In a conversation with Mr. Michaux on Indian curiosities, he
informed me that there was an Indian mound on his farm which was
formerly of considerable height, but had gradually been plowed down;
that several mounds in the neighborhood had been excavated, and
nothing of interest found in them. I asked permission to examine
this mound, which was granted, and upon investigation the following
facts were revealed:
Upon reaching the place, I sharpened a stick 4 or 5 feet in length
and ran it down in the earth at several places, and finally struck a
rock about 18 inches below the surface, which, on digging down, was
found to be smooth on top, lying horizontally upon solid earth,
about 18 inches above the bottom of the grave, 18 inches in length,
and 16 inches in width, and from 2 to 3 inches in thickness, with
the corners rounded.
Not finding anything under this rock, I then made an excavation in
the south of the grave, and soon struck another rock, which, upon
examination, proved to be in front of the remains of a human
skeleton in a sitting posture. The bones of the fingers of the right
hand were resting on this rock, and on the rock near the hand was a
small stone about 5 inches long, resembling a tomahawk or Indian
hatchet. Upon a further examination many of the bones were found,
though in a very decomposed condition, and upon exposure to the air
soon crumbled to pieces. The heads of the bones, a considerable
portion of the skull, maxillary bones, teeth, neck bones, and the
vertebra, were in their proper places, though the weight of the
earth above them had driven them down, yet the entire frame was so
perfect that it was an easy matter to trace all the bones; the bones
of the cranium were slightly inclined toward the east. Around the
neck were found coarse beads that seemed to be of some hard
substance and resembled chalk. A small lump of red paint about the
size of an egg was found near the right side of this skeleton. The
sutures of the cranium indicated the subject to have been 25 or 28
years of age, and its top rested about 12 inches below the mark of
the plow.
I made a farther excavation toward the west of this grave and found
another skeleton, similar to the first, in a sitting posture, facing
the east. A rock was on the right, on which the bones of the right
hand were resting, and on this rock was a tomahawk which had been
about 7 inches in length, but was broken into two pieces, and was
much better finished than the first. Beads were also around the neck
of this one, but were much smaller and of finer quality than those
on the neck of the first. The material, however, seems to be the
same. A much larger amount of paint was found by the side of this
than the first. The bones indicated a person of large frame, who,
I think, was about 50 years of age. Everything about this one had
the appearance of superiority over the first. The top of the skull
was about 6 inches below the mark of the plane.
I continued the examination, and, after diligent search, found
nothing at the north side of the grave; but, on reaching the east,
found another skeleton, in the same posture as the others, facing
the west. On the right side of this was a rock on which the bones of
the right hand were resting, and on the rock was also a tomahawk,
which had been about 8 inches in length, but was broken into _three_
pieces, and was composed of much better material, and better
finished than the others. Beads were also found on the neck of this,
but much smaller and finer than those of the others. A larger amount
of paint than both of the others was found near this one. The top of
the cranium had been moved by the plow. The bones indicated a person
of 40 years of age.
There was no appearance of hair discovered; besides, the smaller
bones were almost entirely decomposed, and would crumble when taken
from their bed in the earth. These two circumstances, coupled with
the fact that the farm on which this grave was found was the first
settled in that part of the country, the date of the first deed made
from Lord Granville to John Perkins running back about 150 years
(the land still belonging to the descendants of the same family that
first occupied it), would prove beyond doubt that it is a very old
grave.
The grave was situated due east and west, in size about 9 by 6 feet,
the line being distinctly marked by the difference in the color of
the soil. It was dug in rich, black loam, and filled around the
bodies with white or yellow sand, which I suppose was carried from
the river-bank, 200 yards distant. The skeletons approximated the
walls of the grave, and contiguous to them was a dark-colored earth,
and so decidedly different was this from all surrounding it, both in
quality and odor, that the line of the bodies could be readily
traced. The odor of this decomposed earth, which had been flesh, was
similar to clotted blood, and would adhere in lumps when compressed
in the hand.
This was not the grave of the Indian warriors; in those we find pots
made of earth or stone, and all the implements of war, for the
warrior had an idea that after he arose from the dead he would need,
in the “hunting-grounds beyond,” his bow and arrow, war-hatchet, and
scalping-knife.
