Books: An introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American Indians

H >> H. C. Yarrow >> An introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American Indians

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

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 the
homes of those afflicted with the cholera, but it is thought such was
not the case, as the writer has notes of the same kind of burial among
the same tribe and of others, notably the Crows, the body of one of
their chiefs (Long Horse) being disposed of as follows.

"The lodge poles inclose an oblong circle some 18 by 22 feet at the
base, converging to a point at least 30 feet high, covered with
buffalo-hides dressed without hair except a part of the tail switch,
which floats outside like, and mingled with human scalps. The
different skins are neatly fitted and sewed together with sinew, and
all painted in seven alternate horizontal stripes of brown and yellow,
decorated with various life-like war scenes. Over the small entrance
is 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 warriors
still carry, even when armed with repeating rifles. As the cross is
not a pagan but a Christian (which Long Horse was not either by
profession or practice) emblem, it was probably placed there by the
influence of some of his white friends. I entered, finding Long Horse
buried Indian fashion, in full-war dress, paint and feathers, in a
rude coffin, upon a platform about breast high, decorated with
weapons, scalps, and ornaments. A large opening and wind-flap at top
favored ventilation, and though he had lain there in an open coffin a
full month, some of which was hot weather, there was but little
effluvia; in fact, I have seldom found much in a burial-teepee, and
when this mode of burial is thus performed it is less repulsive than
natural to suppose."

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

The Blackfeet, Sioux, and Navajos also bury in lodges, and the Indians
of Bellingham Bay, according to Dr. J. F. Hammond, U. S. A., place
their dead in carved wooden sarcophagi, inclosing these with a
rectangular 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 death
occurred, deposited the body in a small hut constructed of plaited
palm reeds. In this it is preserved for three years, food being
supplied, and on each anniversary of the death it is redressed and
attended to amid certain ceremonies. The writer has been recently
informed that a similar custom prevailed in Demerara. No authentic
accounts are known of analogous modes of burial among the peoples of
the Old World, although quite frequently the dead were interred
beneath the floors of their houses, a custom which has been followed
by the Mosquito Indians of Central America and one or two of our own
tribes.

BOX BURIAL.

Under this head may be placed those examples furnished by certain
tribes on the Northwest coast who used as receptacles for the dead
wonderfully carved, large wooden chests, these being supported upon a
low platform or resting on the ground. In shape they resemble a small
house with an angular roof, and each one has an opening through which
food may be passed to the corpse.

Some of the tribes formerly living in New York used boxes much
resembling those spoken of, and the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees
did the same.

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

"... are buried on the surface, in a box or a substitute made of
branches of trees, covered with small branches, leaves, and earth. I
have seen several of their graves, which after a few weeks had become
uncovered and the remains exposed to view. I saw in one Creek grave (a
child's) a small sum of silver, in another (adult male) some
implements of warfare, bow and arrows. They are all interred with the
feet of the corpse to the east. In the mourning ceremonies of the
Creeks the nearer relatives smeared their hair and faces with a
composition made of grease and wood ashes, and would remain in that
condition for several days, and probably a month."

TREE AND SCAFFOLD BURIAL.

We may now pass to what may be called aerial sepulture proper, the
most common examples of which are tree and scaffold burial, quite
extensively practiced even at the present time. From what can be
learned, the choice of this mode depends greatly on the facilities
present; where timber abounds, trees being used; if absent, scaffolds
being employed, the construction of which among the Yanktonais is
related 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 the
ground, and then in the forks are laid cross and side poles, on which
is 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 reason
why Indians bury in the open air instead of under the ground is for
the purpose of protecting their dead from wild animals. In new
countries, where wolves and bears are numerous, a dead body will be
dug up and devoured, though it be put many feet under the ground. I
noticed many little buckets and baskets hanging on the scaffolds....
These had contained food and drink for the dead. I asked Washtella if
she was sure the soul ate and drank on its journey, and if the food
did not remain untouched in its basket. She replied, 'Oh, no, the food
and water is always gone.' I looked at the hundreds of ravens perched
on the scaffolds and could account for what became of most of the food
and water."...

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

"Their manner of burial has always been (until recently) to inclose
the 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 branches
of a tree so high as to be beyond the reach of wolves, and then left
to slowly waste in the dry winds. If the body was that of a squaw or
child, it was thrown into the underbrush or jungle, where it soon
became the prey of the wild animals. The weapons, pipes, &c., of men
were inclosed, and the small toys of children with them. The
ceremonies were equally barbarous, the relatives cutting off,
according to the depth of their grief, one or more joints of the
fingers, divesting themselves of clothing even in the coldest weather,
and filling the air with their lamentations. All the sewing up and
burial process was conducted by the squaws, as the men would not touch
nor remain in proximity to a dead body.

