanother in the form of a pyramid, and the conical hill of earth heapedabove. The funeral ceremonies are concluded with the solemnization ofa festival called the feast of the dead. "

Mr. Florian Gianque, of Cincinnati, Ohio, furnishes an account of asomewhat curious mound burial which had taken place in the MiamiValley of Ohio. 

"A mound was opened in this locality, some years ago, containing acentral corpse in a sitting posture, and over thirty skeletons buriedaround it in a circle, also in a sitting posture but leaning againstone another, tipped over towards the right facing inwards. I did notsee this opened, but have seen the mounds and many ornaments, awls, &c. , said to have been found near the central body. The partiesinforming me are trustworthy. "

As an example of interment, unique, so far as known, and interestingas being _sui generis_, the following is presented, with thestatement that the author, Dr J. Mason Spainhour, of Lenoir, N. C. , bears the reputation of an observer of undoubted integrity, whosefacts as given may not be doubted. 

"_Excavation of an Indian mound by J. Mason Spainhour, D. D. S. , ofLenoir, Caldwell County, North Carolina, March 11, 1871, on the farmof R. V. Michaux, esq. , near John's River, in Burke County, NorthCarolina_"

"In a conversation with Mr. Michaux on Indian curiosities, he informedme that there was an Indian mound on his farm which was formerly ofconsiderable height, but had gradually been plowed down, that severalmounds in the neighborhood had been excavated and nothing of interestfound in them. I asked permission to examine this mound, which wasgranted, and upon investigation the following facts were revealed. 

"Upon reaching the place, I sharpened a stick 4 or 5 feet in lengthand ran it down in the earth at several places, and finally struck arock about 18 inches below the surface, which, on digging down, wasfound to be smooth on top, lying horizontally upon solid earth, about18 inches above the bottom of the grave, 18 inches in length, and 16inches in width, and from 2 to 3 inches in thickness, with the cornersrounded. 

"Not finding anything under this rock, I then made an excavation inthe south of the grave, and soon struck another rock, which uponexamination proved to be in front of the remains of a human skeletonin a sitting posture. The bones of the fingers of the right hand wereresting on this rock, and on the rock near the hand was a small stoneabout 5 inches long, resembling a tomahawk or Indian hatchet. Upon afurther examination many of the bones were found, though in a verydecomposed condition, and upon exposure to the air soon crumbled topieces. The heads of the bones, a considerable portion of the skull, maxillary bones, teeth, neck bones, and the vertebra, were in theirproper places, though the weight of the earth above them had driventhem down, yet the entire frame was so perfect that it was an easymatter to trace all the bones; the bones of the cranium were slightlyinclined toward the east. Around the neck were found coarse beads thatseemed to be of some hard substance and resembled chalk. A small lumpof red paint about the size of an egg was found near the right side ofthis skeleton. The sutures of the cranium indicated the subject tohave been 25 or 28 years of age, and its top rested about 12 inchesbelow the mark of the plow. 

"I made a further excavation toward the west of this grave and foundanother skeleton, similar to the first, in a sitting posture, facingthe east. A rock was on the right, on which the bones of the righthand were resting, and on this rock was a tomahawk which had beenabout 7 inches in length, but was broken into two pieces, and was muchbetter finished than the first. Beads were also around the neck ofthis one, but are much smaller and of finer quality than those on theneck of the first. The material, however, seems to be the same. A muchlarger amount of paint was found by the side of this than the first. The bones indicated a person of large frame, who, I think, was about50 years of age. Everything about this one had the appearance ofsuperiority over the first. The top of the skull was about 6 inchesbelow the mark of the plane. 

"I continued the examination, and, after diligent search, foundnothing at the north side of the grave; but, on reaching the east, found another skeleton, in the same posture as the others, facing thewest. On the right side of this was a rock on which the bones of theright hand were resting, and on the rock was also a tomahawk, whichhad been about 8 inches in length, but was broken into _three_pieces, and was composed of much better material, and better finishedthan the others. Beads were also found on the neck of this, but muchsmaller and finer than those of the others. A larger amount of paintthan both of the others was found near this one. The top of thecranium had been moved by the plow. The bones indicated a person of 40years of age. 

"There was no appearance of hair discovered; besides, the smallerbones were almost entirely decomposed, and would crumble when takenfrom their bed in the earth. These two circumstances, coupled with thefact that the farm on which this grave was found was the first settledin that part of the country, the date of the first deed made from LordGranville to John Perkins running back about 150 years (the land stillbelonging to the descendants of the same family that first occupiedit), would prove beyond doubt that it is a very old grave. 

"The grave was situated due east and west, in size about 9 by 6 feet, the line being distinctly marked by the difference in the color of thesoil. It was dug in rich, black loam, and filled around the bodieswith white or yellow sand, which I suppose was carried from the river-bank, 200 yards distant. The skeletons approximated the walls of thegrave, and contiguous to them was a dark-colored earth, and sodecidedly different was this from all surrounding it, both in qualityand odor, that the line of the bodies could be readily traced. Theodor of this decomposed earth, which had been flesh, was similar toclotted blood, and would adhere in lumps when compressed in the hand. 

"This was not the grave of the Indian warriors; in those we find potsmade of earth or stone, and all the implements of war, for the warriorhad an idea that after he arose from the dead he would need, in the'hunting-grounds beyond, ' his bow and arrow, war-hatchet, andscalping-knife. 

"The facts set forth will doubtless convince every Mason who willcarefully read the account of this remarkable burial that the AmericanIndians were in possession of at least some of the mysteries of ourorder, and that it was evidently the grave of Masons, and the threehighest officers in a Masonic lodge. The grave was situated due eastand west; an altar was erected in the center; the south, west, andeast were occupied--_the north was not;_ implements of authoritywere near each body. The difference in the quality of the beads, thetomahawks in one, two, and three pieces, and the difference that thebodies were placed from the surface, indicate beyond doubt that thesethree persons had been buried by Masons, and those, too, thatunderstood what they were doing. 

"Will some learned Mason unravel this mystery, and inform the Masonicworld how they obtained so much Masonic information?

"The tomahawks, maxillary bones, some of the teeth, beads, and otherbones, have been forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution atWashington, D. C. , to be placed among the archives of that institutionfor exhibition, at which place they may be seen. "

If Dr. Spainhour's inferences are incorrect, still there is aremarkable coincidence of circumstances patent to every Mason. 

CAVE BURIAL. 

Natural or artificial holes in the ground, caverns, and fissures inrocks have been used as places of deposit for the dead since theearliest periods of time, and are used up to the present day by notonly the American Indians, but by peoples noted for their mentalelevation and civilization, our cemeteries furnishing numerousspecimens of artificial or partly artificial caves. As to the motiveswhich have actuated this mode of burial, a discussion would be out ofplace at this time, except as may incidentally relate to our ownIndians, who, so far as can be ascertained, simply adopted caves asready and convenient resting places for their deceased relatives andfriends. 

In almost every State in the Union burial caves have been discovered, but as there is more or less of identity between them, a fewillustrations will serve the purpose of calling the attention ofobservers to the subject. 

While in the Territory of Utah, in 1872, the writer discovered anatural cave not far from the House Range of mountains, the entranceto which resembled the shaft of a mine. In this the Gosi-Ute Indianshad deposited their dead, surrounded with different articles, until itwas quite filled up; at least it so appeared from the cursoryexamination made, limited time preventing a careful exploration. Inthe fall of the same year another cave was heard of, from an Indianguide, near the Nevada border, in the same Territory, and an attemptmade to explore it, which failed for reasons to be subsequently given. This Indian, a Gosi-Ute, who was questioned regarding the funeralceremonies of his tribe, informed the writer that not far from thevery spot where the party were encamped was a large cave in which hehad himself assisted in placing dead members of his tribe. Hedescribed it in detail and drew a rough diagram of its position andappearance within. He was asked if an entrance could be effected, andreplied that he thought not, as some years previous his people hadstopped up the narrow entrance to prevent game from seeking a refugein its vast vaults, for he asserted that it was so large and extendedso far under ground that no man knew its full extent. Inconsideration, however, of a very liberal bribe, after many refusals, he agreed to act as guide. A rough ride of over an hour and thedesired spot was reached. It was found to be almost upon the apex of asmall mountain apparently of volcanic origin, for the hole which waspointed out appeared to have been the vent of the crater. Thisentrance was irregularly circular in form and descended at an angle. As the Indian had stated, it was completely stopped up with largestones and roots of sage brush, and it was only after six hours ofuninterrupted, faithful labor that the attempt to explore wasabandoned. The guide was asked if many bodies were therein, andreplied "Heaps, heaps, " moving the hands upwards as far as they couldbe stretched. There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of theinformation received, as it was voluntarily imparted. 

In a communication received from Dr. A. J McDonald, physician to theLos Pinos Indian Agency, Colorado, a description is given of creviceor rock-fissure burial, which follows. 

"As soon as death takes place the event is at once announced by themedicine-man, and without loss of time the squaws are busily engagedin preparing the corpse for the grave. This does not take long;whatever articles of clothing may have been on the body at the time ofdeath are not removed. The dead man's limbs are straightened out, hisweapons of war laid by his side, and his robes and blankets wrappedsecurely and snugly around him, and now everything is ready forburial. It is the custom to secure, if possible, for the purpose ofwrapping up the corpse, the robes and blankets in which the Indiandied. At the same time that the body is being fitted for interment, the squaws having immediate care of it, together with all the othersquaws in the neighborhood, keep up a continued chant or dirge, thedismal cadence of which may, when the congregation of women is large, be heard for quite a long distance. The death song is not a mereinarticulate howl of distress; it embraces expressions eulogistic incharacter, but whether or not any particular formula of words isadopted on such occasion is a question which I am unable, with thematerials at my disposal, to determine with any degree of certainty. 

"The next duty falling to the lot of the squaws is that of placing thedead man on a horse and conducting the remains to the spot chosen forburial. This is in the cleft of a rock, and, so far as can beascertained, it has always been customary among the Utes to selectsepulchres of this character. From descriptions given by Mr. Harris, who has several times been fortunate enough to discover remains, itwould appear that no superstitious ideas are held by this tribe withrespect to the position in which the body is placed, the spaceaccommodation of the sepulchre probably regulating this matter; andfrom the same source I learn that it is not usual to find the remainsof more than one Indian deposited in one grave. After the body hasbeen received into the cleft, it is well covered with pieces of rock, to protect it against the ravages of wild animals. The chant ceases, the squaws disperse, and the burial ceremonies are at an end. The menduring all this time have not been idle, though they have in no wayparticipated in the preparation of the body, have not joined thesquaws in chanting praises to the memory of the dead, and have noteven as mere spectators attended the funeral, yet they have had theirduties to perform. In conformity with a long-established custom, allthe personal property of the deceased is immediately destroyed. Hishorses and his cattle are shot, and his wigwam, furniture, &c. , burned. The performance of this part of the ceremonies is assigned tothe men; a duty quite in accord with their taste and inclinations. Occasionally the destruction of horses and other property is ofconsiderable magnitude, but usually this is not the case, owing to apractice existing with them of distributing their property among theirchildren while they are of a very tender age, retaining to themselvesonly what is necessary to meet every-day requirements. 

"The widow 'goes into mourning' by smearing her face with a substancecomposed of pitch and charcoal. The application is made but once, andis allowed to remain on until it wears off. This is the only mourningobservance of which I have any knowledge. 

"The ceremonies observed on the death of a female are the same asthose in the case of a male, except that no destruction of propertytakes place, and of course no weapons are deposited with the corpse. Should a youth die while under the superintendence of white men, theIndians will not as a rule have anything to do with the interment ofthe body. In a case of the kind which occurred at this agency sometime ago, the squaws prepared the body in the usual manner; the men ofthe tribe selected a spot for the burial, and the employes at theagency, after digging a grave and depositing the corpse therein, filled it up according to the fashion of civilized people, and then atthe request of the Indians rolled large fragments of rocks on top. Great anxiety was exhibited by the Indians to have the employesperform the service as expeditiously as possible. "

An interesting cave in Calaveras County, California, which had beenused for burial purposes, is thus described by Prof. J. D. Whitney:[Footnote: Rep. Smithsonian Inst. 1867, p. 406. ]

"The following is an account of the cave from which the skulls, now inthe Smithsonian collection, were taken. It is near the StanislausRiver, in Calaveras County, on a nameless creek, about two miles fromAbbey's Ferry, on the road to Vallicito, at the house of Mr. Robinson. There were two or three persons with me, who had been to the placebefore and knew that the skulls in question were taken from it. Theirvisit was some ten years ago, and since that the condition of thingsin the cave has greatly changed. Owing to some alteration in the road, mining operations, or some other cause which I could not ascertain, there has accumulated on the formerly clean stalagmitic floor of thecave a thickness of some 20 feet of surface earth that completelyconceals the bottom, and which could not be removed withoutconsiderable expense. This cave is about 27 feet deep at the mouth and40 to 50 feet at the end, and perhaps 30 feet in diameter. It is thegeneral opinion of those who have noticed this cave and saw it yearsago that it was a burying-place of the present Indians. Dr. Jones saidhe found remains of bows and arrows and charcoal with the skulls heobtained, and which were destroyed at the time the village of Murphy'swas burned. All the people spoke of the skulls as lying on the surfaceand not as buried in the stalagmite. "

The next description of cave burial, described by W. H. Dall[Footnote: Contrib. To N. A. Ethnol. , 1877, vol 1, p 62. ], is soremarkable that it seems worthy of admittance to this paper. Itrelates probably to the Innuit of Alaska. 

"The earliest remains of man found in Alaska up to the time of writingI refer to this epoch [Echinus layer of Dall]. There are some craniafound by us in the lowermost part of the Amaknak cave and a craniumobtained at Adakh, near the anchorage in the Bay of Islands. Thesewere deposited in a remarkable manner, precisely similar to thatadopted by most of the continental Innuit, but equally different fromthe modern Aleut fashion. At the Amaknak cave we found what at firstappeared to be a wooden inclosure, but which proved to be made of thevery much decayed supra-maxillary bones of some large cetacean. Thesewere arranged so as to form a rude rectangular inclosure covered overwith similar pieces of bone. This was somewhat less than 4 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 18 inches deep. The bottom was formed of flat piecesof stone. Three such were found close together, covered with andfilled by an accumulation of fine vegetable and organic mold. In eachwas the remains of a skeleton in the last stages of decay. It hadevidently been tied up in the Innuit fashion to get it into its narrowhouse, but all the bones, with the exception of the skull, werereduced to a soft paste, or even entirely gone. At Adakh a fancyprompted me to dig into a small knoll near the ancient shell-heap; andhere we found, in a precisely similar sarcophagus, the remains of askeleton, of which also only the cranium retained sufficientconsistency to admit of preservation. This inclosure, however, wasfilled with a dense peaty mass not reduced to mold, the result ofcenturies of sphagnous growth, which had reached a thickness of nearly2 feet above the remains. When we reflect upon the well-known slownessof this kind of growth in these northern regions, attested by numerousArctic travelers, the antiquity of the remains becomes evident. "

It seems beyond doubt that in the majority of cases, especially asregards the caves of the Western States and Territories, theinterments were primary ones, and this is likewise true of many of thecaverns of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, for in the three Statesmentioned many mummies have been found, but it is also likely thatsuch receptacles were largely used as places of secondary deposits. The many fragmentary skeletons and loose bones found seem tostrengthen this view. 

MUMMIES. 

In connection with cave burial, the subject of mummifying or embalmingthe dead may be taken up, as most specimens of the kind have generallybeen found in such repositories. 

It might be both interesting and instructive to search out and discussthe causes which have led many nations or tribes to adopt certainprocesses with a view to prevent that return to dust which all fleshmust sooner or later experience, but the necessarily limited scope ofthis preliminary work precludes more than a brief mention of certaintheories advanced by writers of note, and which relate to the ancientEgyptians. Possibly at the time the Indians of America sought topreserve their dead from decomposition some such ideas may haveanimated them, but on this point no definite information has beenprocured. In the final volume an effort will be made to trace out theorigin of mummification among the Indians and aborigines of thiscontinent. 

The Egyptians embalmed, according to Cassien, because during the timeof the annual inundation no interments could take place, but it ismore than likely that this hypothesis is entirely fanciful. It is saidby others they believed that so long as the body was preserved fromcorruption the soul remained in it. Herodotus states that it was toprevent bodies from becoming a prey to animal voracity. "They did notinter them, " says he, "for fear of their being eaten by worms; nor didthey burn, considering fire as a ferocious beast, devouring everythingwhich it touched. " According to Diodorus of Sicily, embalmmentoriginated in filial piety and respect. De Maillet, however, in histenth letter on Egypt, attributes it entirely to a religious beliefinsisted upon by the wise men and priests, who taught their disciplesthat after a certain number of cycles, of perhaps thirty or fortythousand years, the entire universe became as it was at birth, and thesouls of the dead returned into the same bodies in which they hadlived, provided that the body remained free from corruption, and thatsacrifices were freely offered as oblations to the manes of thedeceased. Considering the great care taken to preserve the dead, andthe ponderously solid nature of their tombs, it is quite evident thatthis theory obtained many believers among the people. M. Gannalbelieves embalmment to have been suggested by the affectionatesentiments of our nature--a desire to preserve as long as possible themortal remains of loved ones; but MM. Volney and Pariaet think it wasintended to obviate, in hot climates especially, danger frompestilence, being primarily a cheap and simple process, elegance andluxury coming later; and the Count de Caylus states the idea ofembalmment was derived from the finding of desiccated bodies which theburning sands of Egypt had hardened and preserved. Many othersuppositions have arisen, but it is thought the few given above aresufficient to serve as an introduction to embalmment in North America. 

From the statements of the older writers on North American Indians, itappears that mummifying was resorted to among certain tribes ofVirginia, the Carolinas, and Florida, especially for people ofdistinction, the process in Virginia for the kings, according toBeverly, [Footnote: Hist. Of Virginia, 1722, p 185] being as follows:

"The _Indians_ are religious in preserving the Corpses of theirKings and Rulers after Death, which they order in the followingmanner: First, they neatly flay off the Skin as entire as they can, slitting it only in the Back; then they pick all the Flesh off fromthe Bones as clean as possible, leaving the Sinews fastned to theBones, that they may preserve the Joints together: then they dry theBones in the Sun, and put them into the Skin again, which in the meantime has been kept from drying or shrinking; when the Bones are placedright in the Skin, they nicely fill up the Vacuities, with a very finewhite Sand. After this they sew up the Skin again, and the Body looksas if the Flesh had not been removed. They take care to keep the Skinfrom shrinking, by the help of a little Oil or Grease, which saves italso from Corruption. The Skin being thus prepar'd, they lay it in anapartment for that purpose, upon a large Shelf rais'd above the Floor. This Shelf is spread with Mats, for the Corpse to rest easy on, andskreened with the same, to keep it from the Dust. The Flesh they layupon Hurdles in the Sun to dry, and when it is thoroughly dried, it issewed up in a Basket, and set at the Feet of the Corpse, to which itbelongs. In this place also they set up a _Quioccos, _ or Idol, which they believe will be a Guard to the Corpse. Here Night and Dayone or other of the Priests must give his Attendance, to take care ofthe dead Bodies. So great an Honour and Veneration have these ignorantand unpolisht People for their Princes even after they are dead. "

It should be added that, in the writer's opinion, this account andothers like it are somewhat apocryphal, and it has been copied andrecopied a score of times. 

According to Pinkerton [Footnote: Collection of Voyages, 1812, vol. XIII, p 39. ], the Werowanco preserved their dead as follows:

"... By him is commonly the sepulchre of their Kings. Their bodies arefirst bowelled, then dried upon hurdles till they be very dry, and soabout the most of their joints and neck they hang bracelets, or chainsof copper, pearl, and such like, as they used to wear. Their inwardsthey stuff with copper beads, hatchets, and such trash. Then lap theythem very carefully in white skins, and so roll them in mats for theirwinding-sheets. And in the tomb, which is an arch made of mats, theylay them orderly. What remaineth of this kind of wealth their Kingshave, they set at their feet in baskets. These temples and bodies arekept by their priests. 

"For their ordinary burials, they dig a deep hole in the earth withsharp stakes, and the corpse being lapped in skins and mats with theirjewels they lay them upon sticks in the ground, and so cover them withearth. The burial ended, the women being painted all their faces withblack coal and oil do sit twenty-four hours in the houses mourning andlamenting by turns with such yelling and howling as may express theirgreat passions.... 