The facts set forth will doubtless convince every Mason who will
carefully read the account of this remarkable burial that the
American Indians were in possession of at least some of the
mysteries of our order, and that it was evidently the grave of
Masons, and the three highest officers in a Masonic lodge. The grave
was situated due east and west; an altar was erected in the center;
the south, west, and east were occupied--_the north was not_;
implements of authority were near each body. The difference in the
quality of the beads, the tomahawks in one, two, and three pieces,
and the difference in distance that the bodies were placed from the
surface, indicate beyond doubt that these three persons had been
buried by Masons, and those, too, that understood what they were
doing.
Will some learned Mason unravel this mystery and inform the Masonic
world how the Indians obtained so much Masonic information?
The tomahawks, maxillary bones, some of the teeth, beads, and other
bones, have been forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution at
Washington, D.C., to be placed among the archives of that
institution for exhibition, at which place they may be seen.
Should Dr. Spainhour’s inferences be incorrect, there is still a
remarkable coincidence of circumstances patent to every Mason.
In support of this gentleman’s views, attention is called to the
description of the _Midawan_--a ceremony of initiation for would-be
medicine men--in Schoolcraft’s History of the Indian Tribes of the
United States, 1855, p. 428, relating to the Sioux and Chippewas. In
this account are found certain forms and resemblances which have led
some to believe that the Indians possessed a knowledge of Masonry.
_BURIAL BENEATH, OR IN CABINS, WIGWAMS, OR HOUSES._
While there is a certain degree of similitude between the above-noted
methods and the one to be mentioned subsequently--_lodge_ burial--they
differ, inasmuch as the latter are examples of surface or aerial burial,
and must consequently fall under another caption. The narratives which
are now to be given afford a clear idea of the former kinds of burial.
Bartram[23] relates the following regarding the Muscogulges of the
Carolinas:
The Muscogulges bury their deceased in the earth; they dig a
four-foot, square, deep pit under the cabin, or couch which the
deceased laid on in his house, lining the grave with cypress bark,
when they place the corpse in a sitting posture, as if it were
alive, depositing with him his gun, tomahawk, pipe, and such other
matters as he had the greatest value for in his lifetime. His oldest
wife, or the queen dowager, has the second choice of his
possessions, and the remaining effects are divided among his other
wives and children.
According to Bernard Roman,[24] the “funeral customs of the Chickasaws
did not differ materially from those of the Muscogulges. They interred
the dead as soon as the breath left the body, and beneath the couch in
which the deceased expired.”
The Navajos of New Mexico and Arizona, a tribe living a considerable
distance from the Chickasaws, follow somewhat similar customs, as
related by Dr. John Menard, formerly a physician to their agency:
The Navajo custom is to leave the body where it dies, closing up the
house or hogan or covering the body with stones or brush. In case
the body is removed, it is taken to a cleft in the rocks and thrown
in, and stones piled over. The person touching or carrying the body
first takes off all his clothes and afterwards washes his body with
water before putting them on or mingling with the living. When a
body is removed from a house or hogan, the hogan is burned down, and
the place in every case abandoned, as the belief is that the devil
comes to the place of death and remains where a dead body is. Wild
animals frequently (indeed, generally) get the bodies, and it is a
very easy matter to pick up skulls and bones around old camping
grounds, or where the dead are laid. In case it is not desirable to
abandon a place, the sick person is left out in some lone spot
protected by brush, where they are either abandoned to their fate or
food brought to them until they die. This is done only when all hope
is gone. I have found bodies thus left so well inclosed with brush
that wild animals were unable to get at them; and one so left to die
was revived by a cup of coffee from our house and is still living
and well.
Lieut. George E. Ford, Third United States Cavalry, in a personal
communication to the writer, corroborates the account given by Dr.
Menard, as follows:
This tribe, numbering about 8,000 souls, occupy a reservation in the
extreme northwestern corner of New Mexico and Northeastern Arizona.