"When an Indian of any importance is departing, the squaws assemble in
the lodge or teepee and sing the death-song, recounting the prowess
and virtues of the dying one, and the oldest man at hand goes into the
open air and solemnly addresses the 'Great Spirit,' bespeaking a
welcome for him into the happy hunting grounds. Whatever property the
deceased has--lodge, arms, or ponies--if a will was made, it was
carefully 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 supply
the necessary clothing to cover his nakedness.

"Further mourning observances were and are, the women relatives
getting on some elevated spot near where the body rests, and keeping
up a dismal wail, frequently even in extreme cold weather, the greater
part of the night, and this is kept up often for a month. No cremation
or burying in a grave was practiced by them at any time. Pained by
often coming on skeletons in trees and the stench of half-consumed
remains in the brush, and shocked by the frequent mutilations visible,
I have reasoned with the poor savages. In one case, when a woman was
about to cut off a finger in evidence of her grief for the loss of a
child, she consented on entreaty to cut off only one joint, and on
further entreaty was brought to merely making a cut and letting out
some blood. This much she could not be prevailed upon to forego....
Their mourning and wailing, avoiding the defilement of touching a dead
body, 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 were
deposited in a box made from part of a broken canoe. Some hair was
suspended, which we at first mistook for a scalp, but our guide
informed us that these were locks of hair torn from their heads by the
relatives to testify their grief. In the centre, between the four
posts 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 be
females; the rest, amounting to seven, were naked, and were intended
for male figures; of the latter four were headless, showing that they
had been slain; the three other male figures were unmutilated, but
held a staff in their hand, which, as our guide informed us,
designated that they were slaves. The post, which is an usual
accompaniment to the scaffold that supports a warrior's remains, does
not represent the achievements of the deceased; but those of the
warriors that assembled near his remains danced the dance of the post,
and related their martial exploits. A number of small bones of animals
were observed in the vicinity, which were probably left there after a
feast celebrated in honor of the dead.

"The boxes in which the corpses were placed are so short that a man
could not lie in them extended at full length, but in a country where
boxes and boards are scarce this is overlooked. After the corpses have
remained a certain time exposed, they are taken down and buried. Our
guide, Renville, related to us that he had been a witness to an
interesting, though painful, circumstance that occurred here. An
Indian who resided on the Mississippi, hearing that his son had died
at this spot, came up in a canoe to take charge of the remains and
convey them down the river to his place of abode, but on his arrival
he found that the corpse had already made such progress toward
decomposition as rendered it impossible for it to be removed. He then
undertook, with a few friends, to clean off the bones. All the flesh
was scraped off and thrown into the stream, the bones were carefully
collected into his canoe, and subsequently carried down to his
residence."

Interesting and valuable from the extreme attention paid to details is
the 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 of
Kansas:

"The case was found, Brevet Major Sternberg states, on the banks of
Walnut Creek, Kansas, elevated about eight feet from the ground by
four notched poles, which were firmly planted in the ground. The
unusual 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, and
that their value would be enhanced if they were received at the Museum
as left by the Indians, Dr. Sternberg determined to send the case
unopened.

"I had the case opened this morning and an inventory made of the
contents. The case consisted of a cradle of interlaced branches of
white willow, about 6 feet long, 3 feet broad, and 3 feet high, with a
flooring of buffalo thongs arranged as a net-work. This cradle was
securely fastened by strips of buffalo-hide to four poles of ironwood
and cottonwood, about 12 feet in length. These poles doubtless rested
upon the forked extremities of the vertical poles described by Dr.
Sternberg. The cradle was wrapped in two buffalo-robes of large size
and well preserved. On removing these an aperture 18 inches square was
found at the middle of the right side of the cradle or basket. Within
appeared other buffalo-robes folded about the remains, and secured by
gaudy-colored sashes. Five robes were successively removed, making
seven in all. Then we came to a series of new blankets folded about
the remains. There were five in all--two scarlet, two blue, and one
white. These being removed, the next wrappings consisted of a striped
white and gray sack, and of a United States Infantry overcoat, like
the other coverings nearly new. We had now come apparently upon the
immediate envelopes of the remains, which it was now evident must be
those of a child. These consisted of three robes, with hoods very
richly ornamented with bead-work. These robes or cloaks were of
buffalo-calf skin about four feet in length, elaborately decorated
with bead-work in stripes. The outer was covered with rows of blue and
white bead-work, the second was green and yellow, and the third blue
and red. All were further adorned by spherical brass bells attached
all about the borders by strings of beads.