"Upon the top of certain red sandy hills in the woods there are threegreat houses filled with images of their Kings and devils and tombs oftheir predecessors. Those houses are near sixty feet in length, builtharbourwise after their building. This place they count so holy asthat but the priests and Kings dare come into them; nor the savagesdare not go up the river in boats by it, but they solemnly cast somepiece of copper, white beads, or pocones into the river for fear theirOkee should be offended and revenged of them. 

"They think that their Werowances and priests which they also esteemquiyoughcosughs, when they are dead do go beyond the mountains towardsthe setting of the sun, and ever remain there in form of their Okee, with their heads painted red with oil and pocones, finely trimmed withfeathers, and shall have beads, hatchets, copper, and tobacco, doingnothing but dance and sing with all their predecessors. But the commonpeople they suppose shall not live after death, but rot in theirgraves like dead dogs. "

The remark regarding truthfulness will apply to this account in commonwith the former. 

The Congaree or Santee Indians of South Carolina, according to Lawson, used a process of partial embalmment, as will be seen from thesubjoined extract from Schoolcraft; [Footnote: Hist. Indian Tribes ofthe United States, 1854, Part IV, p. 155, _et seq_] but insteadof laying away the remains in caves, placed them in boxes supportedabove the ground by crotched sticks. 

"The manner of their interment is thus: A mole or pyramid of earth israised, the mould thereof being worked very smooth and even, sometimeshigher or lower, according to the dignity of the person whose monumentit is. On the top thereof is an umbrella, made ridgeways, like theroof of a house. This is supported by nine stakes or small posts, thegrave being about 6 or 8 feet in length and 4 feet in breadth, aboutwhich is hung gourds, feathers, and other such like trophies, placedthere by the dead man's relations in respect to him in the grave. Theother parts of the funeral rites are thus: As soon as the party isdead they lay the corpse upon a piece of bark in the sun, seasoning orembalming it with a small root beaten to powder, which looks as red asvermilion; the same is mixed with bear's oil to beautify the hair. After the carcass has laid a day or two in the sun they remove it andlay it upon crotches cut on purpose for the support thereof from theearth then they anoint it all over with the aforementioned ingredientsof the powder of this root and bear's oil. When it is so done theycover it over very exactly with the bark of the pine or cypress treeto prevent any rain to fall upon it, sweeping the ground very cleanall about it. Some of his nearest of kin brings all the temporalestate he was possessed of at his death, as guns, bows and arrows, beads, feathers, match coat etc. This relation is the chief mourner, being clad in moss, with a stick in his hand, keeping a mournful dittyfor three or four days, his face being black with the smoke of pitchpine mixed with bear's oil. All the while he tells the dead mansrelations and the rest of the spectators who that dead person was, andof the great feats performed in his lifetime, all that he speakstending to the praise of the defunct. As soon as the flesh growsmellow and will cleave from the bone they get it off and burn it, making the bones very clean then anoint them with the ingredientsaforesaid, wrapping up the skull (very carefully) in a clothartificially woven of opossum's hair. The bones they carefullypreserve in a wooden box, every year oiling and cleansing them. Bythese means they preserve them for many ages that you may see anIndian in possession of the bones of his grandfather or some of hisrelations of a longer antiquity. They have other sorts of tombs aswhen an Indian is slain in, that very place they make a heap of stones(or sticks where stones are not to be found), to this memorial everyIndian that passes by adds a stone to augment the heap in respect tothe deceased hero. The Indians make a roof of light wood or pitch pineover the graves of the more distinguished, covering it with bark andthen with earth leaving the body thus in a subterranean vault untilthe flesh quits the bones. The bones are then taken up, cleaned, jointed, clad in white dressed deer skins, and laid away in the_Quiogozon, _ which is the royal tomb or burial place of theirkings and war captains, being a more magnificent cabin reared at thepublic expense. This Quiogozon is an object of veneration, in whichthe writer says he has known the king, old men, and conjurers to spendseveral days with their idols and dead kings, and into which he couldnever gain admittance. "

Another class of mummies are those which have been found in thesaltpeter and other caves of Kentucky, and it is still a matter ofdoubt with archaeologists whether any special pains were taken topreserve these bodies, many believing that the impregnation of thesoil with certain minerals would account for the condition in whichthe specimens were found. Charles Wilkins [Footnote: Trans. Amer. Antiq. Soc. , 1820, vol. 1, p. 360] thus describes one:

"... Exsiccated body of a female ... Was found at the depth of about10 feet from the surface of the cave bedded in clay stronglyimpregnated with nitre, placed in a sitting posture, incased in broadstones standing on their edges, with a flat stone covering the whole. It was enveloped in coarse clothes, ... The whole wrapped in deer-skins, the hair of which was shaved off in the manner in which theIndians prepare them for market. Enclosed in the stone coffin were theworking utensils, beads, feathers, and other ornaments of dress whichbelonged to her. "

The next description is by Dr Samuel L. Mitchill: [Footnote: Trans. And Coll. Amer. Antiq. Soc. , 1820, vol. 1, p. 318]

[A letter from Dr. Mitchill of New York, to Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. , Secretary of the American Antiquarian Society, on North AmericanAntiquities. ]

"Aug 24th, 1815

"DEAR SIR: I offer you some observations on a curious piece ofAmerican antiquity now in New York, It is a human body [Footnote: Amummy of this kind, of a person of mature age, discovered in Kentucky, is now in the cabinet of the American Antiquarian Society. It is afemale. Several human bodies were found enwrapped carefully in skinsand cloths. They were inhumed below the floor of the cave, _inhumed_, and not lodged in catacombs. ] found in one of thelimestone caverns of Kentucky. It is a perfect exsiccation, all thefluids are dried up. The skin, bones, and other firm parts are in astate of entire preservation. I think it enough to have puzzled Bryantand all the archaologists. 

"This was found in exploring a calcareous cave in the neighborhood ofGlasgow for saltpetre. 

"These recesses, though under ground, are yet dry enough to attractand retain the nitrick acid. It combines with lime and potash, andprobably the earthy matter of these excavations contains a goodproportion of calcareous carbonate. Amidst these drying andantiseptick ingredients, it may be conceived that putrefaction wouldbe stayed, and the solids preserved from decay. The outer envelope ofthe body is a deer skin, probably dried in the usual way and perhapssoftened before its application by rubbing. The next covering is adeer's skin, whose hair had been cut away by a sharp instrumentresembling a hatter's knife. The remnant of the hair and the gashes inthe skin nearly resemble a sheared pelt of beaver. The next wrapper isof cloth made of twine doubled and twisted. But the thread does notappear to have been formed by the wheel, nor the web by the loom. Thewarp and filling seem to have been crossed and knotted by an operationlike that of the fabricks of the northwest coast, and of the Sandwichislands. Such a botanist as the lamented Muhlenburgh could determinethe plant which furnished the fibrous material. 

"The innermost tegument is a mantle of cloth like the preceding, butfurnished with large brown feathers arranged and fastened with greatart so as to be capable of guarding the living wearer from wet andcold. The plumage is distinct and entire, and the whole bears a nearsimilitude to the feathery cloaks now worn by the nations of thenorthwestern coast of America. A Wilson might tell from what bird theywere derived. 

"The body is in a squatting posture with the right arm recliningforward and its hand encircling the right leg. The left arm hangsdown, with its hand inclined partly under the seat. The individual, who was a male did not probably exceed the age of fourteen, at hisdeath. There is near the occiput a deep and extensive fracture of theskull, which probably killed him. The skin has sustained littleinjury, it is of a dusky colour, but the natural hue cannot be decidedwith exactness from its present appearance. The scalp, with smallexceptions is cohered with sorrel or foxy hair. The teeth are whiteand sound. The hands and feet, in their shrivelled state, are slenderand delicate. All this is worthy the investigation of our acute andperspicacious colleague, Dr Holmes. 

"There is nothing bituminous or aromatic in or about the body, like theEgyptian mummies, nor are there bandages around any part. Except theseveral wrappers, the body is totally naked. There is no sign of asuture or incision about the belly whence it seems that the viscerawere not removed. 

"It may now be expected that I should offer some opinion, as to theantiquity and race of this singular exsiccation. 

"First, then, I am satisfied that it does not belong to that class ofwhite men of which we are members. 

"2dly. Nor do I believe that it ought to be referred to the bands ofSpanish adventurers, who, between the years 1500 and 1600, rambled upthe Mississippi, and along its tributary streams. But on this head Ishould like to know the opinion of my learned and sagacious friend, Noah Webster. 

"3dly. I am equally obliged to reject the opinion that it belonged toany of the tribes of aborigines, now or lately inhabiting Kentucky. 

"4thly. The mantle of the feathered work, and the mantle of twistedthreads, so nearly resemble the fabricks of the indigines of Wakashand the Pacifick islands, that I refer this individual to that era oftime, and that generation of men, which preceded the Indians of theGreen River, and of the place where these relicks were found. Thisconclusion is strengthened by the consideration that such manufacturesare not prepared by the actual and resident red men of the presentday. If the Abbe Clavigero had had this case before him, he would havethought of the people who constructed those ancient forts and mounds, whose exact history no man living can give. But I forbear to enlarge;my intention being merely to manifest my respect to the society forhaving enrolled me among its members, and to invite the attention ofits Antiquarians to further inquiry on a subject of such curiosity. 

"With respect, I remain yours, "SAMUEL L. MITCHILL"

It would appear from recent researches on the Northwest coast that thenatives of that region embalmed their dead with much care, as may beseen from the work recently published by W. H. Dall, [Footnote: Cont. To N. A. Ethnol. , 1877, vol. 1, p. 89] the description of the mummiesbeing as follows:

"We found the dead disposed of in various ways; first, by interment intheir compartments of the communal dwelling, as already described;second, by being laid on a rude platform of drift-wood or stones insome convenient rock shelter. These lay on straw and moss, covered bymatting, and rarely have either implements, weapons, or carvingsassociated with them. We found only three or four specimens in all inthese places, of which we examined a great number. This was apparentlythe more ancient form of disposing of the dead, and one which morerecently was still pursued in the case of poor or unpopularindividuals. 

"Lastly, in comparatively modern times, probably within a fewcenturies, and up to the historic period (1740), another mode wasadopted for the wealthy, popular, or more distinguished class. Thebodies were eviscerated, cleansed from fatty matters in running water, dried, and usually placed in suitable cases in wrappings of fur andfine grass matting The body was usually doubled up into the smallestcompass, and the mummy case, especially in the case of children, wasusually suspended (so as not to touch the ground) in some convenientrock shelter. Sometimes, however, the prepared body was placed in alifelike position, dressed and armed. They were placed as if engagedin some congenial occupation, such as hunting, fishing, sewing, etc. With them were also placed effigies of the animals they were pursuing, while the hunter was dressed in his wooden armor and provided with anenormous mask, all ornamented with feathers and a countless variety ofwooden pendants, colored in gay patterns. All the carvings were ofwood, the weapons even were only fac-similes in wood of the originalarticles. Among the articles represented were drums, rattles, dishes, weapons, effigies of men, birds, fish, and animals, wooden armor ofrods or scales of wood, and remarkable masks, so arranged that thewearer when erect could only see the ground at his feet. These wereworn at their religious dances from an idea that a spirit which wassupposed to animate a temporary idol was fatal to whoever might lookupon it while so occupied. An extension of the same idea led to themasking of those who had gone into the land of spirits. 

"The practice of preserving the bodies of those belonging to thewhaling class--a custom peculiar to the Kadiak Innuit--has erroneouslybeen confounded with the one now described. The latter included womenas well as men, and all those whom the living desired particularly tohonor. The whalers, however, only preserved the bodies of males, andthey were not associated with the paraphernalia of those I havedescribed. Indeed, the observations I have been able to make show thebodies of the whalers to have been preserved with stone weapons andactual utensils instead of effigies, and with the meanest apparel, andno carvings of consequence. These details, and those of many othercustoms and usages of which the shell heaps bear no testimony ... Donot come within my line. "

Martin Sauer, secretary to Billings' Expedition [Footnote: Billings'Exped. 1802, p. 167. ] in 1802, speaks of the Aleutian Islandersembalming their dead, as follows:

"They pay respect, however, to the memory of the dead, for they embalmthe bodies of the men with dried moss and grass; bury them in theirbest attire, in a sitting posture, in a strong box, with their dartsand instruments; and decorate the tomb with various coloured mats, embroidery, and paintings. With women, indeed, they use less ceremony. A mother will keep a dead child thus embalmed in their hut for somemonths, constantly wiping it dry; and they bury it when it begins tosmell, or when they get reconciled to parting with it. "

Regarding these same people, a writer in the San Francisco Bulletingives this account-

"The schooner William Sutton, belonging to the Alaska CommercialCompany, has arrived from the seal islands of the company with themummified remains of Indians who lived on an island north of Ounalaskaone hundred and fifty years ago. This contribution to science wassecured by Captain Henning, an agent of the company, who has longresided at Ounalaska. In his transactions with the Indians he learnedthat tradition among the Aleuts assigned Kagamale, the island inquestion, as the last resting-place of a great chief, known asKarkhayahouchak. Last year the captain was in the neighborhood ofKagamale, in quest of sea-otter and other furs and he bore up for theisland, with the intention of testing the truth of the tradition hehad heard. He had more difficulty in entering the cave than in findingit, his schooner having to beat on and off shore for three days. Finally, he succeeded in effecting a landing, and clambering up therocks he found himself in the presence of the dead chief, his familyand relatives. 

"The cave smelt strongly of hot sulphurous vapors. With great care themummies were removed, and all the little trinkets and ornamentsscattered around were also taken away. 

"In all there are eleven packages of bodies. Only two or three have asyet been opened. The body of the chief is inclosed in a large basket-like structure, about four feet in height. Outside the wrappings arefinely-wrought sea-grass matting, exquisitely close in texture, andskins. At the bottom is a broad hoop or basket of thinly-cut wood, andadjoining the center portions are pieces of body armor composed ofreeds bound together. The body is covered with the fine skin of thesea-otter, always a mark of distinction in the interments of theAleuts, and round the whole package are stretched the meshes of afish-net, made of the sinews of the sea lion; also those of a bird-net. There are evidently some bulky articles inclosed with the chief'sbody, and the whole package differs very much from the others, whichmore resemble, in their brown-grass matting, consignments of crudesugar from the Sandwich Islands than the remains of human beings. Thebodies of a pappoose and of a very little child, which probably diedat birth or soon after it, have sea-otter skins around them. One ofthe feet of the latter projects, with a toe-nail visible. Theremaining mummies are of adults. 

"One of the packages has been opened, and it reveals a man's body intolerable preservation, but with a large portion of the facedecomposed. This and the other bodies were doubled up at death bysevering some of the muscles at the hip and knee joints and bendingthe limbs downward horizontally upon the trunk. Perhaps the mostpeculiar package, next to that of the chief, is one which incloses ina single matting, with sea-lion skins, the bodies of a man and woman. The collection also embraces a couple of skulls, male and female, which have still the hair attached to the scalp. The hair has changedits color to a brownish red. The relics obtained with the bodiesinclude a few wooden vessels scooped out smoothly; a piece of dark, greenish, flat stone, harder than the emerald, which the Indians useto tan skins; a scalp-lock of jet-black hair; a small rude figure, which may have been a very ugly doll or an idol; two or three tinycarvings in ivory of the sea-lion, very neatly executed, a comb, anecklet made of birds' claws inserted into one another, and severalspecimens of little bags, and a cap plaited out of sea-grass andalmost water-tight. "

With the foregoing examples as illustration, the matter of embalmmentmay be for the present dismissed, with the advice to observers thatparticular care should be taken, in case mummies are discovered, toascertain whether the bodies have been submitted to a regularpreservative process, or owe their protection to ingredients in thesoil of their graves or to desiccation in arid districts. 

URN-BURIAL. 

To close the subject of subterranean burial proper, the followingaccount of urn-burial in Foster [Footnote: Pre-Historic Races, 1873, p. 199] may be added:

"Urn-burial appears to have been practiced to some extent by themound-builders, particularly in some of the Southern States. In themounds on the Wateree River, near Camden, S. C. , according to Dr. Blanding, ranges of vases, one above the other, filled with humanremains, were found. Sometimes when the mouth of the vase is small theskull is placed with the face downward in the opening, constituting asort of cover. Entire cemeteries have been found in which urn-burialalone seems to have been practiced. Such a one was accidentallydiscovered not many years since in Saint Catherine's Island, on thecoast of Georgia. Professor Swallow informs me that from a mound atNew Madrid, Mo, he obtained a human skull inclosed in an earthen jar, the lips of which were too small to admit of its extraction. It musttherefore have been molded on the head after death. "

"A similar mode of burial was practiced by the Chaldeans, where thefuneral jars often contain a human cranium much too expanded to admitof the possibility of its passing out of it, so that either the claymust have been modeled over the corpse, and then baked, or the neck ofthe jar must have been added subsequently to the other rites ofinterment. " [Footnote: Rawlinson's Herodotus, Book 1, chap 198, note. ]

It is with regret that the writer feels obliged to differ from thedistinguished author of the work quoted regarding urn-burial, fornotwithstanding that it has been employed by some of the Central andSouthern American tribes, it is not believed to have been customary, but _to a very limited extent, _ in North America, except as asecondary interment. He must admit that he himself has found bones inurns or ollas in the graves of New Mexico and California, but undercircumstances that would seem to indicate a deposition long subsequentto death. In the graves of the ancient peoples of California a numberof ollas were found in long-used burying places, and it is probablethat as the bones were dug up time and again for new burials they weresimply tossed into pots, which were convenient receptacles, or it mayhave been that bodies were allowed to repose in the earth long enoughfor the fleshy parts to decay, and the bones were then collected, placed in urns, and reinterred. Dr. E. Foreman, of the SmithsonianInstitution, furnishes the following account of urns used for burial:

"I would call your attention to an earthenware burial-urn and cover, Nos. 27976 and 27977, National Museum, but very recently received fromMr. William McKinley, of Milledgeville, Ga. It was exhumed on hisplantation, ten miles below that city, on the bottom lands of theOconee River, now covered with almost impassable canebrakes, tallgrasses, and briers. We had a few months ago from the same source oneof the covers, of which the ornamentation was different but moreentire. A portion of a similar cover has been received also fromChattanooga, Ga. Mr. McKinley ascribes the use of these urns andcovers to the Muscogees, a branch of the Creek Nation. "

These urns are made of baked clay, and are shaped somewhat like theordinary steatite ollas found in the California coast graves, but thebottoms instead of being round run down to a sharp apex; on the topwas a cover, the upper part of which also terminated in an apex, andaround the border, near where it rested on the edge of the vessel, areindented scroll ornamentations. 

The burial-urns of New Mexico are thus described by E. A. Barber:[Footnote: Amer. Natural, 1876, vol X, p. 455 _et seq_]

"Burial-urns ... Comprise vessels or ollas without handles, forcremation, usually being from 10 to 15 inches in height, with broad, open mouths, and made of coarse clay, with a laminated exterior(partially or entirely ornamented). Frequently the indentations extendsimply around the neck or rim, the lower portion being plain. "

So far as is known, up to the present time no burial-urns have beenfound in North America resembling those discovered in Nicaragua by Dr. J. C. Bransford, U. S. N. , but it is quite within the range ofpossibility that future researches in regions not far distant fromthat which he explored may reveal similar treasures. 

SURFACE BURIAL. 

This mode of interment was practiced to only a limited extent, so faras can be discovered, and it is quite probable that in most cases itwas employed as a temporary expedient when the survivors were pressedfor time. The Seminoles of Florida are said to have buried in hollowtrees, the bodies being placed in an upright position, occasionallythe dead being crammed into a hollow log lying on the ground. Withsome of the Eastern tribes a log was split in half and hollowed outsufficiently large to contain the corpse; it was then lashed togetherwith withes and permitted to remain where it was originally placed. Insome cases a pen was built over and around it. This statement iscorroborated by Mr. R. S. Robertson, of Fort Wayne, Ind. , who statesin a communication received in 1877 that the Miamis practiced surfaceburial in two different ways:

"... 1st. The surface burial in hollow logs. These have been found inheavy forests. Sometimes a tree has been split and the two halveshollowed out to receive the body, when it was either closed withwithes or confined to the ground with crossed stakes; and sometimes ahollow tree is used by closing the ends. 