The funeral ceremonies of the Navajos are of the most simple
character. They ascribe the death of an individual to the direct
action of _Chinde_, or the devil, and believe that he remains in the
vicinity of the dead. For this reason, as soon as a member of the
tribe dies a shallow grave is dug within the hogan or dwelling by
one of the near male relatives, and into this the corpse is
unceremoniously tumbled by the relatives, who have previously
protected themselves from the evil influence by smearing their naked
bodies with tar from the piñon tree. After the body has thus been
disposed of, the hogan (composed of logs and branches of trees
covered with earth) is pulled down over it and the place deserted.
Should the deceased have no near relatives or was of no importance
in the tribe, the formality of digging a grave is dispensed with,
the hogan being simply leveled over the body. This carelessness does
not appear to arise from want of natural affection for the dead, but
fear of the evil influence of _Chinde_ upon the surviving relatives
causes them to avoid doing anything that might gain for them his
ill-will. A Navajo would freeze sooner than make a fire of the logs
of a fallen hogan, even though from all appearances it may have been
years in that condition. There are no mourning observances other
than smearing the forehead and under the eyes with tar, which is
allowed to remain until worn off, and then not renewed. The deceased
is apparently forgotten, as his name is never spoken by the
survivors for fear of giving offense to _Chinde_.
J. L. Burchard, agent to the Round Valley Indians, of California,
furnishes an account of burial somewhat resembling that of the Navajos:
When I first came here the Indians would dig a round hole in the
ground, draw up the knees of the deceased Indian, and wrap the body
into as small a bulk as possible in blankets, tie them firmly with
cords, place them in the grave, throw in beads, baskets, clothing,
everything owned by the deceased, and often donating much extra; all
gathered around the grave wailing most pitifully, tearing their
faces with their nails till the blood would run down their cheeks,
pull out their hair, and such other heathenish conduct. These
burials were generally made under their thatch houses or very near
thereto. The house where one died was always torn down, removed,
rebuilt, or abandoned. The wailing, talks, &c., were in their own
jargon; none else could understand, and they seemingly knew but
little of its meaning (if there was any meaning in it); it simply
seemed to be the promptings of grief, without sufficient
intelligence to direct any ceremony; each seemed to act out his own
impulse.
The next account, taken from M. Butel de Dumont,[25] relating to the
Paskagoulas and Billoxis of Louisiana, may be considered as an example
of burial in houses, although the author of the work was pleased to
consider the receptacles as temples.
Les Paskagoulas et les Billoxis n’enterent point leur Chef,
lorsqu’il est décédé; mais-ils font sécher son cadavre au feu et à
la fumée de façon qu’ils en font un vrai squelette. Après l’avoir
réduit en cet état, ils le portent au Temple (car ils en ont un
ainsi que les Natchez), et le mettent à la place de son
prédécesseur, qu’ils tirent de l’endroit qu’il occupoit, pour le
porter avec les corps de leurs autres Chefs dans le fond du Temple
où ils sont tous rangés de suite dressés sur leurs pieds comme des
statues. A l’égard du dernier mort, il est exposé à l’entrée de ce
Temple sur une espèce d’autel ou de table faite de cannes, et
couverte d’une natte très-fine travaillée fort proprement en
quarreaux rouges et jaunes avec la peau de ces mêmes cannes. Le
cadavre du Chef est exposé au milieu de cette table droit sur ses
pieds, soutenu par derrière par une longue perche peinte en rouge
dont le bout passe au dessus de sa tête, et à laquelle il est
attaché par le milieu du corps avec une liane. D’une main il tient
un casse-tête ou une petite hache, de l’autre un pipe; et au-dessus
de sa tête, est attaché au bout de la perche qui le soutient, le
Calumet le plus fameux de tous ceux qui lui ont été présentés
pendant sa vie. Du reste cette table n’est guères élevée de terre
que d’un demi-pied; mais elle a au moins six pieds de large et dix
de longueur.
C’est sur cette table qu’on vient tous les jours servir à manger à
ce Chef mort en mettant devant lui des plats de sagamité, du bled
grolé ou boucané, &c. C’est-là aussi qu’au commencement de toutes
les récoltes ses Sujets vont lui offrir les premiers de tous les
fruits qu’ils peuvent recueillir. Tout ce qui lui est présenté de la
sorte reste sur cette table; et comme la porte de ce Temple est
toujours ouverte, qu’il n’y a personne préposé pour y veiller, que
par conséquent y entre qui veut, et que d’ailleurs il est éloigné du
Village d’un grand quart de lieue, il arrive que ce sont
ordinairement des Etrangers, Chasseurs ou Sauvages, qui profitent de
ces mets et de ces fruits, ou qu’ils sont consommés par les animaux.