"The remains with their wrappings lay upon a matting similar to that
used by the Navajo and other Indians of the southern plains, and upon
a pillow of dirty rags, in which were folded a bag of red paint, bits
of antelope skin, bunches of straps, buckles, &c. The three bead-work
hooded cloaks were now removed, and then we successively unwrapped a
gray woolen double shawl, five yards of blue cassimere, six yards of
red calico, and six yards of brown calico, and finally disclosed the
remains of a child, probably about a year old, in an advanced stage of
decomposition. The cadaver had a beaver-cap ornamented with disks of
copper 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 of
the pieces of _Haliotis_ from the Gulf of California, so valued
by the Indians on this side of the Rocky Mountains. The body had been
elaborately 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-work
moccasins. With the remains were numerous trinkets, a porcelain image,
a China vase, strings of beads, several toys, a pair of mittens, a fur
collar, a pouch of the skin of _putorius vison_, &c."

Another extremely interesting account of scaffold burial, furnished by
Dr. L. S. Turner, U. S. A., Fort Peck, Mont., and relating to the
Sioux, is here given entire, as it refers to certain curious mourning
observances which have prevailed to a great extent over the entire
globe:

"The Dakotas bury their dead in the tops of trees when limbs can be
found sufficiently horizontal to support scaffolding on which to lay
the body, but as such growth is not common in Dakota, the more general
practice is to lay them upon scaffolds from 7 to 10 feet high and out
of the reach of carnivorous animals as the wolf. These scaffolds are
constructed upon four posts set into the ground something after the
manner of the rude drawing which I inclose. Like all labors of a
domestic kind, the preparation for burial is left to the women,
usually the old women. The work begins as soon as life is extinct. The
face, neck, and hands are thickly painted with vermilion, or a species
of red earth found in various portions of the Territory when the
vermilion of the traders cannot be had. The clothes and personal
trinkets of the deceased ornament the body. When blankets are
available, it is then wrapped in one, all parts of the body being
completely enveloped. Around this a dressed skin of buffalo is then
securely wrapped, with the flesh side out, and the whole securely
bound 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 time
and the elements. As soon as the scaffold is ready, the body is borne
by the women, followed by the female relatives, to the place of final
deposit, and left prone in its secure wrappings upon this airy bed of
death. This ceremony is accompanied with lamentations so wild and
weird that one must see and hear in order to appreciate. If the
deceased be a brave, it is customary to place upon or beneath the
scaffold a few buffalo-heads which time has rendered dry and
inoffensive; and if he has been brave in war some of his implements of
battle are placed on the scaffold or securely tied to its timbers. If
the deceased has been a chief, or a soldier related to his chief, it
is not uncommon to slay his favorite pony and place the body beneath
the scaffold, under the superstition, I suppose, that the horse goes
with the man. As illustrating the propensity to provide the dead with
the things used while living, I may mention that some years ago I
loaned to an old man a delft urinal for the use of his son, a young
man who was slowly dying of a wasting disease. I made him promise
faithfully that he would return it as soon as his son was done using
it. Not long afterwards the urinal graced the scaffold which held the
remains of the dead warrior, and as it has not to this day been
returned I presume the young man is not done using it.

"The mourning customs of the Dakotas, though few of them appear to be
of universal observance, cover considerable ground. The hair, never
cut under other circumstances, is cropped off even with the neck, and
the top of the head and forehead, and sometimes nearly the whole body,
are smeared with a species of white earth resembling chalk, moistened
with water. The lodge, teepee, and all the family possessions except
the few shabby articles of apparel worn by the mourners, are given
away and the family left destitute. Thus far the custom is universal
or nearly so. The wives, mother, and sisters of a deceased man, on the
first, second, or third day after the funeral, frequently throw off
their moccasins and leggins and gash their legs with their butcher-
knives, and march through the camp and to the place of burial with
bare and bleeding extremities, while they chant or wail their dismal
songs of mourning. The men likewise often gash themselves in many
places, and usually seek the solitude of the higher point on the
distant prairie, where they remain fasting, smoking, and wailing out
their lamentations for two or three days. A chief who had lost a
brother once came to me after three or four days of mourning in
solitude almost exhausted from hunger and bodily anguish. He had
gashed the outer side of both lower extremities at intervals of a few
inches all the way from the ankles to the top of the hips. His wounds
had inflamed from exposure, and were suppurating freely. He assured me
that he had not slept for several days or nights. I dressed his wounds
with a soothing ointment, and gave him a full dose of an effective
anodyne, after which he slept long and refreshingly, and awoke to
express his gratitude and shake my hand in a very cordial and sincere
manner. When these harsher inflictions are not resorted to, the
mourners usually repair daily for a few days to the place of burial,
toward the hour of sunset, and chant their grief until apparently
assuaged by its own expression. This is rarely kept up for more than
four or five days, but is occasionally resorted to, at intervals, for
weeks, or even months, according to the mood of the bereft. I have
seen few things in life so touching as the spectacle of an old father
going daily to the grave of his child, while the shadows are
lengthening, and pouring out his grief in wails that would move a
demon, until his figure melts with the gray twilight, when, silent and
solemn, he returns to his desolate family. The weird effect of this
observance is sometimes heightened, when the deceased was a grown-up
son, by the old man kindling a little fire near the head of the
scaffold, and varying his lamentations with smoking in silence. The
foregoing is drawn from my memory of personal observances during a
period of more than six years' constant intercourse with several
subdivisions of the Dakota Indians. There may be much which memory has
failed to recall upon a brief consideration."

