An Introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American IndiansYarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
History
An Introduction to the mortuary customs of the North American Indians
Yarrow, H. C. (Harry Crécy)
Indians of North America -- Funeral customs and rites
"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:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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