Mais cela est égal à ces sauvages; et moins il en reste lorsqu’ils
retournent le lendemain, plus ils sont dans la joie, disant que leur
Chef a bien mangé, et que par conséquent il est content d’eux
quoiqu’il les ait abandonnés. Pour leur ouvrir les yeux sur
l’extravagance de cette pratique, on a beau leur représenter ce
qu’ils ne peuvent s’empêcher de voir eux-mêmes, que ce n’est point
ce mort qui mange; ils répondent que si ce n’est pas lui, c’est
toujours lui au moins qui offre à qui il lui plaît ce qui a été mis
sur la table; qu’après tout c’étoit là la pratique de leur père, de
leur mère, de leurs parens; qu’ils n’ont pas plus d’esprit qu’eux,
et qu’ils ne sauroient mieux faire que de suivre leur example.
C’est aussi devant cette table, que pendant quelques mois la veuve
du Chef, ses enfans, ses plus proches parens, viennent de tems en
tems lui rendre visite et lui faire leur harangue, comme s’il étoit
en état de les entendre. Les uns lui demandent pourquoi il s’est
laissé mourir avant eux? d’autres lui disent que s’il est mort ce
n’est point leur faute; que c’est lui même qui s’est tué par telle
débauche on par tel effort; enfin s’il y a eu quelque défaut dans
son gouvernement, on prend ce tems-là pour le lui reprocher.
Cependant ils finissent toujours leur harangue, en lui disant de
n’être pas fâché contre eux, de bien manger, et qu’ils auront
toujours bien soin de lui.
Another example of burial in houses may be found in vol. vi of the
publications of the Hakluyt Society, 1849, p. 89, taken from Strachey’s
Virginia. It is given more as a curious narrative of an early writer on
American ethnology than for any intrinsic value it may possess as a
truthful relation of actual events. It relates to the Indians of
Virginia:
Within the chauncell of the temple, by the Okens, are the
cenotaphies or the monuments of their kings, whose bodyes, so soon
as they be dead, they embowell, and, scraping the flesh from off the
bones, they dry the same upon hurdells into ashes, which they put
into little potts (like the anncyent urnes): the annathomy of the
bones they bind together or case up in leather, hanging braceletts,
or chaines of copper, beads, pearle, or such like, as they used to
wear about most of their joints and neck, and so repose the body
upon a little scaffold (as upon a tomb), laying by the dead bodies’
feet all his riches in severall basketts, his apook, and pipe, and
any one toy, which in his life he held most deare in his fancy;
their inwards they stuff with pearle, copper, beads, and such trash,
sowed in a skynne, which they overlapp againe very carefully in whit
skynnes one or two, and the bodyes thus dressed lastly they rowle in
matte, as for wynding sheets, and so lay them orderly one by one, as
they dye in their turnes, upon an arche standing (as aforesaid) for
the tomb, and thes are all the ceremonies we yet can learne that
they give unto their dead. We heare of no sweet oyles or oyntments
that they use to dresse or chest their dead bodies with; albeit they
want not of the pretious rozzin running out of the great cedar,
wherewith in the old time they used to embalme dead bodies, washing
them in the oyle and licoure thereof. Only to the priests the care
of these temples and holy interments are committed, and these
temples are to them as solitary Asseteria colledged or ministers to
exercise themselves in contemplation, for they are seldome out of
them, and therefore often lye in them and maynteyne contynuall fier
in the same, upon a hearth somewhat neere the east end.
For their ordinary burialls they digg a deepe hole in the earth with
sharpe stakes, and the corps being lapped in skynns and matts with
their jewells, they laye uppon sticks in the ground, and soe cover
them with earth; the buryall ended, the women (being painted all
their faces with black coale and oyle) do sitt twenty-four howers in
their howses, mourning and lamenting by turnes, with such yelling
and howling as may expresse their great passions.