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

Supplying food to the dead is a custom which is known to be of great
antiquity; in some instances, as among the ancient Romans, it appears
to have been a sacrificial offering, for it usually accompanied
cremation, 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 were
also consumed. The Jews did the same, and in our own time the Chinese,
Caribe and many of the tribes of North American Indians followed these
customs. The cutting of hair as a mourning observance is of very great
antiquity, and Tegg relates that among the ancients whole cities and
countries were shaved (_sic_) when a great man died. The Persians
not only shaved themselves on such occasions, but extended the same
process to their domestic animals, and Alexander, at the death of
Hephastin, not only cut off the manes of his horses and mules, but
took down the battlements from the city walls, that even towns might
seem in mourning and look bald. Scarifying and mutilating the body has
prevailed from a remote period of time, having possibly replaced, in
the process of evolution, to a certain extent, the more barbarous
practice of absolute personal sacrifice. In later days, among our
Indians, human sacrifices have taken place to only a limited extent,
but formerly many victims were immolated, for at the funerals of the
chiefs of the Florida and Carolina Indians all the male relatives and
wives were slain, for the reason, according to Gallatin, that the
hereditary dignity of Chief or Great Sun descended, as usual, by the
female line; and he, as well as all other members of his clan, whether
male or female, could marry only persons of an inferior clan. To this
day mutilation of the person among some tribes of Indians is usual.
The sacrifice of the favorite horse or horses is by no means peculiar
to our Indians, for it was common among the Romans, and possibly even
among the men of the Reindeer period, for at Solutre, in France, the
writer saw horses' bones exhumed from the graves examined in 1873. The
writer has frequently conversed with Indians upon this subject, and
they have invariably informed him that when horses were slain great
care was taken to select the poorest of the band.

Tree-burial was not uncommon among the nations of antiquity, for the
Colchiens enveloped their dead in sacks of skin and hung them to
trees; the ancient Tartars and Scythians did the same. With regard to
the use of scaffolds and trees as places of deposit for the dead, it
seems somewhat curious that the tribes who formerly occupied the
eastern portion of our continent were not in the habit of burying in
this way, which, from the abundance of timber, would have been a much
easier method than the ones in vogue, while the western tribes, living
in sparsely wooded localities, preferred the other. If we consider
that the Indians were desirous of preserving their dead as long as
possible, the fact of their dead being placed in trees and scaffolds
would lead to the supposition that those living on the plains were
well aware of the desiccating property of the dry air of that arid
region. This desiccation would pass for a kind of mummification.

The particular part of the mourning ceremonies, which consisted in
loud cries and lamentations, may have had in early periods of time a
greater 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 interpretation
being that such cries were intended to prevent premature burial. He
gives some interesting examples, which may be admitted here.

"The Caribs lament loudly, their wailings being interspersed with
comical remarks and questions to the dead as to why he preferred to
leave this world, having everything to make life comfortable. They
place the corpse on a little seat in a ditch or grave four or five
feet deep, and for ten days they bring food, requesting the corpse to
eat. Finally, being convinced that the dead will neither eat nor
return to life, they throw the food on the head of the corpse and fill
up 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 the
last words and sighs, and then loudly called the name of the dead,
finally bidding an eternal adieu. This ceremony of calling the
deceased by name was known as the _conclamation,_ and was a
custom anterior even to the foundation of Rome. One dying away from
home was immediately removed thither, in order that this might be
performed with greater propriety. In Picardy, as late as 1743, the
relatives threw themselves on the corpse and with loud cries called it
by name, and up to 1855 the Moravians of Pennsylvania, at the death of
one of their number, performed mournful musical airs on brass
instruments from the village church steeple and again at the grave
[Footnote: The writer is informed by Mr. John Henry Boner that this
custom still prevails not only in Pennsylvania, but at the Moravian
settlement of Salem, North Carolina.] This custom, however, was
probably a remnant of the ancient funeral observances, and not to
prevent premature burial, or, perhaps, to scare away bad spirits.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11