"2d. Surface burial where the body was covered by a small pen of logslaid up as we build a cabin, but drawing in every course until theymeet in a single log at the top. "

Romantically conceived, and carried out to the fullest possible extentin accordance with the _ante mortem_ wishes of the dead, were theobsequies of Blackbird, the great chief of the Omahas. The account isgiven by George Catlin: [Footnote: Manners, Customs, &c. , of NorthAmerican Indiana, 1844, vol. Ii, p. 5]

"He requested them to take his body down the river to this hisfavorite haunt, and on the pinnacle of this towering bluff to bury himon the back of his favorite war-horse, which was to be buried aliveunder him, from whence he could see, as he said, 'the Frenchmenpassing up and down the river in their boats. ' He owned, amongst manyhomes, a noble white steed, that was led to the top of the grass-covered hill, and with great pomp and ceremony, in the presence of thewhole nation and several of the far-traders and the Indian agent, hewas placed astride of his horse's back, with his bow in his hand, andhis shield and quiver slung, with his pipe and his medicine bag, withhis supply of dried meat, and his tobacco-pouch replenished to lasthim through the journey to the beautiful hunting grounds of the shadesof his fathers, with his flint and steel and his tinder to light hispipes by the way; the scalps he had taken from his enemies' headscould be trophies for nobody else, and were hung to the bridle of hishorse. He was in full dress, and fully equipped, and on his head wavedto the last moment his beautiful head-dress of the war-eagles' plumes. In this plight, and the last funeral honors having been performed bythe medicine-men, every warrior of his band painted the palm andfingers of his right hand with vermilion, which was stamped andperfectly impressed on the milk-white sides of his devoted horse. Thisall done, turfs were brought and placed around the feet and legs ofthe horse, and gradually laid up to its sides, and at last over theback and head of the unsuspecting animal, and last of all over thehead and even the eagle plumes of its valiant rider, where alltogether have smouldered and remained undisturbed to the present day. "

CAIRN BURIAL. 

The next mode of interment to be considered is that of cairn or rockburial, which has prevailed and is still common to a considerableextent among the tribes living in the Rocky Mountains and the SierraNevadas. 

In the summer of 1872 the writer visited one of these rock cemeteriesin middle Utah, which had been used for a period not exceeding fifteenor twenty years. It was situated at the bottom of a rock slide, uponthe side of an almost inaccessible mountain, in a position socarefully chosen for concealment that it would have been almostimpossible to find it without a guide. Several of the graves wereopened and found to have been constructed in the following manner: Anumber of bowlders had been removed from the bed of the slide until asufficient cavity had been obtained; this was lined with skins, thecorpse placed therein, with weapons, ornaments, etc. , and covered overwith saplings of the mountain aspen; on top of these the removedbowlders were piled, forming a huge cairn, which appeared large enoughto have marked the last resting place of an elephant. In the immediatevicinity of the graves were scattered the osseous remains of a numberof horses which had been sacrificed no doubt during the funeralceremonies. In one of the graves, said to contain the body of a chief, in addition to a number of articles useful and ornamental, were foundparts of the skeleton of a boy, and tradition states that a captiveboy was buried alive at this place. 

In connection with this mode of burial it may be said that the ancientBalearic Islanders covered their dead with a heap of stones, but thisceremony was preceded by an operation which consisted in cutting thebody in small pieces and collecting in a pot. 

CREMATION. 

Next should be noted this mode of disposing of the dead, a commoncustom to a considerable extent among North American tribes, especially those living on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, although we have undoubted evidence that it was also practiced amongthe more eastern ones. This rite may be considered as peculiarlyinteresting from its great antiquity, for Tegg informs us that itreached as far back as the Theban war, in the account of which mentionis made of the burning of Menoaeus and Archemorus, who werecontemporary with Jair, eighth judge of Israel. It was common in theinterior of Asia and among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and has alsoprevailed among the Hindoos up to the present time. In fact, it is nowrapidly becoming a custom among civilized people. 

While there is a certain degree of similarity between the performanceof this rite among the peoples spoken of and the Indians of NorthAmerica, yet, did space admit, a discussion might profitably beentered upon regarding the details of it among the ancients and theorigin of the ceremony. As it is, simple narrations of cremation inthis country, with discursive notes and an account of its origin amongthe Nishinams of California, by Stephen Powers, [Footnote: Cont. To N. A. Ethnol. , 1877, vol. Iii, p. 341] seem to be all that is required atthis time. 

"The moon and the coyote wrought together in creating all things thatexist. The moon was good, but the coyote was bad. In making men andwomen the moon wished to so fashion their souls that when they diedthey should return to the earth after two or three days, as he himselfdoes when he dies. But the coyote was evil disposed, and said thisshould not be, but that when men died their friends should burn theirbodies, and once a year make a great mourning for them, and the coyoteprevailed. So, presently when a deer died, they burned his body, asthe coyote had decreed, and after a year they made a great mourningfor him. But the moon created the rattlesnake and caused it to bitethe coyote's son, so that he died. Now, though the coyote had beenwilling to burn the deer's relations, he refused to burn his own son. Then the moon said unto him, 'This is your own rule. You would have itso, and now your son shall be burned like the others. ' So he wasburned, and after a year the coyote mourned for him. Thus the law wasestablished over the coyote also, and, as he had dominion over men, itprevailed over men likewise. 

"This story is utterly worthless for itself, but it has its value inthat it shows there was a time when the California Indians did notpractice cremation, which is also established by other traditions. Ithints at the additional fact that the Nishinams to this day set greatstore by the moon; consider it their benefactor in a hundred ways, andobserve its changes for a hundred purposes. "

Another myth regarding cremation is given by Adam Johnston, inSchoolcraft [Footnote: Hist. Indian tribes of the United Stales, 1854, part IV, p. 224] and relates to the Bonaks, or root-diggers:

"The first Indians that lived were coyotes. When one of their numberdied the body became full of little animals or spirits, as theythought them. After crawling over the body for a time they took allmanner of shapes, some that of the deer, others the elk, antelope, etc. It was discovered, however, that great numbers were taking wings, and for a while they sailed about in the air, but eventually theywould fly off to the moon. The old coyotes or Indians, fearing theearth might become depopulated in this way, concluded to stop it atonce, and ordered that when one of their people died the body must beburnt. Ever after they continued to burn the bodies of deceasedpersons. "

Ross Cox [Footnote: Adventures on the Columbia River, 1831, vol. Ii, p. 387] gives an account of the process as performed by the Tolkotinsof Oregon:

"The ceremonies attending the dead are very singular, and quitepeculiar to this tribe. The body of the deceased is kept nine dayslaid out in his lodge, and on the tenth it is buried. For this purposea rising ground is selected, on which are laid a number of sticks, about seven feet long, of cypress, neatly split, and in theinterstices is placed a quantity of gummy wood. During theseoperations invitations are dispatched to the natives of theneighboring villages requesting their attendance at the ceremony. Whenthe preparations are perfected the corpse is placed on the pile, whichis immediately ignited, and during the process of burning, thebystanders appear to be in a high state of merriment. If a strangerhappen to be present they invariably plunder him, but if that pleasurebe denied them, they never separate without quarreling amongthemselves. Whatever property the deceased possessed is placed aboutthe corpse, and if he happened to be a person of consequence, hisfriends generally purchase a capote, a shirt, a pair of trousers, etc. , which articles are also laid around the pile. If the doctor whoattended him has escaped uninjured, he is obliged to be present at theceremony, and for the last time tries his skill in restoring thedefunct to animation. Failing in this, he throws on the body a pieceof leather, or some other article, as a present, which in some measureappeases the resentment of his relatives, and preserves theunfortunate quack from being maltreated. During the nine days thecorpse is laid out the widow of the deceased is obliged to sleep alongside it from sunset to sunrise; and from this custom there is norelaxation even during the hottest days of summer! While the doctor isperforming his last operations she must lie on the pile, and after thefire is applied to it she cannot stir until the doctor orders her tobe removed, which, however, is never done until her body is completelycovered with blisters. After being placed on her legs, she is obligedto pass her hands gently through the flame and collect some of theliquid fat which issues from the corpse, with which she is permittedto wet her face and body! When the friends of the deceased observe thesinews of the legs and arms beginning to contract they compel theunfortunate widow to go again on the pile, and by dint of hardpressing to straighten those members. 

"If during her husband's lifetime she has been known to have committedany act of infidelity or omitted administering to him savory food orneglected his clothing, etc, she is now made to suffer severely forsuch lapses of duty by his relations, who frequently fling her in thefuneral pile, from which she is dragged by her friends; and thusbetween alternate scorching and cooling she is dragged backwards andforwards until she falls into a state of insensibility. 

"After the process of burning the corpse has terminated, the widowcollects the larger bones, which she rolls up in an envelope of birchbark, and which she is obliged for some years afterwards to carry onher back. She is now considered and treated as a slave, all thelaborious duties of cooking, collecting fuel, etc. , devolve on her. She must obey the orders of all the women, and even of the childrenbelonging to the village, and the slightest mistake or disobediencesubjects her to the infliction of a heavy punishment. The ashes of herhusband are carefully collected and deposited in a grave, which it isher duty to keep free from weeds; and should any such appear, she isobliged to root them out with her _fingers_. During thisoperation her husband's relatives stand by and beat her in a cruelmanner until the task is completed or she falls a victim to theirbrutality. The wretched widows, to avoid this complicated cruelty, frequently commit suicide. Should she, however, linger on for three orfour years, the friends of her husband agree to relieve her from herpainful mourning. This is a ceremony of much consequence, and thepreparations for it occupy a considerable time, generally from six toeight months. The hunters proceed to the various districts in whichdeer and beaver abound, and after collecting large quantities of meatand fur return to the village. The skins are immediately bartered forguns, ammunition, clothing, trinkets, etc. Invitations are then bentto the inhabitants of the various friendly villages, and when theyhave all assembled the feast commences, and presents are distributedto each visitor. The object of their meeting is then explained, andthe woman is brought forward, still carrying on her back the bones ofher late husband, which are now removed and placed in a covered box, which is nailed or otherwise fastened to a post twelve feet high. Herconduct as a faithful widow is next highly eulogized, and the ceremonyof her manumission is completed by one man powdering on her head thedown of birds and another pouring on it the contents of a bladder ofoil. She is then at liberty to marry again or lead a life of singleblessedness; but few of them, I believe, wish to encounter the riskattending a second widowhood. 

"The men are condemned to a similar ordeal, but they do not bear itwith equal fortitude, and numbers fly to distant quarters to avoid thebrutal treatment which custom has established as a kind of religiousrite. "

Perhaps a short review of some of the peculiar and salient points ofthis narrative may be permitted. It is stated that the corpse is keptnine days after death--certainly a long period of time, when it isremembered that Indians as a rule endeavor to dispose of their dead assoon as possible. This may be accounted for on the supposition that itis to give the friends and relatives an opportunity of assembling, verifying the death, and of making proper preparations for theceremony. With regard to the verification of the dead person, WilliamSheldon [Footnote: Trans. Am. Antiq. Soc. , 1820, vol. 1, p 377] givesan account of a similar custom which was common among the Caraibs ofJamaica, and which seems to throw some light upon the unusualretention of deceased persons by the tribe in question, although itmust be admitted that this is mere hypothesis:

"They had some very extraordinary customs respecting deceased persons. When one of them died, it was necessary that all his relations shouldsee him and examine the body in order to ascertain that he died anatural death. They acted so rigidly on this principle, that if onerelative remained who had not seen the body all the others could notconvince that one that the death was natural. In such a case theabsent relative considered himself as bound in honor to consider allthe other relatives as having been accessories to the death of thekinsman, and did not rest until he had killed one of them to revengethe death of the deceased. If a Caraib died in Martinico or Guadaloupeand his relations lived in St. Vincents, it was necessary to summonthem to see the body, and several months sometime elapsed before itcould be finally interred. When a Caraib died he was immediatelypainted all over with _roucou_, and had his mustachios and theblack streaks in his face made with a black paint, which was differentfrom that used in their lifetime. A kind of grave was then dug in the_carbet_ where he died, about 4 feet square and 6 or 7 feet deep. The body was let down in it, when sand was thrown in, which reached tothe knees, and the body was placed in it in a sitting posture, resembling that in which they crouched round the fire or the tablewhen alive, with the elbows on the knees and the palms of the handsagainst the cheeks. No part of the body touched the outside of thegrave, which was covered with wood and mats until all the relationshad examined it. When the customary examinations and inspections wereended the hole was filled, and the bodies afterwards remainedundisturbed. The hair of the deceased was kept tied behind. In thisway bodies have remained several months without any symptoms of decayor producing any disagreeable smell. The _roucou_ not onlypreserved them from the sun, air, and insects during their lifetime, but probably had the same effect after death. The arms of the Caraibswere placed by them when they were covered over for inspection, andthey were finally buried with them. "

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

It is interesting to note that in Corsica, as late as 1743, if ahusband died women threw themselves upon the widow and beat herseverely. Bruhier quaintly remarks that this custom obliged women totake good care of their husbands. 

George Gibbs, in Schoolcraft, [Footnote: Hist. Indian Tribes of theUnited States, 1853, part iii, p. 112. ] states that among the Indiansof Clear Lake, California, "the body is consumed upon a scaffold builtover a hole, into which the ashes are thrown and covered"

According to Stephen Powers, [Footnote: Contrib. To N. A. Ethnol. , 1877, vol. Iii, p. 169. ] cremation was common among the Se-nel ofCalifornia. He thus relates it--

"The dead are mostly burned. Mr. Willard described to me a scene ofincremation that be once witnessed which was frightful for itsexhibitions of fanatic frenzy and infatuation. The corpse was that ofa wealthy chieftain, and as he lay upon the funeral pyre they placedin his mouth two gold twenties, and other smaller coins in his earsand hands, on his breast, etc. , besides all his finery, his feathermantles, plumes, clothing, shell money, his fancy bows, paintedarrows, etc. When the torch was applied they set up a mournfulululation, chanting and dancing about him, gradually workingthemselves into a wild and ecstatic raving, which seemed almost ademoniacal possession, leaping, howling, lacerating their flesh. Manyseemed to lose all self-control. The younger English-speaking Indiansgenerally lend themselves charily to such superstitious work, especially if American spectators are present, but even they werecarried away by the old contagious frenzy of their race. One strippedoff a broadcloth coat, quite new and fine, and ran frantically yellingand cast it upon the blazing-pile. Another rushed up and was about tothrow on a pile of California blankets, when a white man, to test hissincerity, offered him $16 for them, jingling the bright coins beforehis eyes, but the savage (for such he had become again for themoment), otherwise so avaricious, hurled him away with a yell ofexecration and ran and threw his offering into the flames. Squaws, even more frenzied, wildly flung upon the pyre all they had in theworld--their dearest ornaments, their gaudiest dresses, their stringsof glittering shells. Screaming, wailing, tearing their hair, beatingtheir breasts in their mad and insensate infatuation, some of themwould have cast themselves bodily into the flaming ruins and perishedwith the chief had they not been restrained by their companions. Thenthe bright, swift flames with their hot tongues licked this 'coldobstruction' into chemic change, and the once 'delighted spirit' ofthe savage was borne up.... 

"It seems as if the savage shared in Shakspeare's shudder at thethought of rotting in the dismal grave, for it is the one passion ofhis superstition to think of the soul of his departed friend set freeand purified by the swift purging heat of the flames, not dragged downto be clogged and bound in the moldering body, but borne up in thesoft, warm chariots of the smoke toward the beautiful sun, to bask inhis warmth and light, and then, to fly away to the Happy Western Land. What wonder if the Indian shrinks with unspeakable horror from thethought of _burying his friend's soul!_--of pressing and rammingdown with pitiless clods that inner something which once took suchdelight in the sweet light of the sun! What wonder if it takes yearsto persuade him to do otherwise and follow our custom! What wonder ifeven then he does it with sad fears and misgivings! Why not let himkeep his custom! In the gorgeous landscapes and balmy climate ofCalifornia and India incremation is as natural to the savage as it isfor him to love the beauty of the sun. Let the vile Esquimaux and thefrozen Siberian bury their dead if they will; it matters little, theearth is the same above as below, or to them the bosom of the earthmay seem even the better; but in California do not blame the savage ifhe recoils at the thought of going under ground! This soft, pale haloof the lilac hills--ah, let him console himself if he will with thebelief that his lost friend enjoys it still! The narrator concluded bysaying that they destroyed full $500 worth of property. 'Theblankets, ' said he with a fine Californian scorn of such absurdinsensibility to a good bargain, 'the blankets that the Americanoffered him $16 for were not worth half the money. '

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

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

"This refrain is repeated over and over indefinitely, but the wordshave no meaning whatever. "

Mr. Henry Gillman [Footnote: Amer. Natural, November, 1878, p. 753]has published an interesting account of the exploration of a moundnear Waldo, Fla. , in which he found abundant evidence that cremationhad existed among the former Indian population. It is as follows:

"In opening a burial-mound at Cade's Pond, a small body of watersituated about two miles northeastward of Santa Fe Lake, Florida, thewriter found two instances of cremation, in each of which the skull ofthe subject, which was unconsumed, was used as the depository of hisashes. The mound contained besides a large number of human burials, the bones being much decayed. With them were deposited a great numberof vessels of pottery, many of which are painted in brilliant colors, chiefly red, yellow, and brown, and some of them ornamented withindented patterns, displaying not a little skill in the ceramic art, though they are reduced to fragments. The first of the skulls referredto was exhumed at a depth of 2 1/2 feet. It rested on its apex (baseuppermost), and was filled with fragments of half incinerated humanbones, mingled with dark-colored dust, and the sand which invariablysifts into crania under such circumstances. Immediately beneath theskull lay the greater part of a human tibia, presenting the peculiarcompression known as a platycnemism to the degree of affording alatitudinal index of . 512; while beneath and surrounding it lay thefragments of a large number of human bones, probably constituting anentire individual. In the second instance of this peculiar mode incremation, the cranium was discovered on nearly the opposite side ofthe mound, at a depth of 2 feet, and, like the former, resting on itsapex. It was filled with a black mass--the residuum of burnt humanbones mingled with sand. At three feet to the eastward lay the shaftof a flattened tibia, which presents the longitudinal index of . 527. Both the skulls were free from all action of fire, and thoughsubsequently crumbling to pieces on their removal, the writer hadopportunity to observe their strong resemblance to the smallorthocephalic crania which he had exhumed from mounds in Michigan. Thesame resemblance was perceptible in the other crania belonging to thismound. The small, narrow, retreating frontal, prominent parietalprotuberances, rather protuberant occipital, which was not in theleast compressed, the well-defined supraciliary ridges, and thesuperior border of the orbits, presenting a quadrilateral outline, were also particularly noticed. The lower facial bones, including themaxillaries, were wanting. On consulting such works as are accessibleto him, the writer finds no mention of any similar relics having beendiscovered in mounds in Florida or elsewhere. For further particularsreference may be had to a paper on the subject read before the SaintLouis meeting of the American Association, August, 1878. "

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

The fact is well known to archaeologists that whenever cremation waspracticed by Indians it was customary as a rule to throw into theblazing pyre all sorts of articles supposed to be useful to the dead, but no instance is known of such a wholesale destruction of propertyas occurred when the Indians of southern Utah burned their dead, forDr. E. Foreman relates, in the American Naturalist for July, 1876, theaccount of the exploration of a mound in that Territory, which provedthat at the death of a person not only were the remains destroyed byfire, but all articles of personal property, even the very habitationwhich had served as a home. After the process was completed, whatremained unburned was covered with earth and a mound formed. 

A. S. Tiffany [Footnote: Proc. Dav. Acad. Nat Soc. , 1867-76, p. 64. ]describes what he calls a cremation-furnace, discovered within sevenmiles of Davenport, Iowa:

"... Mound seven miles below the city, a projecting point known asEagle Point. The surface was of the usual black soil to the depth offrom 6 to 8 inches. Next was found a burnt indurated clay, resemblingin color and texture a medium-burned brick, and about 30 inches indepth. Immediately beneath this clay was a bed of charred humanremains 6 to 18 inches thick. This rested upon the unchanged andundisturbed loess of the bluffs, which formed the floor of the pit. Imbedded in this floor of unburned clay were a few very muchdecomposed, but unburned, human bones. No implements of any kind werediscovered The furnace appears to have been constructed by excavatingthe pit and placing at the bottom of it the bodies or skeletons whichhad possibly been collected from scaffolds, and placing the fuel amongand above the bodies, with a covering of poles or split timbersextending over and resting upon the earth, with the clay coveringabove, which latter we now find resting upon the charred remains. Theends of the timber covering, where they were protected by the earthabove and below, were reduced to charcoal, parallel pieces of whichwere found at right angles to the length of the mound. No charcoal wasfound among or near the remains, the combustion there having beencomplete. The porous and softer portions of the bones were reduced topulverized bone-black. Mr. Stevens also examined the furnace. Themound had probably not been opened after the burning. "

This account is doubtless true, but the inferences may be incorrect. Many more accounts of cremation among different tribes might be givento show how prevalent was the custom, but the above are thought to besufficiently distinctive to serve as examples. 