While this description brings the subject under the head before
given--house burial--at the same time it might also afford an example of
embalmment or mummifying.
Figure 1 may be referred to as a probable representation of the temple
or charnel-house described.
The modes of burial described in the foregoing accounts are not to be
considered rare; for among certain tribes in Africa similar practices
prevailed. For instance, the Bari of Central Africa, according to the
Rev. J. G. Wood,[26] bury their dead within the inclosure of the
home-stead, fix a pole in the ground, and fasten to it certain emblems.
The Apingi, according to the same author, permit the corpse to remain in
its dwelling until it falls to pieces. The bones are then collected and
deposited on the ground a short distance from the village. The Latookas
bury within the inclosure of a man’s house, although the bones are
subsequently removed, placed in an earthen jar, and deposited outside
the village. The Kaffirs bury their head-men within the cattle
inclosure, the graves of the common people being made outside, and the
Bechuanas follow the same general plan.
The following description of Damara burial, from the work quoted above
(p. 314), is added as containing an account of certain details which
resemble somewhat those followed by North American Indians. In the
narrative it will be seen that house burial was followed only if
specially desired by the expiring person:
When a Damara chief dies, he is buried in rather a peculiar fashion.
As soon as life is extinct--some say even before the last breath is
drawn--the bystanders break the spine by a blow from a large stone.
They then unwind the long rope that encircles the loins, and lash
the body together in a sitting posture, the head being bent over the
knees. Ox-hides are then tied over it, and it is buried with its
face to the north, as already described when treating of the
Bechuanas. Cattle are then slaughtered in honor of the dead chief,
and over the grave a post is erected, to which the skulls and hair
are attached as a trophy. The bow, arrows, assagai, and clubs of the
deceased are hung on the same post. Large stones are pressed into
the soil above and around the grave, and a large pile of thorns is
also heaped over it, in order to keep off the hyenas, who would be
sure to dig up and devour the body before the following day. The
grave of a Damara chief is represented on page 302. Now and then a
chief orders that his body shall be left in his own house, in which
case it is laid on an elevated platform, and a strong fence of
thorns and stakes built round the hut.
The funeral ceremonies being completed, the new chief forsakes the
place and takes the whole of the people under his command. He
remains at a distance for several years, during which time he wears
the sign of mourning, i.e., a dark-colored conical cap, and round
the neck a thong, to the ends of which are hung two small pieces of
ostrich-shell. When the season of mourning is over, the tribe
return, headed by the chief, who goes to the grave of his father,
kneels over it, and whispers that he has returned, together with the
cattle and wives which his father gave him. He then asks for his
parent’s aid in all his undertakings, and from that moment takes the
place which his father filled before him. Cattle are then
slaughtered, and a feast held to the memory of the dead chief and in
honor of the living one, and each person present partakes of the
meat, which is distributed by the chief himself. The deceased chief
symbolically partakes of the banquet. A couple of twigs cut from the
tree of the particular eanda to which the deceased belonged are
considered as his representative, and with this emblem each piece of
meat is touched before the guests consume it. In like manner, the
first pail of milk that is drawn is taken to the grave and poured
over it.
_CAVE BURIAL._
Natural or artificial holes in the ground, caverns, and fissures in
rocks have been used as places of deposit for the dead since the
earliest periods of time, and are used up to the present day by not only
the American Indians, but by peoples noted for their mental elevation
and civilization, our cemeteries furnishing numerous specimens of
artificial or partly artificial caves. As to the motives which have
actuated this mode of burial, a discussion would be out of place at this
time, except as may incidentally relate to our own Indians, who, so far
as can be ascertained, simply adopt caves as ready and convenient
resting places for their deceased relatives and friends.
In almost every State in the Union burial caves have been discovered,
but as there is more or less of identity between them, a few
illustrations will serve the purpose of calling the attention of
observers to the subject.
