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
"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:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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