PARTIAL CREMATION. 

Allied somewhat to cremation is a peculiar mode of burial which issupposed to have taken place among the Cherokees or some other tribeof North Carolina, and which is thus described by J. W Foster. [Footnote: Pre-Historic Races, 1873, p. 149. ]

"Up to 1819 the Cherokees held possession of this region, when, inpursuance of a treaty, they vacated a portion of the lands lying inthe valley of the Little Tennessee River. In 1821 Mr. McDowellcommenced farming. During the first season's operations the plowshare, in passing over a certain portion of a field, produced a hollowrumbling sound, and in exploring for the cause the first object metwith was a shallow layer of charcoal, beneath which was a slab ofburnt clay about 7 feet in length and 4 feet broad, which, in theattempt to remove, broke into several fragments. Nothing beneath thisslab was found, but on examining its under side, to his great surprisethere was the mould of a naked human figure. Three of these burnedclay sepulchers were thus raised and examined during the first year ofhis occupancy, since which time none have been found untilrecently.... During the past season (1872) the plow brought up anotherfragment of one of these moulds, revealing the impress of a plumphuman arm. 

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

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

"Colonel Jenkes, fully impressed with the value of thesearchaeological discoveries, detailed a man to superintend theexhumation, who proceeded to remove the earth from the mould, which hereached through a layer of charcoal, and then with a trowel excavatedbeneath it. The clay was not thoroughly baked, and no impression ofthe corpse was left, except of the forehead and that portion of thelimbs between the ankles and the knees, and even these portions of themould crumbled. The body had been placed east and west, the headtoward the east. 'I had hoped, ' continues Mr. McDowell, 'that the castin the clay would be as perfect as one I found 51 years ago, afragment of which I presented to Colonel Jenkes, with the impressionof a part of the arm on one side and on the other of the fingers, thathad pressed down the soft clay upon the body interred beneath. ' Themound-builders of the Ohio Valley, as has been shown, often placed alayer of clay over the dead, but not in immediate contact, upon whichthey builded fires; and the evidence that cremation was often resortedto in their disposition are too abundant to be gainsaid. "

This statement is corroborated by Mr. Wilcox: [Footnote: Proc. Acad. Nat. Soc. Phila. , Nov 1874, p 168. ]

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

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

Another method, embracing both burial and cremation, has beenpracticed by the Pitt River or Achomawi Indians of California, who"bury the body in the ground in a standing position, the shouldersnearly even with the ground. The grave is prepared by digging a holeof sufficient depth and circumference to admit the body, the headbeing cut off. In the grave are placed the bows and arrows, bead-work, trappings, &c. , belonging to the deceased; quantities of food, consisting of dried fish, roots, herbs, &c. , were placed with the bodyalso. The grave was then filled up, covering the headless body; then abundle of fagots was brought and placed on the grave by the differentmembers of the tribe, and on these fagots the head was placed, thepile fired, and the head consumed to ashes; after this was done, thefemale relatives of the deceased, who had appeared as mourners withtheir faces blackened with a preparation resembling tar or paint, dipped their fingers in the ashes of the cremated head and made threemarks on their right cheek. This constituted the mourning garb, theperiod of which lasted until this black substance wore off from theface. In addition to this mourning, the blood female relatives of thedeceased (who, by the way, appeared to be a man of distinction) hadtheir hair cropped short. I noticed while the head was burning thatthe old women of the tribe sat on the ground, forming a large circle, inside of which another circle of young girls were formed standing andswaying their bodies to and fro and singing a mournful ditty. This wasthe only burial of a male that I witnessed. The custom of buryingfemales is very different, their bodies being wrapped or bundled up inskins and laid away in caves, with their valuables, and in some casesfood being placed with them in their mouths. Occasionally money isleft to pay for food in the spirit land. "

This account is furnished by General Charles H. Tompkins, deputyquartermaster-general, United States Army, who witnessed the burialabove related, and is the more interesting as it seems to be the onlywell-authenticated case on record, although E. A. Barber [Footnote:American Natural, Sept. , 1878, p. 699. ] has described what maypossibly have been a case of cremation like the one above noted:

"A very singular case of aboriginal burial was brought to my noticerecently by Mr. William Klingbeil, of Philadelphia. On the New Jerseybank of the Delaware River, a short distance below Gloucester City, the skeleton of a man was found buried in a standing position, in ahigh, red, sandy-clay bluff overlooking the stream. A few inches belowthe surface the neck bones were found, and below these the remainderof the skeleton, with the exception of the bones of the hands andfeet. The skull being wanting, it could not be determined whether theremains were those of an Indian or of a white man, but in either casethe sepulture was peculiarly aboriginal. A careful exhumation andcritical examination by Mr. Klingbeil disclosed the fact that aroundthe lower extremities of the body had been placed a number of largestones, which revealed traces of fire, in conjunction with charredwood, and the bones of the feet had undoubtedly been consumed. Thisfact makes it appear reasonably certain that the subject had beenexecuted, probably as a prisoner of war. A pit had been dug, in whichhe was placed erect, and a fire kindled around him. Then he had beenburied alive, or, at least, if he did not survive the fiery ordeal, his body was imbedded in the earth, with the exception of his head, which was left protruding above the surface. As no trace of thecranium could be found, it seems probable that the head had eitherbeen burned or severed from the body and removed, or else left a preyto ravenous birds. The skeleton, which would have measured fully sixfeet in height, was undoubtedly that of a man. "

Blacking the face, as is mentioned in the first account, is a customknown to have existed among many tribes throughout the world, but insome cases different earths and pigments are used as signs ofmourning. The natives of Guinea smear a chalky substance over theirbodies as an outward expression of grief, and it is well known thatthe ancient Israelites threw ashes on their heads and garments. Placing food with the corpse or in its mouth, and money in the hand, finds its analogue in the custom of the ancient Romans, who, some timebefore interment, placed a piece of money in the corpse's mouth, whichwas thought to be Charon's fare for wafting the departed soul over theInfernal River. Besides this, the corpse's mouth was furnished with acertain cake, composed of flour, honey, &c. This was designed toappease the fury of Cerberus, the infernal doorkeeper, and to procurea safe and quiet entrance. These examples are curious coincidences, ifnothing more. 

BURIAL ABOVE GROUND. 

Our attention should next be turned to sepulture above the ground, including lodge, house, box, scaffold, tree, and canoe burial, and thefirst example which may be given is that of burial in lodges, which isby no means common. The description which follows is by Stansbury, [Footnote: Explorations of the Valley of the Great Salt Lake of Utah, 1852, p. 43. ] and relates to the Sioux:

"I put on my moccasins, and, displaying my wet shirt like a flag tothe wind, we proceeded to the lodges which had attracted ourcuriosity. There were five of them pitched upon the open prairie, andin them we found the bodies of nine Sioux laid out upon the ground, wrapped in their robes of buffalo-skin, with their saddles, spears, camp-kettles, and all their accoutrements piled up around them. Somelodges contained three, others only one body, all of which were moreor less in a state of decomposition. A short distance apart from thesewas one lodge which, though small, seemed of rather superiorpretensions, and was evidently pitched with great care. It containedthe body of a young Indian girl of sixteen or eighteen years, with acountenance presenting quite an agreeable expression; she was richlydressed in leggins of fine scarlet cloth elaborately ornamented; a newpair of moccasins, beautifully embroidered with porcupine quills, wason her feet, and her body was wrapped in two superb buffalo-robesworked in like manner; she had evidently been dead but a day or two, and to our surprise a portion of the upper part of her person wasbare, exposing the face and a part of the breast, as if the robes inwhich she was wrapped had by some means been disarranged, whereas allthe other bodies were closely covered up. It was, at the time, theopinion of our mountaineers that these Indians must have fallen in anencounter with a party of Crows; but I subsequently learned that theyhad all died of the cholera, and that this young girl, beingconsidered past recovery, had been arranged by her friends in thehabiliments of the dead, inclosed in the lodge alive, and abandoned toher fate, so fearfully alarmed were the Indians by this to them noveland terrible disease. "

It might, perhaps, be said that this form of burial was exceptional, and due to the dread of again using the lodges which had served as thehomes of those afflicted with the cholera, but it is thought such wasnot the case, as the writer has notes of the same kind of burial amongthe same tribe and of others, notably the Crows, the body of one oftheir chiefs (Long Horse) being disposed of as follows. 

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

This account is furnished by Col. P. W. Norris, superintendent ofYellowstone National Park, he having been an eye-witness of what herelates in 1876. 

The Blackfeet, Sioux, and Navajos also bury in lodges, and the Indiansof Bellingham Bay, according to Dr. J. F. Hammond, U. S. A. , placetheir dead in carved wooden sarcophagi, inclosing these with arectangular tent of some white material. 

Bancroft [Footnote: Nat. Races of Pac. States, 1874, vol. 1, p. 780. ]states that certain of the Indians of Costa Rica, when a deathoccurred, deposited the body in a small hut constructed of plaitedpalm reeds. In this it is preserved for three years, food beingsupplied, and on each anniversary of the death it is redressed andattended to amid certain ceremonies. The writer has been recentlyinformed that a similar custom prevailed in Demerara. No authenticaccounts are known of analogous modes of burial among the peoples ofthe Old World, although quite frequently the dead were interredbeneath the floors of their houses, a custom which has been followedby the Mosquito Indians of Central America and one or two of our owntribes. 

BOX BURIAL. 

Under this head may be placed those examples furnished by certaintribes on the Northwest coast who used as receptacles for the deadwonderfully carved, large wooden chests, these being supported upon alow platform or resting on the ground. In shape they resemble a smallhouse with an angular roof, and each one has an opening through whichfood may be passed to the corpse. 

Some of the tribes formerly living in New York used boxes muchresembling those spoken of, and the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokeesdid the same. 

Capt J. H. Gageby, U. S. A. , furnishes the following relating to theCreeks in Indian Territory:

"... Are buried on the surface, in a box or a substitute made ofbranches of trees, covered with small branches, leaves, and earth. Ihave seen several of their graves, which after a few weeks had becomeuncovered and the remains exposed to view. I saw in one Creek grave (achild's) a small sum of silver, in another (adult male) someimplements of warfare, bow and arrows. They are all interred with thefeet of the corpse to the east. In the mourning ceremonies of theCreeks the nearer relatives smeared their hair and faces with acomposition made of grease and wood ashes, and would remain in thatcondition for several days, and probably a month. "

TREE AND SCAFFOLD BURIAL. 

We may now pass to what may be called aerial sepulture proper, themost common examples of which are tree and scaffold burial, quiteextensively practiced even at the present time. From what can belearned, the choice of this mode depends greatly on the facilitiespresent; where timber abounds, trees being used; if absent, scaffoldsbeing employed, the construction of which among the Yanktonais isrelated as follows: [Footnote: Life of Belden, the White Chief, 1871, p. 87. ]

"These scaffolds are 7 to 8 feet high, 10 feet long, and 4 or 5 wide. Four stout posts, with forked ends, are first set firmly in theground, and then in the forks are laid cross and side poles, on whichis made a flooring of small poles. The body is then carefully wrapped, so as to make it watertight, and laid to rest on the poles. The reasonwhy Indians bury in the open air instead of under the ground is forthe purpose of protecting their dead from wild animals. In newcountries, where wolves and bears are numerous, a dead body will bedug up and devoured, though it be put many feet under the ground. Inoticed many little buckets and baskets hanging on the scaffolds.... These had contained food and drink for the dead. I asked Washtella ifshe was sure the soul ate and drank on its journey, and if the fooddid not remain untouched in its basket. She replied, 'Oh, no, the foodand water is always gone. ' I looked at the hundreds of ravens perchedon the scaffolds and could account for what became of most of the foodand water. "... 

John Young, Indian agent at the Blackfeet Agency, Montana, sends thefollowing account of tree-burial among this tribe:

"Their manner of burial has always been (until recently) to inclosethe dead body in robes or blankets, the best owned by the departed, closely sewed up, and then, if a male or chief, fasten in the branchesof a tree so high as to be beyond the reach of wolves, and then leftto slowly waste in the dry winds. If the body was that of a squaw orchild, it was thrown into the underbrush or jungle, where it soonbecame the prey of the wild animals. The weapons, pipes, &c. , of menwere inclosed, and the small toys of children with them. Theceremonies were equally barbarous, the relatives cutting off, according to the depth of their grief, one or more joints of thefingers, divesting themselves of clothing even in the coldest weather, and filling the air with their lamentations. All the sewing up andburial process was conducted by the squaws, as the men would not touchnor remain in proximity to a dead body. 

"When an Indian of any importance is departing, the squaws assemble inthe lodge or teepee and sing the death-song, recounting the prowessand virtues of the dying one, and the oldest man at hand goes into theopen air and solemnly addresses the 'Great Spirit, ' bespeaking awelcome for him into the happy hunting grounds. Whatever property thedeceased has--lodge, arms, or ponies--if a will was made, it wascarefully carried out; if not, all was scrambled for by the relatives. I have often had, when a man wanted to go out of mourning, to supplythe necessary clothing to cover his nakedness. 

"Further mourning observances were and are, the women relativesgetting on some elevated spot near where the body rests, and keepingup a dismal wail, frequently even in extreme cold weather, the greaterpart of the night, and this is kept up often for a month. No cremationor burying in a grave was practiced by them at any time. Pained byoften coming on skeletons in trees and the stench of half-consumedremains in the brush, and shocked by the frequent mutilations visible, I have reasoned with the poor savages. In one case, when a woman wasabout to cut off a finger in evidence of her grief for the loss of achild, she consented on entreaty to cut off only one joint, and onfurther entreaty was brought to merely making a cut and letting outsome blood. This much she could not be prevailed upon to forego.... Their mourning and wailing, avoiding the defilement of touching a deadbody, and other customs not connected with burial observances, strongly point to Jewish origin. "

Keating [Footnote: Long's Exped. To the St. Peter's River, 1834, p. 392. ] thus describes burial scaffolds:

"On these scaffolds, which are from 8 to 10 feet high, corpses weredeposited in a box made from part of a broken canoe. Some hair wassuspended, which we at first mistook for a scalp, but our guideinformed us that these were locks of hair torn from their heads by therelatives to testify their grief. In the centre, between the fourposts which supported the scaffold, a stake was planted in the ground;it was about six feet high, and bore an imitation of human figures, five of which had a design of a petticoat, indicating them to befemales; the rest, amounting to seven, were naked, and were intendedfor male figures; of the latter four were headless, showing that theyhad been slain; the three other male figures were unmutilated, butheld a staff in their hand, which, as our guide informed us, designated that they were slaves. The post, which is an usualaccompaniment to the scaffold that supports a warrior's remains, doesnot represent the achievements of the deceased; but those of thewarriors that assembled near his remains danced the dance of the post, and related their martial exploits. A number of small bones of animalswere observed in the vicinity, which were probably left there after afeast celebrated in honor of the dead. 

"The boxes in which the corpses were placed are so short that a mancould not lie in them extended at full length, but in a country whereboxes and boards are scarce this is overlooked. After the corpses haveremained a certain time exposed, they are taken down and buried. Ourguide, Renville, related to us that he had been a witness to aninteresting, though painful, circumstance that occurred here. AnIndian who resided on the Mississippi, hearing that his son had diedat this spot, came up in a canoe to take charge of the remains andconvey them down the river to his place of abode, but on his arrivalhe found that the corpse had already made such progress towarddecomposition as rendered it impossible for it to be removed. He thenundertook, with a few friends, to clean off the bones. All the fleshwas scraped off and thrown into the stream, the bones were carefullycollected into his canoe, and subsequently carried down to hisresidence. "

Interesting and valuable from the extreme attention paid to details isthe following account of a burial case discovered by Dr. George M. Sternberg, U. S. A. , and furnished by Dr. George A. Otis, U. S. A. , Army Medical Museum, Washington, D. C. It relates to the Cheyennes ofKansas:

"The case was found, Brevet Major Sternberg states, on the banks ofWalnut Creek, Kansas, elevated about eight feet from the ground byfour notched poles, which were firmly planted in the ground. Theunusual care manifested in the preparation of the case induced Dr. Sternberg to infer that some important chief was inclosed in it. Believing that articles of interest were inclosed with the body, andthat their value would be enhanced if they were received at the Museumas left by the Indians, Dr. Sternberg determined to send the caseunopened. 

"I had the case opened this morning and an inventory made of thecontents. The case consisted of a cradle of interlaced branches ofwhite willow, about 6 feet long, 3 feet broad, and 3 feet high, with aflooring of buffalo thongs arranged as a net-work. This cradle wassecurely fastened by strips of buffalo-hide to four poles of ironwoodand cottonwood, about 12 feet in length. These poles doubtless restedupon the forked extremities of the vertical poles described by Dr. Sternberg. The cradle was wrapped in two buffalo-robes of large sizeand well preserved. On removing these an aperture 18 inches square wasfound at the middle of the right side of the cradle or basket. Withinappeared other buffalo-robes folded about the remains, and secured bygaudy-colored sashes. Five robes were successively removed, makingseven in all. Then we came to a series of new blankets folded aboutthe remains. There were five in all--two scarlet, two blue, and onewhite. These being removed, the next wrappings consisted of a stripedwhite and gray sack, and of a United States Infantry overcoat, likethe other coverings nearly new. We had now come apparently upon theimmediate envelopes of the remains, which it was now evident must bethose of a child. These consisted of three robes, with hoods veryrichly ornamented with bead-work. These robes or cloaks were ofbuffalo-calf skin about four feet in length, elaborately decoratedwith bead-work in stripes. The outer was covered with rows of blue andwhite bead-work, the second was green and yellow, and the third blueand red. All were further adorned by spherical brass bells attachedall about the borders by strings of beads. 

"The remains with their wrappings lay upon a matting similar to thatused by the Navajo and other Indians of the southern plains, and upona pillow of dirty rags, in which were folded a bag of red paint, bitsof antelope skin, bunches of straps, buckles, &c. The three bead-workhooded cloaks were now removed, and then we successively unwrapped agray woolen double shawl, five yards of blue cassimere, six yards ofred calico, and six yards of brown calico, and finally disclosed theremains of a child, probably about a year old, in an advanced stage ofdecomposition. The cadaver had a beaver-cap ornamented with disks ofcopper containing the bones of the cranium, which had fallen apart. About the neck were long wampum necklaces with _dentalium, unionida, and auricula, _ interspersed with beads. There were also strings ofthe pieces of _Haliotis_ from the Gulf of California, so valuedby the Indians on this side of the Rocky Mountains. The body had beenelaborately dressed for burial, the costume consisting of a red-flannel cloak, a red tunic, and frock-leggins adorned with bead-work, yarn stockings of red and black worsted, and deerskin bead-workmoccasins. With the remains were numerous trinkets, a porcelain image, a China vase, strings of beads, several toys, a pair of mittens, a furcollar, a pouch of the skin of _putorius vison_, &c. "

Another extremely interesting account of scaffold burial, furnished byDr. L. S. Turner, U. S. A. , Fort Peck, Mont. , and relating to theSioux, is here given entire, as it refers to certain curious mourningobservances which have prevailed to a great extent over the entireglobe:

"The Dakotas bury their dead in the tops of trees when limbs can befound sufficiently horizontal to support scaffolding on which to laythe body, but as such growth is not common in Dakota, the more generalpractice is to lay them upon scaffolds from 7 to 10 feet high and outof the reach of carnivorous animals as the wolf. These scaffolds areconstructed upon four posts set into the ground something after themanner of the rude drawing which I inclose. Like all labors of adomestic kind, the preparation for burial is left to the women, usually the old women. The work begins as soon as life is extinct. Theface, neck, and hands are thickly painted with vermilion, or a speciesof red earth found in various portions of the Territory when thevermilion of the traders cannot be had. The clothes and personaltrinkets of the deceased ornament the body. When blankets areavailable, it is then wrapped in one, all parts of the body beingcompletely enveloped. Around this a dressed skin of buffalo is thensecurely wrapped, with the flesh side out, and the whole securelybound with thongs of skins, either raw or dressed; and for ornament, when available, a bright-red blanket envelopes all other coverings, and renders the general scene more picturesque until dimmed by timeand the elements. As soon as the scaffold is ready, the body is borneby the women, followed by the female relatives, to the place of finaldeposit, and left prone in its secure wrappings upon this airy bed ofdeath. This ceremony is accompanied with lamentations so wild andweird that one must see and hear in order to appreciate. If thedeceased be a brave, it is customary to place upon or beneath thescaffold a few buffalo-heads which time has rendered dry andinoffensive; and if he has been brave in war some of his implements ofbattle are placed on the scaffold or securely tied to its timbers. Ifthe deceased has been a chief, or a soldier related to his chief, itis not uncommon to slay his favorite pony and place the body beneaththe scaffold, under the superstition, I suppose, that the horse goeswith the man. As illustrating the propensity to provide the dead withthe things used while living, I may mention that some years ago Iloaned to an old man a delft urinal for the use of his son, a youngman who was slowly dying of a wasting disease. I made him promisefaithfully that he would return it as soon as his son was done usingit. Not long afterwards the urinal graced the scaffold which held theremains of the dead warrior, and as it has not to this day beenreturned I presume the young man is not done using it. 