While in the Territory of Utah, in 1872, the writer discovered a natural
cave not far from the House Range of mountains, the entrance to which
resembled the shaft of a mine. In this the Gosi-Ute Indians had
deposited their dead, surrounded with different articles, until it was
quite filled up; at least it so appeared from the cursory examination
made, limited time preventing a careful exploration. In the fall of the
same year another cave was heard of, from an Indian guide, near the
Nevada border, in the same Territory, and an attempt made to explore it,
which failed for reasons to be subsequently given. This Indian,
a Gosi-Ute, who was questioned regarding the funeral ceremonies of his
tribe, informed the writer that not far from the very spot where the
party were encamped, was a large cave in which he had himself assisted
in placing dead members of his tribe. He described it in detail and drew
a rough diagram of its position and appearance within. He was asked if
an entrance could be effected, and replied that he thought not, as some
years previous his people had stopped up the narrow entrance to prevent
game from seeking a refuge in its vast vaults, for he asserted that it
was so large and extended so far under ground that no man knew its full
extent. In consideration, however, of a very liberal bribe, after many
refusals, he agreed to act as guide. A rough ride of over an hour and
the desired spot was reached. It was found to be almost upon the apex of
a small mountain apparently of volcanic origin, for the hole which was
pointed out appeared to have been the vent of the crater. This entrance
was irregularly circular in form and descended at an angle. As the
Indian had stated, it was completely stopped up with large stones and
roots of sage brash, and it was only after six hours of uninterrupted,
faithful labor that the attempt to explore was abandoned. The guide was
asked if many bodies were therein, and replied “Heaps, heaps,” moving
the hands upwards as far they could be stretched. There is no reason to
doubt the accuracy of the information received, as it was voluntarily
imparted.
In a communication received from Dr. A. J. McDonald, physician to the
Los Pinos Indian Agency, Colorado, a description is given of crevice or
rock-fissure burial, which follows:
As soon as death takes place the event is at once announced by the
medicine man, and without loss of time the squaws are busily engaged
in preparing the corpse for the grave. This does not take long;
whatever articles of clothing may have been on the body at the time
of death are not removed. The dead man’s limbs are straightened out,
his weapons of war laid by his side, and his robes and blankets
wrapped securely and snugly around him, and now everything is ready
for burial. It is the custom to secure if possible, for the purpose
of wrapping up the corpse, the robes and blankets in which the
Indian died. At the same time that the body is being fitted for
internment, the squaws having immediate care of it, together with
all the other squaws in the neighborhood, keep up a continued chant
or dirge, the dismal cadence of which may, when the congregation of
women is large, be heard for quite a long distance. The death song
is not a mere inarticulate howl of distress; it embraces expressions
eulogistic in character, but whether or not any particular formula
of words is adopted on such occasion is a question which I am
unable, with the materials at my disposal, to determine with any
degree of certainty.
The next duty falling to the lot of the squaws is that of placing
the dead man on a horse and conducting the remains to the spot
chosen for burial. This is in the cleft of a rock, and, so far as
can be ascertained, it has always been customary among the Utes to
select sepulchers of this character. From descriptions given by Mr.
Harris, who has several times been fortunate enough to discover
remains, it would appear that no superstitious ideas are held by
this tribe with respect to the position in which the body is placed,
the space accommodation of the sepulcher probably regulating this
matter; and from the same source I learn that it is not usual to
find the remains of more than one Indian deposited in one grave.
After the body has been received into the cleft, it is well covered
with pieces of rock, to protect it against the ravages of wild
animals. The chant ceases, the squaws disperse, and the burial
ceremonies are at an end. The men during all this time have not been
idle, though they have in no way participated in the preparation of
the body, have not joined the squaws in chanting praises to the
memory of the dead, and have not even as mere spectators attended
the funeral, yet they have had their duties to perform. In
conformity with a long-established custom, all the personal property
of the deceased is immediately destroyed. His horses and his cattle
are shot, and his wigwam, furniture, &c., burned. The performance of
this part of the ceremonies is assigned to the men; a duty quite in
accord with their taste and inclinations. Occasionally the
destruction of horses and other properly is of considerable
magnitude, but usually this is not the case, owing to a practice
existing with them of distributing their property among their
children while they are of a very tender age, retaining to
themselves only what is necessary to meet every-day requirements.
The widow “goes into mourning” by smearing her face with a substance
composed of pitch and charcoal. The application is made but once,
and is allowed to remain on until it wears off. This is the only
mourning observance of which I have any knowledge.
