A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American IndiansYarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
History
A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians
Yarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
Indians of North America -- Funeral customs and rites
It is hardly necessary to say that such a practice is altogether
foreign to Indian character. The bones of the adults had probably
been removed and buried elsewhere. The corpses of children are
variously disposed of; sometimes by suspending them, at others by
placing in the hollows of trees. A cemetery devoted to infants is,
however, an unusual occurrence. In cases of chiefs or men of note
much pomp was used in the accompaniments of the rite. The canoes
were of great size and value--the war or state canoes of the
deceased. Frequently one was inverted over that holding the body,
and in one instance, near Shoalwater Bay, the corpse was deposited
in a small canoe, which again was placed in a larger one and covered
with a third. Among the _Tsinūk_ and _Tsìhalis_ the _tamahno-ūs_
board of the owner was placed near him. The Puget Sound Indians do
not make these _tamahno-ūs_ boards, but they sometimes constructed
effigies of their chiefs, resembling the person as nearly as
possible, dressed in his usual costume, and wearing the articles of
which he was fond. One of these, representing the Skagit chief
Sneestum, stood very conspicuously upon a high bank on the eastern
side of Whidbey Island. The figures observed by Captain Clarke at
the Cascades were either of this description or else the carved
posts which had ornamented the interior of the houses of the
deceased, and were connected with the superstition of the
_tamahno-ūs_. The most valuable articles of property were put into
or hung up around the grave, being first carefully rendered
unserviceable, and the living family were literally stripped to do
honor to the dead. No little self-denial must have been practiced in
parting with articles so precious, but those interested frequently
had the least to say on the subject. The graves of women were
distinguished by a cap, a Kamas stick, or other implement of their
occupation, and by articles of dress.
Slaves were killed in proportion to the rank and wealth of the
deceased. In some instances they were starved to death, or even tied
to the dead body and left to perish thus horribly. At present this
practice has been almost entirely given up, but till within a very
few years it was not uncommon. A case which occurred in 1850 has
been already mentioned. Still later, in 1853, Toke, a Tsinūk chief
living at Shoalwater Bay, undertook to kill a slave girl belonging
to his daughter, who, in dying, had requested that this might be
done. The woman fled, and was found by some citizens in the woods
half starved. Her master attempted to reclaim her, but was soundly
thrashed and warned against another attempt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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