"The mourning customs of the Dakotas, though few of them appear to beof universal observance, cover considerable ground. The hair, nevercut under other circumstances, is cropped off even with the neck, andthe top of the head and forehead, and sometimes nearly the whole body, are smeared with a species of white earth resembling chalk, moistenedwith water. The lodge, teepee, and all the family possessions exceptthe few shabby articles of apparel worn by the mourners, are givenaway and the family left destitute. Thus far the custom is universalor nearly so. The wives, mother, and sisters of a deceased man, on thefirst, second, or third day after the funeral, frequently throw offtheir moccasins and leggins and gash their legs with their butcher-knives, and march through the camp and to the place of burial withbare and bleeding extremities, while they chant or wail their dismalsongs of mourning. The men likewise often gash themselves in manyplaces, and usually seek the solitude of the higher point on thedistant prairie, where they remain fasting, smoking, and wailing outtheir lamentations for two or three days. A chief who had lost abrother once came to me after three or four days of mourning insolitude almost exhausted from hunger and bodily anguish. He hadgashed the outer side of both lower extremities at intervals of a fewinches all the way from the ankles to the top of the hips. His woundshad inflamed from exposure, and were suppurating freely. He assured methat he had not slept for several days or nights. I dressed his woundswith a soothing ointment, and gave him a full dose of an effectiveanodyne, after which he slept long and refreshingly, and awoke toexpress his gratitude and shake my hand in a very cordial and sinceremanner. When these harsher inflictions are not resorted to, themourners usually repair daily for a few days to the place of burial, toward the hour of sunset, and chant their grief until apparentlyassuaged by its own expression. This is rarely kept up for more thanfour or five days, but is occasionally resorted to, at intervals, forweeks, or even months, according to the mood of the bereft. I haveseen few things in life so touching as the spectacle of an old fathergoing daily to the grave of his child, while the shadows arelengthening, and pouring out his grief in wails that would move ademon, until his figure melts with the gray twilight, when, silent andsolemn, he returns to his desolate family. The weird effect of thisobservance is sometimes heightened, when the deceased was a grown-upson, by the old man kindling a little fire near the head of thescaffold, and varying his lamentations with smoking in silence. Theforegoing is drawn from my memory of personal observances during aperiod of more than six years' constant intercourse with severalsubdivisions of the Dakota Indians. There may be much which memory hasfailed to recall upon a brief consideration. "

Perhaps a brief review of Dr. Turner's narrative may not be deemedinappropriate here. 

Supplying food to the dead is a custom which is known to be of greatantiquity; in some instances, as among the ancient Romans, it appearsto have been a sacrificial offering, for it usually accompaniedcremation, and was not confined to food alone, for spices, perfumes, oil, etc. , were thrown upon the burning pile. In addition to this, articles supposed or known to have been agreeable to the deceased werealso consumed. The Jews did the same, and in our own time the Chinese, Caribe and many of the tribes of North American Indians followed thesecustoms. The cutting of hair as a mourning observance is of very greatantiquity, and Tegg relates that among the ancients whole cities andcountries were shaved (_sic_) when a great man died. The Persiansnot only shaved themselves on such occasions, but extended the sameprocess to their domestic animals, and Alexander, at the death ofHephastin, not only cut off the manes of his horses and mules, buttook down the battlements from the city walls, that even towns mightseem in mourning and look bald. Scarifying and mutilating the body hasprevailed from a remote period of time, having possibly replaced, inthe process of evolution, to a certain extent, the more barbarouspractice of absolute personal sacrifice. In later days, among ourIndians, human sacrifices have taken place to only a limited extent, but formerly many victims were immolated, for at the funerals of thechiefs of the Florida and Carolina Indians all the male relatives andwives were slain, for the reason, according to Gallatin, that thehereditary dignity of Chief or Great Sun descended, as usual, by thefemale line; and he, as well as all other members of his clan, whethermale or female, could marry only persons of an inferior clan. To thisday mutilation of the person among some tribes of Indians is usual. The sacrifice of the favorite horse or horses is by no means peculiarto our Indians, for it was common among the Romans, and possibly evenamong the men of the Reindeer period, for at Solutre, in France, thewriter saw horses' bones exhumed from the graves examined in 1873. Thewriter has frequently conversed with Indians upon this subject, andthey have invariably informed him that when horses were slain greatcare was taken to select the poorest of the band. 

Tree-burial was not uncommon among the nations of antiquity, for theColchiens enveloped their dead in sacks of skin and hung them totrees; the ancient Tartars and Scythians did the same. With regard tothe use of scaffolds and trees as places of deposit for the dead, itseems somewhat curious that the tribes who formerly occupied theeastern portion of our continent were not in the habit of burying inthis way, which, from the abundance of timber, would have been a mucheasier method than the ones in vogue, while the western tribes, livingin sparsely wooded localities, preferred the other. If we considerthat the Indians were desirous of preserving their dead as long aspossible, the fact of their dead being placed in trees and scaffoldswould lead to the supposition that those living on the plains werewell aware of the desiccating property of the dry air of that aridregion. This desiccation would pass for a kind of mummification. 

The particular part of the mourning ceremonies, which consisted inloud cries and lamentations, may have had in early periods of time agreater significance than that of a mere expression of grief or woe, and on this point Bruhier [Footnote: L' des signes de la Mort, 1742, I, p. 475 _et seq. _] seems quite positive, his interpretationbeing that such cries were intended to prevent premature burial. Hegives some interesting examples, which may be admitted here. 

"The Caribs lament loudly, their wailings being interspersed withcomical remarks and questions to the dead as to why he preferred toleave this world, having everything to make life comfortable. Theyplace the corpse on a little seat in a ditch or grave four or fivefeet deep, and for ten days they bring food, requesting the corpse toeat. Finally, being convinced that the dead will neither eat norreturn to life, they throw the food on the head of the corpse and fillup the grave. "

When one died among the Romans, the nearest parents embraced the body, closed the eyes and mouth, and when one was about to die received thelast words and sighs, and then loudly called the name of the dead, finally bidding an eternal adieu. This ceremony of calling thedeceased by name was known as the _conclamation, _ and was acustom anterior even to the foundation of Rome. One dying away fromhome was immediately removed thither, in order that this might beperformed with greater propriety. In Picardy, as late as 1743, therelatives threw themselves on the corpse and with loud cries called itby name, and up to 1855 the Moravians of Pennsylvania, at the death ofone of their number, performed mournful musical airs on brassinstruments from the village church steeple and again at the grave[Footnote: The writer is informed by Mr. John Henry Boner that thiscustom still prevails not only in Pennsylvania, but at the Moraviansettlement of Salem, North Carolina. ] This custom, however, wasprobably a remnant of the ancient funeral observances, and not toprevent premature burial, or, perhaps, to scare away bad spirits. 

W. L. Hardisty [Footnote: Rep. Smithsonian Inst. , 1866, p. 319] givesa curious example of log-burial in trees, relating to the Loucheux ofBritish America:

"They inclose the body in a neatly-hollowed piece of wood, and secureit to two or more trees, about six feet from the ground. A log abouteight feet long is first split in two, and each of the parts carefullyhollowed out to the required size. The body is then inclosed and thetwo pieces well lashed together, preparatory to being finally secured, as before stated, to the trees"

With regard to the use of scaffolds as places of deposit for the dead, the following theories by Dr. W. Gardner, U. S. A. , are given:

"If we come to inquire why the American aborigines placed the deadbodies of their relatives and friends in trees, or upon scaffoldsresembling trees, instead of burying them in the ground, or burningthem and preserving their ashes in urns, I think we can answer theinquiry by recollecting that most if not all the tribes of AmericanIndians, as well as other nations of a higher civilization, believedthat the human soul, spirit or immortal part, was of the form andnature of a bird, and as these are essentially arboreal in theirhabits, it is quite in keeping to suppose that the _soul-bird_would have readier access to its former home or dwelling-place if itwas placed upon a tree or scaffold than if it was buried in the earth;moreover, from this lofty eyrie the souls of the dead could restsecure from the attacks of wolves or other profane beasts, and guardlike sentinels the homes and hunting-grounds of their loved ones. "

This statement is given because of a corroborative note in thewriter's possession, but he is not prepared to admit it as correctwithout farther investigation. 

PARTIAL SCAFFOLD BURIAL AND OSSUARIES

Under this heading may be placed the burials which consisted in firstdepositing the bodies on scaffolds, where they were allowed to remainfor a variable length of time, after which the bones were cleaned anddeposited either in the earth or in special structures called bywriters "bone-houses. " Roman [Footnote: Hist. Of Florida, 1775, p. 89. ] relates the following concerning the Choctaws:

"The following treatment of the dead is very strange ... As soon asthe deceased is departed, a stage is erected (as in the annexed plateis represented) and the corpse is laid on it and covered with a bearskin; if he be a man of note, it is decorated, and the poles paintedred with vermillion and bear's oil; if a child, it is put upon stakesset across; at this stage the relations come and weep, asking manyquestions of the corpse, such as, why he left them? did not his wifeserve him well? was he not contented with his children? had he notcorn enough? did not his land produce sufficient of everything? was heafraid of his enemies? etc. And this accompanied by loud howlings; thewomen will be there constantly, and sometimes with the corrupted airand heat of the sun faint so as to oblige the bystanders to carry themhome; the men will also come and mourn in the same manner, but in thenight or at other unseasonable times, when they are least likely to bediscovered. 

"The stage is fenced round with poles; it remains thus a certain timebut not a fixed space; this is sometimes extended to three or fourmonths, but seldom more than half that time. A certain set ofvenerable old Gentlemen who wear very long nails as a distinguishingbadge on the thumb, fore and middle finger of each hand, constantlytravel through the nation (when i was there, i was told there were butfive of this respectable order) that one of them may acquaint thoseconcerned, of the expiration of this period, which is according totheir own fancy; the day being come, the friends and relationsassemble near the stage, a fire is made, and the respectable operator, after the body is taken down, with his nails tears the remaining fleshoff the bones, and throws it with the entrails into the fire, where itis consumed; then he scrapes the bones and burns the scrapingslikewise; the head being painted red with vermillion is with the restof the bones put into a neatly made chest (which for a Chief is alsomade red) and deposited in the loft of a hut built for that purpose, and called bone house; each town has one of these; after remaininghere one year or thereabouts, if he be a man of any note, they takethe chest down, and in an assembly of relations and friends they weeponce more over him, refresh the colour of the head, paint the box, andthen deposit him to lasting oblivion. 

"An enemy nor one who commits suicide is buried under the earth as oneto be directly forgotten and unworthy the above ceremonial obsequiesand mourning. "

Jones [Footnote: Antiquities of the Southern Indiana, 1873, p. 105. ]quotes one of the older writers, as follows, regarding the_Natchez_ tribe:

"Among the Natchez the dead were either inhumed or placed in tombs. These tombs were located within or very near their temples. Theyrested upon four forked sticks fixed fast in the ground, and wereraised some three feet above the earth. About eight feet long and afoot and a half wide, they were prepared for the reception of a singlecorpse. After the body was placed upon it, a basket-work of twigs waswoven around and covered with mud, an opening being left at the head, through which food was presented to the deceased. When the flesh hadall rotted away, the bones were taken out, placed in a box made ofcanes, and then deposited in the temple. The common dead were mournedand lamented for a period of three days. Those who fell in battle werehonored with a more protracted and grievous lamentation. "

Bartram [Footnote: Bartram's Travel, 1791, p. 516. ] gives a somewhatdifferent account from Roman of burial among the Choctaws of Carolina:

"The Choctaws pay their last duties and respect to the deceased in avery different manner. As soon as a person is dead, they erect ascaffold 18 or 20 feet high in a grove adjacent to the town, wherethey lay the corps, lightly covered with a mantle; here it is sufferedto remain, visited and protected by the friends and relations, untilthe flesh becomes putrid, so as easily to part from the bones; thenundertakers, who make it their business, carefully strip the fleshfrom the bones, wash and cleanse them, and when dry and purified bythe air, having provided a curiously-wrought chest or coffin, fabricated of bones and splints, they place all the bones therein, which is deposited in the bone-house, a building erected for thatpurpose in every town; and when this house is full a general solemnfuneral takes place; when the nearest kindred or friends of thedeceased, on a day appointed, repair to the bone-house, take up therespective coffins, and, following one another in order of seniority, the nearest relations and connections attending their respectivecorps, and the multitude following after them, all as one family, withunited voice of alternate allelujah and lamentation, slowly proceedingon to the place of general interment, when they place the coffins inorder, forming a pyramid; [Footnote: Some ingenious men whom I haveconversed with have given it as their opinion that all those pyramidalartificial hills, usually called Indian mounds, were raised on thisoccasion, and are generally sepulchres. However, I am of differentopinion. ] and, lastly, cover all over with earth, which raises aconical hill or mount; when they return to town in order of solemnprocession, concluding the day with a festival, which is called thefeast of the dead. "

Morgan [Footnote: League of the Iroquois 1851, p. 171] also alludes tothis mode of burial:

"The body of the deceased was exposed upon a hark scaffolding erectedupon poles or secured upon the limbs of trees, where it was left towaste to a skeleton. After this had been effected by the process ofdecomposition in the open air, the bones were removed either to theformer house of the deceased, or to a small bark-house by its side, prepared for their reception. In this manner the skeletons of thewhole family were preserved from generation to generation by thefilial or parental affection of the living After the lapse of a numberof years, or in a season of public insecurity, or on the eve ofabandoning a settlement, it was customary to collect these skeletonsfrom the whole community around and consign them to a common restingplace. 

"To this custom, which is not confined to the Iroquois, is doubtlessto be ascribed the barrows and bone-mounds which have been found insuch numbers in various parts of the country. On opening these moundsthe skeletons are usually found arranged in horizontal layers, aconical pyramid, those in each layer radiating from a common center. In other cases they are found placed promiscuously. "

D. G. Brinton [Footnote: Myths of the New World, 1868. P. 256. ]likewise gives an account of the interment of collected bones:

"East of the Mississippi nearly every nation was accustomed at statedperiods--usually once in eight or ten years--to collect and clean theosseous remains of those of its number who had died in the interveningtime, and inter them in one common sepulcher, lined with choice furs, and marked with a mound of wood, stone, or earth. Such is the originof those immense tumuli filled with the mortal remains of nations andgenerations, which the antiquary, with irreverent curiosity, sofrequently chances upon in all portions of our territory. ThroughoutCentral America the same usage obtained in various localities, asearly writers and existing monuments abundantly testify. Instead ofinterring the bones, were they those of some distinguished chieftain, they were deposited in the temples or the council-houses, usually insmall chests of canes or splints. Such were the charnel-houses whichthe historians of De Soto's expedition so often mention, and these arethe 'arks' Adair and other authors who have sought to trace thedescent of the Indians from the Jews have likened to that which theancient Israelites bore with them in their migrations. 

"A widow among the Tahkalis was obliged to carry the bones of herdeceased husband wherever she went for four years, preserving them insuch a casket, handsomely decorated with feathers (Rich. Arc. Exp, p. 260). The Caribs of the mainland adopted the custom for all, withoutexception. About a year after death the bones were cleaned, bleached, painted, wrapped in odorous balsams, placed in a wicker basket, andkept suspended from the door of their dwelling (Gumilla Hist. DelOrinoco I. , pp. 199, 202, 204). When the quantity of these heirloomsbecame burdensome they were removed to some inaccessible cavern andstowed away with reverential care. "

George Catlin [Footnote: Hist. N. A. Indians, 1844, I, p. 90. ]describes what he calls the "Golgothas" of the Mandans:

"There are several of these golgothas, or circles of twenty or thirtyfeet in diameter, and in the center of each ring or circle is a littlemound of three feet high, on which uniformly rest two buffalo skulls(a male and female), and in the center of the little mound is erected'a medicine pole, ' of about twenty feet high, supporting many curiousarticles of mystery and superstition, which they suppose have thepower of guarding and protecting this sacred arrangement. 

"Here, then, to this strange place do these people again resort toevince their further affections for the dead, not in groans andlamentations, however, for several years have cured the anguish, butfond affection and endearments are here renewed, and conversations arehere held and cherished with the dead. Each one of these skulls isplaced upon a bunch of wild sage, which has been pulled and placedunder it. The wife knows, by some mark or resemblance, the skull ofher husband or her child which lies in this group, and there seldompasses a day that she does not visit it with a dish of the best-cookedfood that her wigwam affords, which she sets before the skull atnight, and returns for the dish in the morning. As soon as it isdiscovered that the sage on which the skull rests is beginning todecay, the woman cuts a fresh bunch and places the skull carefullyupon it, removing that which was under it. 

"Independent of the above-named duties, which draw the women to thisspot, they visit it from inclination, and linger upon it to holdconverse and company with the dead. There is scarcely an hour in apleasant day but more or less of these women may be seen sitting orlying by the skull of their child or husband, talking to it in themost pleasant and endearing language that they can use (as they werewont to do in former days), and seemingly getting an answer back. "

From these accounts it may be seen that the peculiar customs whichhave been described by the authors cited were not confined to anyspecial tribe or area of country, although they do not appear to haveprevailed among the Indians of the northwest coast, so far as known. 

SUPERTERRENE AND AERIAL BURIAL IN CANOES. 

The next mode of burial to be remarked is that of deposit in canoes, either supported on posts, on the ground, or swung from trees, and iscommon only to the tribes inhabiting the northwest coast. From anumber of examples, the following, relating to the Clallams andfurnished by the Rev. M. Eells, missionary to the Skokomish Agency, Washington Territory, is selected:

"The deceased was a woman about thirty or thirty-five years of age, dead of consumption. She died in the morning, and in the afternoon Iwent to the house to attend the funeral. She had then been placed in aHudson's Bay Company's box for a coffin, which was about 3 1/2 feetlong, 1 3/4 wide, and 1 1/2 high. She was very poor when she died, owing to her disease, or she could not have been put in this box. Afire was burning near by, where a large number of her things had beenconsumed, and the rest were in three boxes near the coffin. Her mothersang the mourning song, sometimes with others, and often saying. 'Mydaughter, my daughter, why did you die?' and similar words. The burialdid not take place until the next day, and I was invited to go. It wasan aerial burial, in a canoe. The canoe was about 25 feet long. Theposts, of old Indian hewed boards, were about a foot wide. Holes werecut in these, in which boards were placed, on which the canoe rested. One thing I noticed while this was done which was new to me, but thesignificance of which I did not learn. As fast as the holes were cutin the posts green leaves were gathered and placed over the holesuntil the posts were put in the ground. The coffin-box and the threeothers containing her things were placed in the canoe and a roof ofboards made over the central part, which was entirely covered withwhite cloth. The head part and the foot part of her bedstead were thennailed on to the posts, which front the water, and a dress nailed oneach of these. After pronouncing the benediction, all left the hilland went to the beach except her father, mother, and brother, whoremained ten or fifteen minutes, pounding on the canoe and mourning. They then came down and made a present to those persons who werethere--a gun to me, a blanket to each of two or three others, and adollar and a half to each of the rest, there being about fifteenpersons present. Three or four of them then made short speeches, andwe came home. 