The ceremonies observed on the death of a female are the same as
those in the case of a male, except that no destruction of property
takes place, and of course no weapons are deposited with the corpse.
Should a youth die while under the superintendence of white men, the
Indians will not as a role have anything to do with the interment of
the body. In a case of the kind which occurred at this agency some
time ago, the squaws prepared the body in the usual manner; the men
of the tribe selected a spot for the burial, and the employee at the
agency, after digging a grave and depositing the corpse therein,
filled it up according to the fashion of civilized people, and then
at the request of the Indians rolled large fragments of rocks on
top. Great anxiety was exhibited by the Indians to have the employes
perform the service as expeditiously as possible.
Within the past year Ouray, the Ute chief living at the Los Pinos
agency, died and was buried, so far as could be ascertained, in a rock
fissure or cave 7 or 8 miles from the agency.
An interesting cave in Calaveras County, California, which had been used
for burial purposes, is thus described by Prof. J. D. Whitney:[27]
The following is an account of the cave from which the skulls, now
in the Smithsonian collection, were taken: It is near the Stanislaus
River, in Calaveras County, on a nameless creek, about two miles
from Abbey’s Ferry, on the road to Vallicito, at the house of Mr.
Robinson. There were two or three persons with me, who had been to
the place before and knew that the skulls in question were taken
from it. Their visit was some ten years ago, and since that the
condition of things in the cave has greatly changed. Owing to some
alteration in the road, mining operations, or some other cause which
I could not ascertain, there has accumulated on the formerly clean
stalagmitic floor of the cave a thickness of some 20 feet of surface
earth that completely conceals the bottom, and which could not be
removed without considerable expense. This cave is about 27 feet
deep at the mouth and 40 to 50 feet at the end, and perhaps 30 feet
in diameter. It is the general opinion of those who have noticed
this cave and saw it years ago that it was a burying-place of the
present Indians. Dr. Jones said he found remains of bows and arrows
and charcoal with the skulls he obtained, and which were destroyed
at the time the village of Murphy’s was burned. All the people spoke
of the skulls as lying on the surface and not as buried in the
stalagmite.
The next description of cave burial, by W. H. Dall,[28] is so remarkable
that it seems worthy of admittance to this paper. It relates probably to
the Innuits of Alaska.
The earliest remains of man found in Alaska up to the time of
writing I refer to this epoch [Echinus layer of Dall]. There are
some crania found by us in the lowermost part of the Amaknak cave
and a cranium obtained at Adakh, near the anchorage in the Bay of
Islands. These were deposited in a remarkable manner, precisely
similar to that adopted by most of the continental Innuit, but
equally different from the modern Aleut fashion. At the Amaknak cave
we found what at first appeared to be a wooden inclosure, but which
proved to be made of the very much decayed supra-maxillary bones of
some large cetacean. These were arranged so as to form a rude
rectangular inclosure covered over with similar pieces of bone. This
was somewhat less than 4 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 18 inches deep.
The bottom was formed of flat pieces of stone. Three such were found
close together, covered with and filled by an accumulation of fine
vegetable and organic mold. In each was the remains of a skeleton in
the last stages of decay. It had evidently been tied up in the
Innuit fashion to get it into its narrow house, but all the bones,
with the exception of the skull, were minced to a soft paste, or
even entirely gone. At Adakh a fancy prompted me to dig into a small
knoll near the ancient shell-heap, and here we found, in a precisely
similar sarcophagus, the remains of a skeleton, of which also only
the cranium retained sufficient consistency to admit of
preservation. This inclosure, however, was filled with a dense peaty
mass not reduced to mold, the result of centuries of sphagnous
growth, which had reached a thickness of nearly 2 feet above the
remains. When we reflect upon the well-known slowness of this kind
of growth in these northern regions, attested by numerous Arctic
travelers, the antiquity of the remains becomes evident.
It seems beyond doubt that in the majority of cases, especially as
regards the caves of the Western States and Territories, the interments
were primary ones, and this is likewise true of many of the caverns of
Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, for in the three States mentioned many
mummies have been found, but it is also likely that such receptacles
were largely used as places of secondary deposits. The many fragmentary
skeletons and loose bones found seem to strengthen this view.