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
* * * 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.
Josiah Priest[62] gives an account of the burial repositories of a tribe
of Pacific coast Indians living on the Talomeco River, Oregon. The
writer believes it to be entirely unreliable and gives it place as an
example of credulity shown by many writers and readers.
The corpses of the Caciques were so well embalmed that there was no
bad smell, they were deposited in large wooden coffins, well
constructed, and placed upon benches two feet from the ground. In
smaller coffins, and in baskets, the Spaniards found the clothes of
the deceased men and women, and so many pearls that they distributed
them among the officers and soldiers by handsfulls.
In Bancroft[63] may be found the following account of the burial boxes
of the Esquimaux.
The Eskimos do not as a rule bury their dead, but double the body up
and place it on the side in a plank box which is elevated three or
four feet from the ground and supported by four posts. The grave-box
is often covered with painted figures of birds, fishes and animals.
Sometimes it is wrapped in skins placed upon an elevated frame and
covered with planks or trunks of trees so as to protect it from wild
beasts. Upon the frame, or in the grave box are deposited the arms,
clothing, and sometimes the domestic utensils of the deceased.
Frequent mention is made by travelers of burial places where the
bodies lie exposed with their heads placed towards the north.
Frederic Whymper[64] describes the burial boxes of the Kalosh of that
Territory.
Their grave boxes or tombs are interesting. They contain only the
ashes of the dead. These people invariably burn the deceased. On one
of the boxes I saw a number of faces painted, long tresses of human
hair depending therefrom. Each head represented a victim of the
(happily) deceased one’s ferocity. In his day he was doubtless more
esteemed than if he had never harmed a fly. All their graves are
much ornamented with carved and painted faces and other devices.
W. H. Dall,[65] well known as one of the most experienced and careful of
American Ethnologic observers, describes the burial boxes of the Innuits
of Unalaklik, Innuits of Yuka, and Ingaliks of Ulukuk as follows: Figs.
13 and 14 are after his illustrations in the volume noted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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