"The reason why she was buried thus is said to be because she is aprominent woman in the tribe. In about nine months it is expected thatthere will be a '_pot-latch_' or distribution of money near thisplace, and as each tribe shall come they will send a delegation of twoor three men, who will carry a present and leave it at the grave; soonafter that shall be done she will be buried in the ground. Shortlyafter her death both her father and mother cut off their hair as asign of their grief. "

George Gibbs [Footnote: Cont. N. A. Ethnol. 1877, I, p. 200. ] gives amost interesting account of the burial ceremonies of the Indians ofOregon and Washington Territory, which is here reproduced in itsentirety, although it contains examples of other modes of burialbesides that in canoes; but to separate the narrative would destroythe thread of the story:

"The common mode of disposing of the dead among the fishing tribes wasin canoes. These were generally drawn into the woods at some prominentpoint a short distance from the village, and sometimes placed betweenthe forks of trees or raised from the ground on posts. Upon theColumbia River the Tsinuk had in particular two very noted cemeteries, a high isolated bluff about three miles below the mouth of theCowlitz, called Mount Coffin, and one some distance above, calledCoffin Rock. The former would appear not to have been very ancient. Mr. Broughton, one of Vancouver's lieutenants, who explored the river, makes mention only of _several_ canoes at this place; and Lewisand Clarke, who noticed the mount, do not speak of them at all, but atthe time of Captain Wilkes's expedition it is conjectured that therewere at least 3, 000. A fire caused by the carelessness of one of hisparty destroyed the whole, to the great indignation of the Indians. 

"Captain Belcher, of the British ship Sulphur, who visited the riverin 1839, remarks: 'In the year 1836 [1826] the small-pox made greatravages, and it was followed a few years since by the ague. Consequently Corpse Island and Coffin Mount, as well as the adjacentshores, were studded not only with canoes, but at the period of ourvisit the skulls and skeletons were strewed about in all directions. 'This method generally prevailed on the neighboring coasts, as at ShoalWater Bay, etc. Farther up the Columbia, as at the Cascades, adifferent form was adopted, which is thus described by Captain Clarke:

"About half a mile below this house, in a very thick part of thewoods, is an ancient Indian burial-place; it consists of eight vaults, made of pine or cedar boards, closely connected, about eight feetsquare and six in height, the top securely covered with wide boards, sloping a little, so as to convey off the rain. The direction of allthese is east and west, the door being on the eastern side, andpartially stopped with wide boards, decorated with rude pictures ofmen and other animals. On entering we found in some of them four deadbodies, carefully wrapped in skins, tied with cords of grass and bark, lying on a mat in a direction east and west, the other vaultscontained only bones, which in some of them were piled to a height offour feet; on the tops of the vaults and on poles attached to themhung brass kettles and frying-pans with holes in their bottoms, baskets, bowls, sea-shells, skins, pieces of cloth, hair bags oftrinkets, and small bones, the offerings of friendship or affection, which have been saved by a pious veneration from the ferocity of waror the more dangerous temptation of individual gain. The whole of thewalls as well as the door were decorated with strange figures cut andpainted on them, and besides these 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 vault. These images, aswell as those in the houses we have lately seen, do not appear to beat all the objects of adoration in this place; they were most probablyintended as resemblances of those whose decease they indicate; andwhen we observe them in houses they occupy the most conspicuous part, but are treated more like ornaments than objects of worship. Near thevaults which are still standing are the remains of others on theground, completely rotted and covered with moss; and as they areformed of the most durable pine and cedar timber, there is everyappearance that for a very long series of years this retired spot hasbeen the depository for the Indians near this place. "

"Another depository of this kind upon an island in the river a fewmiles above gave it the name of Sepulcher Island. The _Watlala_, a tribe of the Upper Tsinuk, whose burial place is here described, arenow nearly extinct; but a number of the sepulchers still remain indifferent states of preservation. The position of the body, as noticedby Clarke, is, I believe, of universal observance, the head beingalways placed to the west. The reason assigned to me is that the roadto the _me-mel-us-illa-hee_, the country of the dead, is towardthe west, and if they place them otherwise they would be confused. East of the Cascade Mountains the tribes whose habits are equestrian, and who use canoes only for ferriage or transportation purposes, burytheir dead, usually heaping over them piles of stones, either to markthe spot or to prevent the bodies from being exhumed by the prairiewolf. Among the Yakamas we saw many of their graves placed inconspicuous points of the basaltic walls which line the lower valleys, and designated by a clump of poles planted over them, from whichfluttered various articles of dress. Formerly these prairie tribeskilled horses over the graves--a custom now falling into disuse inconsequence of the teachings of the whites. 

"Upon Puget Sound all the forms obtain in different localities. Amongthe Makah of Cape Flattery the graves are covered with a sort of box, rudely constructed of boards, and else where on the Sound the samemethod is adopted in some cases, while in others the bodies are placedon elevated scaffolds. As a general thing, however, the Indians uponthe water placed the dead in canoes, while those at a distance from itburied them. Most of the graves are surrounded with strips of cloth, blankets, and other articles of property. Mr. Cameron, an Englishgentleman residing at Esquimalt Harbor, Vancouver Island, informed methat on his place there were graves having at each corner a largestone, the interior space filled with rubbish. The origin of these wasunknown to the present Indians. 

"The distinctions of rank or wealth in all cases were very marked;persons of no consideration and slaves being buried with very littlecare or respect. Vancouver, whose attention was particularly attractedto their methods of disposing of the dead, mentions that at PortDiscovery he saw baskets suspended to the trees containing theskeletons of young children, and, what is not easily explained, smallsquare boxes, containing, apparently, food. I do not think that any ofthese tribes place articles of food with the dead, nor have I beenable to learn from living Indians that they formerly followed thatpractice. What he took for such I do not understand. He also mentionsseeing in the same place a cleared space recently burned over, inwhich the skulls and bones of a number lay among the ashes. Thepractice of burning the dead exists in parts of California and amongthe Tshimsyan of Fort Simpson. It is also pursued by the "Carriers" ofNew California, but no intermediate tribes, to my knowledge, followit. Certainly those of the Sound do not at present. 

"It is clear from Vancouver's narrative that some great epidemic hadrecently passed through the country, as manifested by the quantity ofhuman remains uncared for and exposed at the time of his visit, andvery probably the Indians, being afraid, had burned a house, in whichthe inhabitants had perished with the dead in it. This is frequentlydone. They almost invariably remove from an place where sickness hasprevailed, generally destroying the house also. 

"At Penn Cove Mr. Whidbey, one of Vancouver's officers, noticedseveral sepulchers formed exactly like a sentry-box. Some of them wereopen, and contained the skeletons, of many young children tied up inbaskets. The smaller bones of adults were likewise noticed, but notone of the limb bones was found; which gave rise to an opinion thatthese, by the living inhabitants of the neighborhood, wereappropriated to useful purposes, such as pointing their arrows, spears, or other weapons. 

"It is hardly necessary to say that such a practice is altogetherforeign to Indian character. The bones of the adults had probably beenremoved and buried elsewhere. The corpses of children are variouslydisposed of; sometimes by suspending them, at others by placing in thehollows of trees, A cemetery devoted to infants is, however, anunusual occurrence. In cases of chiefs or men of note much pomp wasused in the accompaniments of the rite. The canoes were of great sizeand value--the war or state canoes of the deceased. Frequently one wasinverted over that holding the body, and in one instance, nearShoalwater Bay, the corpse was deposited in a small canoe, which againwas placed in a larger one and covered with a third. Among the_Tsinuk_ and _Tsihalis_ the _tamahno-us_ board of the owner wasplaced near him. The Puget Sound Indians do not make these_tamahno-us_ hoards, but they sometimes constructed effigies oftheir chiefs, resembling the person as nearly as possible, dressed inhis usual costume, and wearing the articles of which he was fond. Oneof these, representing the Skagit chief Sneestum, stood veryconspicuously upon a high bank on the eastern side of Whidbey IslandThe figures observed by Captain Clarke at the Cascades were either ofthis description or else the carved, posts which had ornamented theinterior of the houses of the deceased, and were connected with thesuperstition of the _tamahno-us_. The most valuable articles ofproperty were put into or hung up around the grave, being firstcarefully rendered unserviceable, and the living family were literallystripped to do honor to the dead. No little self-denial must have beenpracticed in parting with articles so precious, but those interestedfrequently had the least to say on the subject. The graves of womenwere distinguished by a cup, a Kamas stick, or other implement oftheir occupation, and by articles of dress. 

"Slaves were killed in proportion to the rank and wealth of thedeceased. In some instances they were starved to death, or even tiedto the dead body and left to perish thus horribly. At present thispractice has been almost entirely given up, but till within a very fewyears it was not uncommon. A case which occurred in 1850 has beenalready mentioned. Still later, in 1853, Toke, a Tsinuk chief livingat Shoalwater Bay, undertook to kill a slave girl belonging to hisdaughter, who, in dying, had requested that this might be done. Thewoman fled, and was found by some citizens in the woods half starved. Her master attempted to reclaim her, but was soundly thrashed andwarned against another attempt. 

"It was usual in the case of chiefs to renew or repair for aconsiderable length of time the materials and ornaments of the burial-place. With the common class of persons family pride or domesticaffection was satisfied with the gathering together of the bones afterthe flesh had decayed and wrapping them in a new mat. The violation ofthe grave was always regarded as an offense of the first magnitude andprovoked severe revenge. Captain Belcher remarks, 'Great secrecy isobserved in all their burial ceremonies, partly from fear ofEuropeans, and as among themselves they will instantly punish by deathany violation of the tomb or wage war if perpetrated by another tribe, so they are inveterate and tenaceously bent on revenge should theydiscover that any act of the kind has been perpetrated by a white man. It is on record that part of the crew of a vessel on her return tothis port (the Columbia) suffered because a person who belonged to her(but not then in her) was known to have taken a skull, which, from theprocess of flattening, had become an object of curiosity. ' He adds, however, that at the period of his visit to the river 'the skulls andskeletons were scattered about in all directions; and as I was on mostof their positions unnoticed by the natives, I suspect the feelingdoes not extend much beyond their relatives, and then only till decayhas destroyed body, goods, and chattels. The chiefs, no doubt, arewatched, as their canoes are repainted, decorated, and greater caretaken by placing them in sequestered spots. '

"The motive for sacrificing or destroying property on occasion ofdeath will be referred to in treating of their religious ideas. Wailing for the dead is continued for a long time, and seems to berather a ceremonial performance than an act of spontaneous grief. Theduty, of course, belongs to the woman, and the early morning isusually chosen for the purpose. They go out alone to some place alittle distant from the lodge or camp, and in a loud, sobbing voicerepeat a sort of stereotyped formula, as, for instance, a mother, onthe loss of her child, _'Ah seahb shed-da bud-dah ah ta bud! ad-de-dah, _ Ah chief!' 'My child dead, alas!' When in dreams they see anyof their deceased friends this lamentation is renewed. "

With most of the Northwest Indians it was quite common, as mentionedby Mr. Gibbs, to kill or bury with the dead a living slave, who, failing to die within three days was strangled by another slave, butthe custom has also prevailed among other tribes and peoples, in manycases the individuals offering themselves as voluntary sacrifices. Bancroft states "that in Panama, Nata, and some other districts, whena cacique died those of his concubines that loved him enough, thosethat he loved ardently and so appointed, as well as certain servants, killed themselves and were interred with him. This they did in orderthat they might wait upon him in the land of spirits. " It is wellknown to all readers of history to what an extreme this revoltingpractice has prevailed in Mexico, South America, and Africa. 

AQUATIC BURIAL

As a confirmed rite or ceremony, this mode of disposing of the deadhas never been followed by any of our North American Indians, althoughoccasionally the dead have been disposed of by sinking in springs orwatercourses, by throwing into the sea, or by setting afloat incanoes. Among the nations of antiquity the practice was not uncommon, for we are informed that the Ichtliyophagi, or fish-eaters, mentionedby Ptolemy, living in a region bordering on the Persian Gulf, invariably committed their dead to the sea, thus repaying theobligations they had incurred to its inhabitants. The Lotophagians didthe same, and the Hyperboreans, with a commendable degree offorethought for the survivors, when ill or about to die, threwthemselves into the sea. The burial of Baldor "the beautiful, " it maybe remembered, was in a highly decorated ship, which was pushed downto the sea, set on fire, and committed to the waves. The Itzas ofGuatemala, living on the islands of Lake Peter, according to Bancroft, are said to have thrown their dead into the lake for want of room. TheIndiana of Nootka Sound and the Chinooks were in the habit of thusgetting rid of their dead slaves, and, according to Timberlake, theCherokees of Tennessee "seldom bury the dead, but threw them into theriver. "

After a careful search for well-authenticated instances of burial, aquatic and semi-aquatic, but two have been found, which are heregiven. The first relates to the Gosh-Utes, and is by Capt J. H. Simpson: [Footnote: Exploration Great Salt Lake Valley, Utah, 1859, p. 48. ]

"Skull Valley, which is a part of the Great Salt Lake Desert, andwhich we have crossed to-day, Mr. George W. Bean, my guide over thisroute last fall, says derives its name from the number of skulls whichhave been found in it, and which have arisen from the custom of theGoshute Indians burying their dead in springs, which they sink withstones or keep down with sticks. He says he has actually seen theIndians bury their dead in this way near the town of Provo, where heresides. "

As corroboration of this statement, Captain Simpson mentions inanother part of the volume that, arriving at a spring one evening, they were obliged to dig out the skeleton of an Indian from the mud atthe bottom before using the water. 

This peculiar mode of burial is entirely unique, so far as known, andbut from the well-known probity of the relator might well bequestioned, especially when it is remembered that in the countryspoken of water is quite scarce and Indians are careful not to pollutethe streams or springs near which they live. Conjecture seems uselessto establish a reason for this disposition of the dead. 

The second example is by Catlin [Footnote: Hist. North AmericanIndians, 1844, II, p. 141] and relates to the Chinook. 

"... This little cradle has a strap which passes over the woman'sforehead whilst the cradle rides on her back, and if the child diesduring its subjection to this rigid mode its cradle becomes itscoffin, forming a little canoe, in which it lie floating on the waterin some sacred pool, where they are often in the habit of fasteningtheir canoes containing the dead bodies of the old and young, or, which is often the case, elevated into the branches of trees, wheretheir bodies are left to decay and their bones to dry whilst they arebandaged in man skins and ominously packed in their canoes, withpaddles to propel and ladles to bail them out, and provisions to lastand pipes to smoke as they are performing their 'long journey afterdeath to their contemplated hunting grounds, ' which these people thinkis to be performed in their canoes. "

LIVING SEPULCHERS

This is a term quaintly used by the learned M Pierre Muret to expressthe devouring of the dead by birds and animals or the survivingfriends and relatives. Exposure of the dead to animals and birds hasalready been mentioned, but in the absence of any positive proof it isnot believed that the North American Indians followed the custom, although cannibalism may have prevailed to a limited extent. It istrue that a few accounts are given by authors, but these areconsidered to be so apochryphal in character that for the present itis deemed prudential to omit them. That such a means of disposing ofthe dead was not in practice is somewhat remarkable when we take intoconsideration how many analogies have been found in comparing old andnew world funeral observances, and the statements made by Bruhier, Lafitau, Muret, and others, who give a number of examples of thispeculiar mode of burial. 

For instance, the Tartars sometimes ate their dead, and theMassageties, Derbices, and Effedens did the same, having previouslystrangled the aged and mixed their flesh with mutton. Horace andTertulian both affirm that the Irish and ancient Britons devoured thedead, and Lafitau remarks that certain Indians of South America didthe same, esteeming this mode of disposal more honorable and much tobe preferred than to rot and be eaten by worms. To the credit of oursavages, this barbarous and revolting practice is not believed to havebeen practiced by them. 

MOURNING, FEASTS, FOOD, DANCES, SONGS, GAMES, POSTS, FIRES, ANDSUPERSTITIONS IN CONNECTION WITH BURIAL. 

The above subjects are coincidental with burial, and some of them, particularly mourning, have been more or less treated of in thispaper, yet it may be of advantage to here give a few of the collectedexamples, under separate heads. 

MOURNING. 

One of the most carefully described scenes of mourning at the death ofa chief of the Crows is related in the life of Beckwourth, [Footnote:Autobiography of James Beckwourth, 1856, p. 260. ] who for many yearslived among this people, finally attaining great distinction as awarrior. 

"I dispatched a herald to the village to inform them of the headchief's death, and then, burying him according to his directions, weslowly proceeded homewards. My very soul sickened at the contemplationof the scenes that would be enacted at my arrival. When we drew insight of the village, we found every lodge laid prostrate. We enteredamid shrieks, cries, and yells. Blood was streaming from everyconceivable part of the bodies of all who were old enough tocomprehend their loss. Hundreds of fingers were dismembered; hair tornfrom the head lay in profusion about the paths, wails and moans inevery direction assailed the ear, where unrestrained joy had a fewhours before prevailed. This fearful mourning lasted until evening ofthe next day.... 

"A herald having been dispatched to our other villages to acquaint themwith the death of our head chief and request them to assemble at theRose Bud in order to meet our village and devote themselves to ageneral time of mourning there met in conformity with this summonsover ten thousand Crows at the place indicated. Such a scene ofdisorderly vociferous mourning no imagination can conceive nor any penportray. Long Hair cut off a large roll of his hair, a thing he wasnever known to do before. The cutting and hacking of human fleshexceeded all my previous experience; fingers were dismembered asreadily as twigs, and blood was poured out like water. Many of thewarriors would cut two gashes nearly the entire length of their arm, then separating the skin from the flesh at one end, would grasp it intheir other hand and rip it asunder to the shoulder. Others wouldcarve various devices upon their breasts and shoulders and raise theskin in the same manner to make the scars show to advantage after thewound was healed. Some of their mutilations were ghastly and my heartsickened to look at them, but they would not appear to receive anypain from them. "

From I. L. Mahan, United States Indian Agent for the Chippewas of LakeSuperior, Red Cliff, Wisconsin, the following detailed account ofmourning has been received. 

There is probably no people that exhibit more sorrow and grief fortheir dead than they. The young widow mourns the loss of her husband;by day as by night she is heard silently sobbing; she is a constantvisitor to the place of rest; with the greatest reluctance will shefollow the raised camp. The friends and relatives of the young mournerwill incessantly devise methods to distract her mind from the thoughtof her lost husband. She refuses nourishment but as nature isexhausted she is prevailed upon to partake of food; the supply isscant, but on every occasion the best and largest proportion isdeposited upon the grave of her husband. In the mean time the femalerelatives of the deceased have according to custom submitted to hercharge a parcel made up of different cloths ornamented with bead-workand eagles' feathers which she is charged to keep by her side--theplace made vacant by the demise of her husband--a reminder of herwidowhood. She is therefore for a term of twelve moons not permittedto wear any finery, neither is she permitted to slicken up and combher head; this to avoid attracting attention. Once in a while a femalerelative of deceased, commiserating with her grief and sorrow, willvisit her and voluntarily proceed to comb out the long-neglected andmatted hair. With a jealous eye a vigilant watch is kept over herconduct during the term of her widowhood, yet she is allowed theprivilege to marry, any time during her widowhood, an unmarriedbrother or cousin, or a person of the same _Dodem_ [_sic_](family mark) of her husband. 

"At the expiration of her term, the vows having been faithfullyperformed and kept, the female relatives of deceased assemble and, with greetings commensurate to the occasion, proceed to wash her face, comb her hair, and attire her person with new apparel, and otherwisedemonstrating the release from her vow and restraint. Still she hasnot her entire freedom. If she will still refuse to marry a relativeof the deceased and will marry another, she then has to purchase herfreedom by giving a certain amount of goods and whatever else shemight have manufactured during her widowhood in anticipation of thefuture now at hand. Frequently, though, during widowhood the vows aredisregarded and an inclination to flirt and play courtship or form analliance of marriage outside of the relatives of the deceased is beingindulged, and when discovered the widow is set upon by the femalerelatives, her slick braided hair is shorn close up to the back of herneck, all her apparel and trinkets are torn from her person, and aquarrel frequently results fatally to some member of one or the otherside. "

The substitution of a reminder for the dead husband, made from rags, furs, and other articles, is not confined alone to the Chippewas, other tribes having the same custom. In some instances the widows areobliged to carry around with them, for a variable period, a bundlecontaining the bones of the deceased consort. 

Benson [Footnote: Life among the Choctaws, 1860, p. 294. ] gives thefollowing account of their funeral ceremonies, embracing thedisposition of the body, mourning feast and dance:

"Their funeral is styled by them 'the last cry. '

"When the husband dies the friends assemble, prepare the grave, andplace the corpse in it, but do not fill it up. The gun, bow andarrows, hatchet and knife are deposited in the grave. Poles areplanted at the head and the foot, upon which flags are placed; thegrave is then enclosed by pickets driven in the ground. The funeralceremonies now begin, the widow being the chief mourner. At night andmorning she will go to the grave and pour forth the most piteous criesand wailings. It is not important that any other member of the familyshould take any very active part in the 'cry, ' though they doparticipate to some extent. 

