_LODGE-BURIAL._
Our attention should next be turned to sepulture above the ground,
including lodge, house, box, scaffold, tree, and canoe burial, and the
first example which may be given is that of burial in lodges, which is
by no means common. The description which follows is by Stansbury,[59]
and relates to the Sioux:
I put on my moccasins, and, displaying my wet shirt like a flag to
the wind, we proceeded to the lodges which had attracted our
curiosity. There were five of them pitched upon the open prairie,
and in them we found the bodies of nine Sioux laid out upon the
ground, wrapped in their robes of buffalo-skin, with their saddles,
spears, camp-kettles, and all their accoutrements piled up around
them. Some lodges contained three, others only one body, all of
which were more or less in a state of decomposition. A short
distance apart from these was one lodge which, though small, seemed
of rather superior pretensions, and was evidently pitched with great
care. It contained the body of a young Indian girl of sixteen or
eighteen years, with a countenance presenting quite an agreeable
expression: she was richly dressed in leggins of fine scarlet cloth
elaborately ornamented; a new pair of moccasins, beautifully
embroidered with porcupine quills, was on her feet, and her body was
wrapped in two superb buffalo-robes worked in like manner; she had
evidently been dead but a day or two, and to our surprise a portion
of the upper part of her person was bare, exposing the face and a
part of the breast, as if the robes in which she was wrapped had by
some means been disarranged, whereas all the other bodies were
closely covered up. It was, at the time, the opinion of our
mountaineers, that these Indians must have fallen in an encounter
with a party of Crows; but I subsequently learned that they had all
died of the cholera, and that this young girl, being considered past
recovery, had been arranged by her friends in the habiliments of the
dead, inclosed in the lodge alive, and abandoned to her fate, so
fearfully alarmed were the Indians by this to them novel and
terrible disease.
It might, perhaps, be said that this form of burial was exceptional, and
due to the dread of again using the lodges which had served as the homes
of those afflicted with the cholera, but it is thought such was not the
case, as the writer has notes of the same kind of burial among the same
tribe and of others, notably the Crows, the body of one of their chiefs
(Long Horse) being disposed of as follows:
The lodge poles inclose an oblong circle some 18 by 22 feet at the
base, converging to a point, at least 30 feet high, covered with
buffalo-hides dressed without hair except a part of the tail switch,
which floats outside like, and mingled with human scalps. The
different skins are neatly fitted and sewed together with sinew, and
all painted in seven alternate horizontal stripes of brown and
yellow, decorated with various lifelike war scenes. Over the small
entrance is a large bright cross, the upright being a large stuffed
white wolf-skin upon his war lance, and the cross-bar of bright
scarlet flannel, containing the quiver of bow and arrows, which
nearly all warriors still carry, even when armed with repeating
rifles. As the cross is not a pagan but a Christian (which Long
Horse was not either by profession or practice) emblem, it was
probably placed there by the influence of some of his white friends.
I entered, finding Long Horse buried Indian fashion, in full war
dress, paint and feathers, in a rude coffin, upon a platform about
breast high, decorated with weapons, scalps, and ornaments. A large
opening and wind-flap at the top favored ventilation, and though he
had lain there in an open coffin a full month, some of which was hot
weather, there was but little effluvia; in fact, I have seldom found
much in a burial-teepee, and when this mode of burial is thus
performed it is less repulsive than natural to suppose.
This account is furnished by Col. P. W. Norris, superintendent of
Yellowstone National Park, he having been an eye-witness of what he
relates in 1876; and although the account has been questioned, it is
admitted for the reason that this gentleman persists, after a reperusal
of his article, that the facts are correct.
General Stewart Van Vliet, U.S.A., informs the writer that among the
Sioux of Wyoming and Nebraska when a person of consequence dies a small
scaffold is erected inside his lodge and the body wrapped in skins
deposited therein. Different utensils and weapons are placed by his
side, and in front a horse is slaughtered; the lodge is then closed up.
Dr. W. J. Hoffman writes as follows regarding the burial lodges of the
Shoshones of Nevada:
The Shoshones of the upper portion of Nevada are not known to have
at any time practiced cremation. In Independence Valley, under a
deserted and demolished _wickeup_ or “brush tent,” I found the
dried-up corpse of a boy, about twelve years of age. The body had
been here for at least six weeks, according to information received,
and presented a shriveled and hideous appearance. The dryness of the
atmosphere prevented decomposition. The Indians in this region
usually leave the body when life terminates, merely throwing over it
such rubbish as may be at hand, or the remains of their primitive
shelter tents, which are mostly composed of small branches, leaves,
grass, &c.
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.
In these tents of the dead there were no coffins or planks, as at
Cape Espenburg, the bodies were dressed in a frock made of eider
duck skins, with one of deer skin over it, and were covered with a
sea horse hide, such as the natives use for their _baidars_.
Suspended to the poles, and on the ground near them, were several
Esquimaux implements, consisting of wooden trays, paddles, and a
tamborine, which, we were informed as well as signs could convey the
meaning of the natives, were placed there for the use of the
deceased, who, in the next world (pointing to the western sky) ate,
drank, and sang songs. Having no interpreter, this was all the
information I could obtain, but the custom of placing such
instruments around the receptacles of the dead is not unusual, and
in all probability the Esquimaux may believe that the soul has
enjoyments in the next world similar to those which constitute their
happiness in this.
The Blackfeet, Cheyennes, and Navajos also bury in lodges, and the
Indians of Bellingham Bay, according to Dr. J. F. Hammond, U.S.A., place
their dead in carved wooden sarcophagi, inclosing these with a
rectangular tent of some white material. Some of the tribes of the
northwest coast bury in houses similar to those shown in Figure 12.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Burial Houses.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Eskimo lodge burial.]
Bancroft[61] states that certain of the Indians of Costa Rica, when a
death occurred, deposited the body in a small hut constructed of plaited
palm reeds. In this it is preserved for three years, food being
supplied, and on each anniversary of the death it is redressed and
attended to amid certain ceremonies. The writer has been recently
informed that a similar custom prevailed in Demerara. No authentic
accounts are known of analogous modes of burial among the peoples of the
Old World, although quite frequently the dead were interred beneath the
floors of their houses, a custom which has been followed by the Mosquito
Indians of Central America and one or two of our own tribes.
_BOX-BURIAL._
Under this head may be placed those examples furnished by certain tribes
on the northwest coast who used as receptacles for the dead wonderfully
carved, large wooden chests, these being supported upon a low platform
or resting on the ground. In shape they resemble a small house with an
angular roof, and each one has an opening through which food may be
passed to the corpse.
Some of the tribes formerly living in New York used boxes much
resembling those spoken of, and the Creeks, Choctaws, and Cherokees did
the same.
Capt. J. H. Gageby, United States Army, furnishes the following relating
to the Creeks in Indian Territory.
* * * 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.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Innuit Grave.]