A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American IndiansYarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
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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
The Shoshones living on Independence Creek and on the eastern banks
of the Owyhee River, upper portion of Nevada, did not bury their
dead at the time of my visit in 1871. Whenever the person died, his
lodge (usually constructed of poles and branches of _Salix_) was
demolished and placed in one confused mass over his remains, when
the band removed a short distance. When the illness is not too
great, or death sudden, the sick person is removed to a favorable
place, some distance from their temporary camping ground, so as to
avoid the necessity of their own removal. Coyotes, ravens, and other
carnivores soon remove all the flesh so that there remains nothing
but the bones, and even these are scattered by the wolves. The
Indians at Tuscarora, Nevada, stated that when it was possible and
that they should by chance meet the bony remains of any Shoshone,
they would bury it, but in what manner I failed to discover as the
were very reticent, and avoided giving any information regarding the
dead. One corpse was found totally dried and shrivelled, owing to
the dryness of the atmosphere in this region.
Capt. F. W. Beechey[60] describes a curious mode of burial among the
Esquimaux on the west coast of Alaska, which appears to be somewhat
similar to lodge burial. Figure 11, after his illustration, affords a
good idea of these burial receptacles.
Near us there was a burying ground, which in addition to what we had
already observed at Cape Espenburg furnished several examples of the
manner in which this tribe of natives dispose of their dead. In some
instances a platform was constructed of drift-wood raised about two
feet and a quarter from the ground, upon which the body was placed,
with its head to the westward and a double tent of drift-wood
erected over it, the inner one with spars about seven feet long, and
the outer one with some that were three times that length. They were
placed close together, and at first no doubt sufficiently so to
prevent the depredations of foxes and wolves, but they had yielded
at last, and all the bodies, and even the hides that covered them,
had suffered by these rapacious animals.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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