"The widow wholly neglects her toilet, while she daily goes to thegrave during one entire _moon_ from the date when the deathoccurred. On the evening of the last day of the moon the friends allassemble at the cabin of the disconsolate widow, bringing provisionsfor a sumptuous feast, which consists of corn and jerked beef boiledtogether in a kettle. While the supper is preparing, the bereaved wifegoes to the grave, and pours out, with unusual vehemence, her bitterwailings and lamentations. When the food is thoroughly cooked thekettle is taken from the fire and placed in the center of the cabin, and the friends gather around it, passing the buffalo-horn spoon fromhand to hand and from mouth to mouth till all have been bountifullysupplied. While supper is being served, two of the oldest men of thecompany quietly withdraw and go to the grave and fill it up, takingdown the flags. All then join in a dance, which not unfrequently iscontinued till morning; the widow does not fail to unite in the dance, and to contribute her part to the festivities of the occasion. This isthe '_last cry, _' the days of mourning are ended, and the widowis now ready to form another matrimonial alliance. The ceremonies areprecisely the same when a man has lost his wife, and they are onlyslightly varied when any other member of the family has died. (Slaveswere buried without ceremonies. )"

FEASTS

In Beltrami [Footnote: Pilgrimage, 1828, ii, p. 443. ] an account isgiven of the funeral ceremonies of one of the tribes of the west, including a description of the feast which took place before the bodywas consigned to its final resting place:

"I was a spectator of the funeral ceremony performed in honor of themanes of _Cloudy Weather's_ son-in-law, whose body had remainedwith the Sioux, and was suspected to have furnished one of theirrepasts. What appeared not a little singular and indeed ludicrous inthis funeral comedy was the contrast exhibited by the terrificlamentations and yells of one part of the company while the otherswere singing and dancing with all their might. 

"At another funeral ceremony for a member of the _GrandMedicine, _ and at which as _a man of another world_ I waspermitted to attend, the same practice occurred. But at the feastwhich took place on that occasion an allowance was served up for thedeceased out of every article of which it consisted, while others werebeating, wounding, and torturing themselves, and letting their bloodflow both over the dead man and his provisions, thinking possibly thatthis was the most palatable seasoning for the latter which they couldpossibly supply. His wife furnished out an entertainment present forhim of all her hair and rags, with which, together with his arms, hisprovisions, his ornaments, and his mystic medicine bag, he was wrappedup in the skin which had been his last covering when alive. He wasthen tied round with the bark of some particular trees which they usefor making cords, and bonds of a very firm texture and hold (the onlyones indeed which they have), and instead of being buried in the earthwas hung up to a large oak. The reason of this was that, as hisfavorite Manitou was the eagle, his spirit would be enabled moreeasily from such a situation to fly with him to Paradise. "

Hind [Footnote: Canadian Red River Exploring Expedition, 1860, ii, p. 164. ] mentions an account of a burial feast by De Brebeuf whichoccurred among the Hurons of New York:

"The Jesuit missionary, P. De Brebeuf, who assisted at one of the'feasts of the dead' at the village of Ossosane, before the dispersionof the Hurons, relates that the ceremony took place in the presence of2, 000 Indians, who offered 1, 200 presents at the common tomb, intestimony of their grief. The people belonging to five large villagesdeposited the bones of their dead in a gigantic shroud, composed offorty-eight robes, each robe being made of ten beaver skins. Afterbeing carefully wrapped in this shroud, they were placed between mossand bark. A wall of stones was built around this vast ossuary topreserve it from profanation. Before covering the bones with earth afew grains of Indian corn were thrown by the women upon the sacredrelics. According to the superstitious belief of the Hurons the soulsof the dead remain near the bodies until the 'feast of the dead';after which ceremony they become free, and can at once depart for theland of spirits, which they believe to be situated in the regions ofthe setting sun. "

SUPERSTITION REGARDING BURIAL FEASTS. 

The following account is by Dr. S G. Wright, acting physician to theLeech Lake Agency, Minnesota:

"Pagan Indians, or those who have not become Christians, still adhereto the ancient practice of feasting at the grave of departed friends;the object is to feast with the departed; that is, they believe thatwhile they partake of the visible material the departed spiritpartakes at the same time of the spirit that dwells in the food. Fromancient time it was customary to bury with the dead various articles, such especially as were most valued in lifetime. The idea was thatthere was a spirit dwelling in the article represented by the materialarticle; thus the war-club contained a spiritual war-club, the pipe aspiritual pipe, which could be used by the departed in another world. These several spiritual implements were supposed, of course, toaccompany the soul, to be used also on the way to its final abode. This habit has now ceased.... "

FOOD. 

This subject has been sufficiently mentioned elsewhere in connectionwith other matters and does not need to be now repeated. It has beenan almost universal custom throughout the whole extent of the countryto place food in or near the grave of deceased persons. 

DANCES. 

Gymnastic exercises, dignified with this name, upon the occasion of adeath or funeral, were common to many tribes. It is thus described byMorgan: [Footnote: League of the Iroquois, 1851, p. 297. ]

"An occasional and very singular figure was called the 'dance for thedead' It was known as the O-he-wa. It was danced by the women alone. The music was entirely vocal, a select band of singers being stationedin the center of the room. To the songs for the dead which they sangthe dancers joined in chorus. It was plaintive and mournful music. This dance was usually separate from all councils and the only danceof the occasion. It commenced at dusk or soon after and continueduntil towards morning, when the shades of the dead who were believedto be present and participate in the dance were supposed to disappear. This dance was had whenever a family which had lost a member calledfor it, which was usually a year after the event. In the spring andfall it was often given for all the dead indiscriminately, who werebelieved then to revisit the earth and join in the dance. "

The interesting account which now follows is by Stephen Powers, [Footnote: Cont. To North American Ethnol. , 1878, iv, p. 164. ] andrelates to the Yo-kai-a of California, containing other matters ofimportance pertaining to burial. 

"I paid a visit to their camp four miles below Ukiah, and findingthere a unique kind of assembly-house, desired to enter and examineit, but was not allowed to do so until I had gained the confidence ofthe old sexton by a few friendly words and the tender of a silver halfdollar. The pit of it was about 50 feet in diameter and 4 or 5 feetdeep, and it was so heavily roofed with earth that the interior wasdamp and somber as a tomb. It looked like a low tumulus, and wasprovided with a tunnel-like entrance about 10 feet long and 4 feethigh, and leading down to a level with the floor of the pit. The mouthof the tunnel was closed with brush, and the venerable sexton wouldnot remove it until he had slowly and devoutly paced several times toand fro before the entrance. 

"Passing in I found the massive roof supported by a number of peeledpoles painted white and ringed with black and ornamented with rudedevices. The floor was covered thick and green with sprouting wheat, which had been scattered to feed the spirit of the captain of thetribe, lately deceased. Not long afterward a deputation of the Senelcame up to condole with the Yo-kai-a on the loss of their chief, and adance or series of dances was held which lasted three days. Duringthis time of course the Senel were the guests of the Yo-kai-a, and thelatter were subjected to a considerable expense. I was prevented byother engagements from being present, and shall be obliged to dependon the description of an eye-witness, Mr. John Tenney, whose accountis here given with a few changes. 

"There are four officials connected with the building, who areprobably chosen to preserve order and to allow no intruders. They arethe assistants of the chief. The invitation to attend was from one ofthem, and admission was given by the same. These four wore black veststrimmed with red flannel and shell ornaments. The chief made nospecial display on the occasion. In addition to these four, who wereofficers of the assembly-chamber, there was an old man and a youngwoman, who seemed to be priest and priestess. The young woman wasdressed differently from any other, the rest dressing in plain calicodresses. Her dress was white covered with spots of red flannel, cut inneat figures, ornamented with shells. It looked gorgeous and denotedsome office, the name of which I could not ascertain. Before thevisitors were ready to enter, the older men of the tribe werereclining around the fire smoking and chatting. As the ceremonies wereabout to commence, the old man and young woman were summoned, and, standing at the end opposite the entrance, they inaugurated theexercises by a brief service, which seemed to be a dedication of thehouse to the exercises about to commence. Each of them spoke a fewwords, joined in a brief chant, and the house was thrown open fortheir visitors. They staid at their post until the visitors enteredand were seated on one side of the room. After the visitors thenothers were seated, making about 200 in all, though there was plentyof room in the center for the dancing. 

"Before the dance commenced the chief of the visiting tribe made abrief speech, in which he no doubt referred to the death of the chiefof the Yo-kai-a, and offered the sympathy of his tribe in this loss. As he spoke, some of the women scarcely refrained from crying out, andwith difficulty they suppressed their sobs. I presume that he proposeda few moments of mourning, for when he stopped the whole assemblageburst forth into a bitter wailing, some screaming as if in agony. Thewhole thing created such a din that I was compelled to stop my ears. The air was rent and pierced with their cries. This wailing andshedding of tears lasted about three or five minutes, though it seemedto last a half hour. At a given signal they ceased, wiped their eyes, and quieted down. 

"Then preparations were made for the dance. One end of the room wasset aside for the dressing-room. The chief actors were five men, whowere muscular and agile. They were profusely decorated with paint andfeathers, while white and dark stripes covered their bodies. They weregirt about the middle with cloth of bright colors, sometimes withvariegated shawls. A feather mantle hung from the shoulder, reachingbelow the knee; strings of shells ornamented the neck, while theirheads were covered with a crown of eagle feathers. They had whistlesin their mouths as they danced, swaying their heads, bending andwhirling their bodies; every muscle seemed to be exercised, and thefeather ornaments quivered with light. They were agile and graceful asthey bounded about in the sinuous course of the dance. 

"The five men were assisted by a semicircle of twenty women, who onlymarked time by stepping up and down with short step; they always tooktheir places first and disappeared first, the men making their exitgracefully one by one. The dresses of the women were suitable for theoccasion. They were white dresses trimmed heavily with black velvet. Thestripes were about three inches wide, some plain and others edged likesaw-teeth. This was an indication of their mourning for the dead chiefin whose honor they had prepared that style of dancing. Strings ofhaliotis and pachydesma shell beads encircled their necks, and aroundtheir waists were belts heavily loaded with the same material. Theirhead-dresses were more showy than those of the men. The head wasencircled with a bandeau of otters' or beavers' fur, to which wereattached short wires standing out in all directions, with glass or shellbeads strung on them, and at the tips little feather flags and quailplumes. Surmounting all was a pyramidal plume of feathers, black, gray, and scarlet, the top generally being a bright scarlet bunch, waving andtossing very beautifully. All these combined gave their heads a verybrilliant and spangled appearance. 

"The first day the dance was slow and funereal, in honor of the Yo-kai-a chief who died a short time before. The music was mournful andsimple being a monotonous chant in which only two tones were used, accompanied with a rattling of split sticks and stamping on a hollowslab. The second day the dance was more lively on the part of the men, the music was better, employing airs which had a greater range of tuneand the women generally joined in the chorus. The dress of the womenwas not so beautiful as they appeared in ordinary calico. The thirdday if observed in accordance with Indian custom the dancing was stillmore lively and the proceedings more gay just as the coming home froma Christian funeral is apt to be much more jolly than the going out. "

A Yo-kai-a widow's style of mourning is peculiar. In addition to theusual evidences of grief she mingles the ashes of her dead husbandwith pitch making a white tar or unguent, with which she smears a bandabout two inches wide all around the edge of the hair (which ispreviously cut off close to the head) so that at a little distance sheappears to be wearing a white chaplet. 

It is their custom to feed the spirits of the dead for the space ofone year by going daily to places which they were accustomed tofrequent while living, where they sprinkle pinole upon the ground. AYo-kai-a mother who has lost her babe goes every day for a year tosome place where her little one played when alive or to the spot wherethe body was burned and milks her breasts into the air. This isaccompanied by plaintive mourning and weeping and piteous calling uponher little one to return and sometimes she sings a hoarse andmelancholy chant and dances with a wild ecstatic swaying of her body. 

SONGS. 

It has nearly always been customary to sing songs at not only funeralsbut for varying periods of time afterwards although these chants mayno doubt occasionally have been simply wailing or mournfulejaculation. A writer [Footnote: Am. Antiq. , April-May-June 1879, p. 251. ] mentions it as follows:

"At almost all funerals there is an irregular crying kind of singingwith no accompaniments, but generally all do not sing the same melodyat the same time in unison. Several may sing the same song and at thesame time, but each begins and finishes when he or she may wish. Oftenfor weeks, or even months, after the decease of a dear friend, aliving one, usually a woman, will sit by her house and sing or cry bythe hour; and they also sing for a short time when they visit thegrave or meet an esteemed friend whom they have not seen since thedecease. At the funeral both men and women sing. No. 11 I have heardmore frequently some time after the funeral, and No. 12 at the time ofthe funeral, by the Twanas (For song see p. 251. ) The words are simplyan exclamation of grief, as our word 'alas'; but they also have otherwords which they use, and sometimes they use merely the syllable_la_. Often the notes are sung in this order, and sometimes not, but in some order the notes _do_ and _la, _ and occasionally_mi, _ are sung. "

GAMES. 

It is not proposed to describe under this heading examples of thoseathletic and gymnastic performances following the death of a personwhich have been described by Lafitau, but simply to call attention toa practice as a secondary or adjunct part of the funeral rites, whichconsists in gambling for the possession of the property of thedefunct. Dr. Charles E. McChesney, U. S. A. , who for some time wasstationed among the Wahpeton and Sisseton Sioux, furnishes a detailedand interesting account of what is called the "ghost gamble. " This isplayed with marked wild-plum stones. So far as ascertained it ispeculiar to the Sioux. 

"After the death of a wealthy Indian the near relatives take charge ofthe effects, and at a stated time--usually at the time of the firstfeast held over the bundle containing the lock of hair--they aredivided into many small piles, so as to give all the Indians invitedto play an opportunity to win something. One Indian is selected torepresent the ghost, and he plays against all the others, who are notrequired to stake anything on the result, but simply invited to takepart in the ceremony, which is usually held in the lodge of the deadperson, in which is contained the bundle inclosing the lock of hair. In cases where the ghost himself is not wealthy the stakes arefurnished by his rich friends, should he have any. The players arecalled in one at a time, and play singly against the ghost'srepresentative, the gambling being done in recent years by means ofcards. If the invited player succeeds in beating the ghost he takesone of the piles of goods and passes out when another is invited toplay, etc. , until all the piles of goods are won. In cases of men onlythe men play and in cases of women the women only take part in theceremony. "

Before the white men came among these Indians and taught them many ofhis improved vices this game was played by means of figured plumseeds, the men using eight and the women seven seeds figured asfollows:

"Two seeds are simply blackened on one side the reverse containingnothing. Two seeds are black on one side with a small spot of thecolor of the seed left in the center, the reverse side having a blackspot in the center, the body being plain. Two seeds have a buffalo'shead on one side and the reverse simply two crossed black lines. Thereis but one seed of this kind in the set used by the women. Two seedshave half of one side blackened and the rest left plain so as torepresent a half moon, the reverse has a black longitudinal linecrossed at right angles by six small ones. There are six throwswhereby the player can win and five that entitle him to another throw. The winning throws are as follows, each winner taking a pile of theghost's goods:

"Two plain ones up, two plain with black spots up, Buffalo's head up, and two half moons up wins a pile. Two plain black ones up, two blackwith natural spot up, two longitudinally crossed ones up, and thetransversely crossed one up wins a pile. Two plain black ones up, twoblack with natural spots up, two half moons up, and the transverselycrossed one up wins a pile. Two plain black ones, two black withnatural spot up, two half moons up, and the buffalo's head up wins apile. Two plain ones up, two with black spots up, two longitudinallycrossed ones up, and the transversely crossed one up wins a pile. Twoplain ones up, two with black spots up, buffalo's head up, and twolong crossed up wins a pile. The following throws entitle to anotherchance to win: two plain ones up, two with black spots up, one halfmoon up, one longitudinally crossed one up, and Buffalo's head upgives another throw, and on this throw if the two plain ones up andtwo with black spots with either of the half moons or Buffalo's headup, the player takes a pile. Two plain ones up, two with black spotsup, two half moons up, and the transversely crossed one up entitles toanother throw, when, if all of the black sides come up excepting one, the throw wins. One of the plain ones up and all the rest with blacksides up gives another throw, and the same then turning up wins. Oneof the plain black ones up with that side up of all the others havingthe least black on gives another throw, when the same turning up againwins. One half moon up with that side up of all the others having theleast black on gives another throw, and if the throw is thenduplicated it wins. The eighth seed, used by the men has its place intheir game whenever its facings are mentioned above. I transmit withthis paper a set of these figured seeds, which can be used toillustrate the game if desired. These seeds are said to be nearly ahundred years old, and sets of them are now very rare. "

For assisting in obtaining this account Dr. McChesney acknowledges hisindebtedness to Dr C. C. Miller, physician to the Sisseton IndianAgency. 

POSTS. 

These are placed at the head or foot of the grave, or both, and havepainted or carved on them a history of the deceased or his family, certain totemic characters, or, according to Schoolcraft, not theachievements of the dead, but of those warriors who assisted anddanced at the interment. The northwest tribes and others frequentlyplant poles near the graves, suspending therefrom bits of rag flags, horses tails, etc. The custom among the present Indians does not existto any extent. Beltrami [Footnote: Pilgrimage, 1828, ii, p. 308. ]speaks of it as follows. 

"Here I saw a most singular union. One of these graves was surmountedby a cross, whilst upon another close to it a trunk of a tree wasraised, covered with hieroglyphics recording the number of enemiesslain by the tenant of the tomb and several of his tutelary Manitous. "

FIRES. 

It is extremely difficult to determine why the custom of buildingfires on or near graves originated, some authors stating that the soulthereby underwent a certain process of purification, others thatdemons were driven away by them, and again that they were to affordlight to the wandering soul setting out for the spirit land. Onewriter states that "the Algonkins believed that the fire lightednightly on the grave was to light the spirit on its journey. By acoincidence to be explained by the universal sacredness of the number, both Algonkins and Mexicans maintained it for _four_ nightsconsecutively. The former related the tradition that one of theirancestors returned from the spirit land and informed their nation thatthe journey thither consumed just four days, and that collecting fuelevery night added much to the toil and fatigue the soul encountered, all of which could be spared it". So it would appear that the beliefexisted that the fire was also intended to assist the spirit inpreparing its repast. "Stephen Powers [Footnote: Cont. To N. A. Ethnol. , 1877, ii, p. 58] gives a tradition current among the Yurok ofCalifornia as to the use of fires. 

"After death they keep a fire burning certain nights in the vicinityof the grave. They hold and believe, at least the 'Big Indians' do, that the spirits of the departed are compelled to cross an extremelyattenuated greasy pole, which bridges over the chasm of the debatableland, and that they require the fire to light them on their darksomejourney. A righteous soul traverses the pole quicker than a wickedone, hence they regulate the number of nights for burning a lightaccording to the character for goodness or the opposite which thedeceased possessed in this world. " Dr. Emil Bessels, of the Polarisexpedition, informs the writer that a somewhat similar belief obtainsamong the Esquimaux. 

SUPERSTITIONS. 

An entire volume might well be written which should embrace only anaccount of the superstitions regarding death and burial among theIndians, so thoroughly has the matter been examined and discussed byvarious authors, and yet so much still remains to be commented on, butin this work, which is simply preliminary, and is hoped will beprovocative of future efforts, it is deemed sufficient to give only afew accounts. The first is by Dr. W. Mathews, U. S. A. , [Footnote:Ethnol. And Philol. Of the Hidatsa Indians. U. S. Geol. Surv. Of Terr. , 1877, p. 409] and relates to the Hidatsa:

"When a Hidatsa dies his shade lingers four nights around the camp orvillage in which he died, and then goes to the lodge of his departedkindred in the 'village of the dead. ' When he has arrived there he isrewarded for his valor, self-denial, and ambition on earth byreceiving the same regard in the one place as in the other, for thereas here the brave man is honored and the coward despised. Some saythat the ghosts of those that commit suicide occupy a separate part ofthe village, but that their condition differs in no wise from that ofthe others. In the next world human shades hunt and live in the shadesof buffalo and other animals that have here died. There, too, thereare four seasons, but they come in an inverse order to the terrestrialseasons. During the four nights that the ghost is supposed to lingernear his former dwelling, those who disliked or feared the deceased, and do not wish a visit from the shade, scorch with red coals a pairof moccasins which they leave at the door of the lodge. The smell ofthe burning leather they claim keeps the ghost out; but the truefriends of the dead man take no such precautions. "

From this account it will be seen that the Hidatsa as well as theAlgonkins and Mexicans believed that four days were required beforethe spirit could finally leave the earth. Why the smell of burningleather should he offensive to spirits it would perhaps be fruitlessto speculate on. 

The next account, by Keating, [Footnote: Long's Exped. , 1824, ii, p. L58. ] relating to the Chippewas, shows a slight analogy regarding theslippery-pole tradition already alluded to:

"The Chippewas believe that there is in man an essence entirelydistinct from the body; they call it _Ochechag, _ and appear tosupply to it the qualities which we refer to the soul. They believethat it quits the body at the time of death and repairs to what theyterm _Chekechekchekawe;_ this region is supposed to be situatedto the south and on the shores of the great ocean. Previous toarriving there they meet with a stream which they are obliged to crossupon a large snake that answers the purpose of a bridge; those who diefrom drowning never succeed in crossing the stream; they are throwninto it and remain there forever. Some souls come to the edge of thestream but are prevented from passing by the snake that threatens todevour them: these are the souls of the persons in a lethargy ortrance. Being refused a passage, these souls return to their bodiesand reanimate them. They believe that animals have souls and even thatinorganic substances such as kettles etc. , have in them a similaressence. "

In this land of souls all are treated according to their merits. Thosewho have been good men are free from pain, they have no duties toperform, their time is spent in dancing and singing and they feed uponmushrooms which are very abundant The souls of bad men are haunted bythe phantom of the persons or things that they have injured, thus if aman has destroyed much property the phantoms of the wrecks of thisproperty obstruct his passage wherever he goes, if he has been cruelto his dogs or horses they also torment him after death. The ghosts ofthose whom during his lifetime he wronged are there permitted toavenge their injuries. They think that when a soul has crossed thestream it cannot return to its body, yet they believe in apparitionsand entertain the opinion that the spirits of the departed willfrequently revisit the abodes of their friends in order to invite themto the other world and to forewarn them of their approachingdissolution. 

Stephen Powers in his valuable work so often quoted, gives a number ofexamples of superstitions regarding the dead of which the followingrelates to the Karok of California. 

"How well and truly the Karok reverence the memory of the dead isshown by the fact that the highest crime one can commit is the _pet-chi-e-ri_, the mere mention of the dead relative's name. It is adeadly insult to the survivors and can be atoned for only by the sameamount of blood money paid for willful murder. In default of that theywill have the villain's blood.... At the mention of his name themoldering skeleton turns in his grave and groans. They do not likestragglers even to inspect the burial place.... They believe that thesoul of a good Karok goes to the 'happy western land' beyond the greatocean. That they have a well grounded assurance of an immortalitybeyond the grave is proven, if not otherwise, by their beautiful andpoetical custom of whispering a message in the ear of the dead.... Believe that dancing will liberate some relative's soul from bonds ofdeath and restore him to earth"

According to the same author, when a Kelta dies a little bird fliesaway with his soul to the spirit land. If he was a bad Indian a hawkwill catch the little bird and eat him up soul and feathers, but if hewas good he will reach the spirit land. Mr. Powers also states that"The Tolowa share in the superstitious observance for the memory ofthe dead which is common to the Northern Californian tribes When Iasked the chief Tahhokolli to tell me the Indian words for 'father'and 'mother' and certain others similar, he shook his head mournfullyand said 'all dead, ' 'all dead, ' 'no good. ' They are forbidden tomention the name of the dead, as it is a deadly insult to therelatives, "... And that the "Mat-toal hold that the good depart to ahappy region somewhere southward in the great ocean, but the soul of abad Indian transmigrates into a grizzly bear, which they consider ofall animals the cousin-german of sin. "

The Mosquito Indians of Central America studiously and superstitiouslyavoid mentioning the name of the dead, in this regard resembling thoseof our own country. 

FINAL REMARKS. 

We have thus briefly, though it is hoped judiciously and carefully, reviewed the subject of Indian burial, avoiding elaborate discussion, as foreign to the purpose of the work, simply pointing out from thecarefully gleaned material at our disposal such examples and detachedaccounts as may serve as guides to those whose interest in the subjectmay lead them to contribute to the final volume. Before closing, however, it is necessary to again allude to the circular which hasbeen forwarded to observers and call attention to some additionalmatters of importance connected with the queries, which are asfollows: [Footnote: Advantage has been taken to incorporate with thequeries certain modifications of those propounded by Schoolcraft inhis well-known work on the Indian tribes of the United States, relating to the same subject. ]

1st. NAME OF THE TRIBE, present appellation; former, if differing any;and that used by the Indians themselves. 

2d. LOCALITY, PRESENT AND FORMER. --The response should give the rangeof the tribe and be full and geographically accurate. 

3d. DEATHS AND FUNERAL CEREMONIES; what are the important andcharacteristic facts connected with these subjects? How is the corpseprepared after death and disposed of? How long is it retained? Is itspoken to after death as if alive? when and where? What is thecharacter of the addresses? What articles are deposited with it; andwhy? Is food put in the grave, or in or near it afterwards? Is thissaid to be an ancient custom? Are persons of the same gens buriedtogether, and is the clan distinction obsolete, or did it everprevail?

4th. MANNER OF BURIAL, ANCIENT AND MODERN; STRUCTURE AND POSITION OFTHE GRAVES; CREMATION--Are burials usually made in high and drygrounds? Have mounds or tumuli been erected in modern times over thedead? How is the grave prepared and finished? What position are bodiesplaced in? Give reasons therefor if possible. If cremation is or waspracticed, describe the process, disposal of the ashes, and origin ofcustom or traditions relating thereto. Are the dead ever eaten by thesurvivors? Are bodies deposited in springs or in any body of water?Are scaffolds or trees used as burial places; if so, describeconstruction of the former and how the corpse is prepared, and whetherplaced in skins or boxes. Are bodies placed in canoes? State whetherthey are suspended from trees, put on scaffolds or posts, allowed tofloat on the water or sunk beneath it, or buried in the ground. Canany reasons be given for the prevalence of any one or all of themethods? Are burial posts or slabs used, plain, or marked, with flagsor other insignia of position of deceased. Describe embalmment, mummification, desiccation, or if antiseptic precautions are taken, and subsequent disposal of remains. Are bones collected andreinterred, describe ceremonies, if any, whether modern or ancient. Ifcharnel houses exist or have been used, describe them. 

5th. MOURNING OBSERVANCES--Is scarification practiced, or personalmutilation? What is the garb or sign of mourning? How are the deadlamented? Are periodical visits made to the grave? Do widows carrysymbols of their deceased children or husbands, and for how long? Aresacrifices, human or otherwise, voluntary or involuntary, offered? Arefires kindled on graves, why, and at what time, and for how long?

6th. BURIAL TRADITIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS--Give in full all that can belearned on these subjects, as they are full of interest and veryimportant. 

In short, every fact bearing on the disposal of the dead, andcorrelative customs are needed, and details should be as succinct andfull as possible. 

One of the most important matters upon which information is needed isthe "why" and "wherefore" for every rite and custom, for, as a rule, observers are content to simply state a certain occurrence as a fact, but take very little trouble to inquire the reason for it. 

The writer would state that any material the result of carefulobservation will be most gratefully received and acknowledged in thefinal volume, and he would here confess the lasting obligation he isunder to those who have already contributed in response to his call. 

Criticism and comments are earnestly invited from all those interestedin the special subject of this paper and anthropology in generalContributions are also requested from persons acquainted with curiousforms of burial prevailing among other tribes of savage men. 

In addition to the many references, etc, given by the various membersof the Bureau of Ethnology, communications have been received from thefollowing persons, although their accounts may not have been alludedto in this volume; should omissions of names have occurred it is hopedattention will be called to the fact. 

The writer acknowledges with pleasure the assistance he has receivedin reading the proof of this volume from Mr. J. C. Pilling, Dr. ThomasW. Wise and Mr. R. W. Hardy. 

LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS. 

E. H. ALDEN. DR. C. P. ALLEN. GEN. BENJAMIN ALVORD, U. S. A. C. C. BALDWIN. JOHN BALL. E. A BARBER. DR. JOHN H. BARTHOLF, U. S. A. LIEUT. E. M. BASS, U. S. A. LIEUT. ERIC BERGLAND, U. S. A. DR. E. BESSELS. JOHN HENRY BONER. DR. W. C. BOTELER. LIEUT. JOHN G. BOURKE. U. S. A. GEN. L. P. BRADLEY, U. S. A. WILLIAM N. BYERS. T. A. CHENEY. BENJAMIN CLARK. LIEUT. WILLIAM P. CLARKE, U. S. A. W. J. CLEVELAND. W. L. COFFINBERRY. J. F. CRAVENS. W. M. CUNNINGHAM. WILLIAM H. DALL. MRS. E. H. DANFORTH. W. H. DANILSON. WELLS DRURY. HARRY EDWARDS. REV. EDWIN EELLS. DR. LOUIS ELSBERG. LIEUT. GEORGE E. FORD, U. S. A. DR. EDWARD FOREMAN. CAPT J. H. GAGEBY, U. S. A. DR. W. H. GARDNER, U. S. A. ALBERT S. GATSCHET. FLORIEN GIAUQUE. G. K. GILBERT. DR. J. W. GIVEN. O. G. GIVEN. DR. P. GREGG. REV. SHERLOCK GREGORY. DR. FORDYCE GRINNELL. DR. J. F. HAMMOND, U. S. A. A. G. HENNISSEE. DR. W. J. HOFFMAN. COL. A. L. HOUGH, U. S. A. DR. FRANKLIN B. HOUGH. ROBERT HOWELLC. A. HUNTINGTON. DR. GEORGE W. IRA. H. P. JONES. CAPT. W. A. JONES, U. S. A. JUDGE ANTHONY JOSEPHM. B. KENT. H. R. KERVEY. DR. JAMES P. KIMBALL, U. S. A. W. M. KING. DR. J. V. LAUDERDALE, U. S. A. DR. J. L. LECONTE. GEORGE W. LEE. J. M. LEE. DR. RICHARD ELMHURST LIGHTBURNE, U. S. A. DR. REBECCA H. LONGSHORE. COL. G. MALLERY, U. S. A. DR. CHARLES E. MCCHESNEY, U. S. A. DR. AUGUSTIN J. MCDONALD. DR. J. C. MCKEE, U. S. A. DR. JAMES MCLAUGHLIN. DR. T. A. MCPARLIN, U. S. A. I. L. MAHAN. DR. F. S. MATTESONGEN. M. C. MEIGS, U. S. A. DR. JOHN MENAUL. DR. J. L. MILLS. R. H. MILROY. DR. RUDOLPH MUELLER. DR. WILLIAM M. NOTSON, U. S. A. FRANK M. OFFUTT. W. T. OWSLEY. CAPT. A. D. PALMER. DR. EDWARD PALMER. C. W. PARISH. GEORGE H. PERKINS. J. C. PILLING. CAPT. R. H. PRATT, U. S. A. HOSP. -STEW. CHARLES PRIMBS, U. S. A. DR. CHARLES RAUDR. J. REAGLES, U. S. A. R. S. ROBERTSON. DR. J. T. ROTHROCK, U. S. A. C. C. ROYCE. S. A. RUSSELL. C. W. SANDERSON. DR. B. G. SEMIG, U. S. A. LIEUT. CHARLES S. SMITH, U. S. A. DR. JOSEPH R. SMITH, U. S. A. JOHN A. SPRING. C. L. STRATTONDR. M. K. TAYLOR, U. S. A. W. H. B. THOMAS. GEN. CHARLES H. TOMPKINS, U. S. A. M. TOMPKINS. CAPT. E. J. THOMPSON, U. S. A. T. M. TRIPPE. S. S. TURNER. CAPT. FRED VAN VLIET, U. S. A. GEN. S. VAN VLIET, U. S. A. LIEUT. A. W. VOGDES, U. S. A. W. D. WHEELER. DR. C. A. WHITE. DR. W. WHITNEY. COL. CHARLES WHITTLESEY. EDWARD J. WICKSON. DR. B. G. WILDER. REV. JOHN P. WILLIAMSON. WILLIAM WOOD. DR. J. P. WRIGHT. S. G. WRIGHT. DR. LORENZO J. YATES. JOHN YOUNG. 

Letters and papers, to forward which stamps will be sent if requested, may be addressed as follows:

DR H. C. YARROW, P. O. Box 585, WASHINGTON, D C. 

INDEX

Achomawi Indians, burial and cremation ofAlaska Cave burialAleutian mummiesAncient burial customs of PersiansAntiquity of cremationAquatic burial, Cherokees Chinooks Gosh-Utes Hyperboreans Ichthyophagians Itzas LotophagiansAscena IndiansAtwater, CalebBactians, burial customs ofBancroft, Hubert H. Barber, E. A. Bartram, WilliamBasket burialBean, George W. Beckwourth, JamesBeltrami, J. C. Benson, H. C. Beverley, RobertBlackbird's burialBlackfeet lodge burial tree burialBonaks, cremation myths ofBone houses ChoctawsBox burialBransford, U. S. N. , Dr. J. C. Brebeuf, P. DeBrinton, Dr. D. G. Britons, living sepulcher ofBruhier, Jacques JeanBurchard, J. L. Burial above ground, SiouxBurial and cremation, Achomawi Indians in California in New JerseyBurial, aquatic, Gosh-UtesBurial boxes and canoes MakahBurial customs of Bactrians Caspians Chickasaws Hircanians Iberians Medes Parthians dances dance, Iroquois Yo-kai-a feasts feast, Hurons feasts, superstitions regarding fires food Yo-kai-a and dances and songs houses, Columbia River in baskets in boxes Cherokees Choctaws Creeks in cabins, wigwams, or houses cairns cairns, Utah caves caves, California logs mounds, Missouri Ohio of Baldor Balearic Islanders Blackbird Indians of Round Valley Muscogulges on trees and scaffolds posts and fires sacrifice sacrifice, Tsinuk scaffolds songsBurials, provisional arrangement ofBurial superstitions, Chippewa Hidatea Karok Kelta Mat-toal Tolowa Yurok superterrene and aerial surfaceBurial urns California Georgia Muscogee New Mexico NicaraguaBurnside, Samuel L. Cabin, wigwam, or house burialCaddoes, inhumation ofCairn burial UtahCalifornia burial and cremation urns cave burialCanes sepulchralesCanoe burial, ClallamsCanoe burial, Indians of Oregon and WashingtonCanoes and burial boxesCanoes, inhumation inCaraibs, verification of death ofCaribs' mourningCarolina tribes, inhumation ofCaspians, burial customs ofCatlin, GeorgeCave burial Alaska Innuit UtahChaldean urn burialChambered moundsCherokees, aquatic burial of burial in boxes partial cremation ofCheyenne scaffold burialChickasaws, burial customs ofChillicothe moundChinook, aquatic burial ofChippewa burial superstitions mourning observancesChoctaw bone housesChoctaws, burial in boxes of mourning observances ossuaries of Circular of queries Cists or stone graves Clallam canoe burialColchiens, tree burial ofCollectors, suggestions forColumbia River burial housesConclamation of RomansCongaree and Santee Indians, partial embalmment ofContributors, list ofCosta Rica IndiansCoyotero Apaches, inhumation ofCox, RossCreeke, burial in boxes ofCremation antiquity of Florida furnace Indians of Clear Lake Indians of Utah myths Bonaks Nishinams Oregon partial remarks on Senel Indians TolkotinsCrow lodge burialCrows, mourning observances ofCurtiss, EdwinDall, William H. Dances, burial and burial foodDance for the deadDead, dance forDerbices, living sepulchers ofEells, Rev. M. Effedens, living sepulchers ofFeasts, burialFinal remarksFires, burialFiske, MosesFlorida burial mounds cremationFood burialForeman, Dr. E. Foster, J. W. Furnace cremationGageby, U. S. A. Captain J. H. Georgia burial urns"Ghost gamble, " SiouxGianque FlorianGibbs, GeorgeGillman, Henry"Golgothas, " MandansGrinnell, Dr. FordyceGrossman, U. S. A. , Captain F. E. Hammond, U. S. A. , Dr. J. F. Hardy, R. W. Hidatsa burial superstitionsHind, H. Y. Hircanians, burial customs ofHoffman, Dr. W. J. Holbrook, W. C. Hough, Franklin B. Houses, boneHurons, burial feasts ofHyperboreans, aquatic burial ofIberians, burial customs ofIchthyophagi, aquatic burial ofIllinois burial moundsIndians of Clear Lake, cremation of Oregon and Washington, canoe burial of Utah, cremationInhumation Caddoes in canoes Carolina tribes Coyotero Apaches Klamaths Massasaugas Mohawks Navajos Pimas WichitasInnuit cave burialIntroductory remarksIrish, living sepulchers ofIroquois, burial dance ofIroquois, ossuaries ofItzas, aquatic burial ofJenkes, Col. C. W. Johnston, AdamJones, Charles C. , jrJones, Dr. J. S. Karok burial superstitionsKeating, William H. Kelta burial superstitionsKentucky mummiesKitty-ka-tatsKlamaths, inhumation ofKlingbeil, WilliamLawson, JohnLetter of transmittalList of contributorsLiving sepulchers Britons Derbices Effedens Irish Massageties TartarsLodge burial, Blackfeet Crows Navajos SiouxLog burialLotophagians, aquatic burial ofMahan, I. L. Makah burial boxesMandan "Golgothas"Massageties, living sepulchers ofMassasaugas, inhumation ofMathews, U. S. A. , Dr. W. Mat-toal burial superstitionsMcChesney, U. S. A. , Dr. Charles E. McDonald, Dr. A. J. McKinley, WilliamMedes, burial customs ofMenard, Dr. JohnMiami Valley mound burialMiller, Dr. C. C. Mitchill, Dr. Samuel L. Mohawks, inhumation ofMorgan, L. H. Mortuary customs of the PersiansMound burial, Florida Illinois Miami Valley Missouri North Carolina TennesseeMound, ChillicotheMounds, chambered of stoneMourning observances, Caribs Chippewas Choctaws Crows SiouxMummies Aleutian Kentucky Northwest Coast South Carolina VirginiaMuret, PierreMuscogee burial urnsMuscogulge Indians, burial ofMyths of cremationNatchez ossuariesNavajo lodge burialNavajos, inhumation ofNew Jersey, burial and cremation inNew Mexico burial urnsNicaraguaNishinams, cremation myths ofNorris, P. W. North Carolina burial moundsNorthwest coast mummiesOhio burial moundsOregon, cremation inOssuariesOssuaries, Choctaw Iroquois NatchezOssuary of ChoctawsOtis, U. S. A. , Dr. George A. Parthians, burial customs ofPartial cremation Cherokees embalmment, Congaree and Santee Indians scaffold burial and ossuariesPersians, ancient burial customs of mortuary customs ofPilling, J. C. Pimas Indians inhumation ofPinkerton, JohnPosts, burial and fires, burialPowell, Maj. J. W. Preface byPowers, StephenPreface by Maj. J. W. PowellProvisional arrangement of burialsPutnam, F. W. Queries, circular ofRemarks, final introductory on cremationReview of Turner's narrativeRobertson, R. S. Roman, BernardRomans, conclamation ofRound Valley Indians, burial ofSacrifice, burialSauer, MartinScaffolds, burial onScaffold burial, Cheyennes Sioux YanktoniasSchoolcraft, Henry R. Scythians, tree burial ofSenel Indians, cremation ofSepulchers, livingSheldon, WilliamSimpson, U. S. A. , Capt. J. H. Sioux burial above ground "ghost gamble" lodge burialSioux mourning observances scaffold burialSolutre, France, stone graves or cists ofSongs and burial food burialSouth Carolina mummies urn burialSpainhour, Dr. J. MasonSternberg, U. S. A. , Dr. George M. Stone graves or cists of Solutre, France Tennessee moundsSuggestions for collectorsSuperstitions regarding burial feastsSuperterrene and aerial burialSurface burialSwallow, G. C. Tartars, living sepulchers of tree burial ofTennessee mound burial stone graves or cistsTiffany, A. S. Tolkotin, cremationTolowa burial superstitionsTompkins, U. S. A. , Gen. Charles H. Transmittal, letter ofTree and scaffold burial burial, Blackfeet Colchiens Scythians TartarsTsinuk burial sacrificeTurner, Dr. L. S. Urn burial Chaldeans South CarolinaUtah cave burialVan Campen, MosesVerification of death of CaraibsVirginia mummiesWhitney, J. D. Wichitas, inhumation ofWilcox, Mr. Wilkins, CharlesWise, Dr. Thos. W. Yanktonias, scaffold burial ofYo-kai-a burial dance foodYoung, JohnYurok, burial superstitions of