Mention has already been made of box burial in connection with the Tlingit
and Haida Shamans. Many Eskimos bury their dead in boxes supported on
posts. The weapons, tools, and utensils of the dead are usually stuck upon
the posts or hung over the boxes. The Ponkas also bury in raised boxes,
and at their present reservation in Oklahoma there are two extensive
cemeteries of this kind.
Among some tribes in the extreme northwestern part of the United States
canoes are used instead of boxes. They are supported above ground by
posts. Usually two canoes are used; the body is placed in the lower,
larger one; the smaller one is turned upside down over the corpse and fits
within the larger. In the Mississippi and Missouri valley region many
Siouan tribes placed their dead upon scaffolds, supported by poles at a
height of six or eight feet in the air. Extensive cemeteries of this kind
used to occupy high points overlooking the rivers; they could be
seen—dreary sights—a long way across the country. Some tribes in wooded
districts placed the dead in trees. Often scaffold and tree burial were
only temporary, the body being later taken elsewhere for permanent burial.
One time, visiting a winter camp of the Sacs and Foxes, far from their
permanent village, we saw a strange bundle in a tree. It was the blanketed
corpse of an old woman who had died a few days before; the party took it
with them when they returned home in the spring.
We should find some of the mourning customs interesting. The friends of
the dead wail and scream fearfully; they cut off their hair; they gash
their bodies; they sometimes even chop off their finger tips or whole
joints. They watch by the grave—this is particularly true of women. Food
and drink are often carried to the grave for some time after the burial.
Fires are kindled to supply light or heat to the soul on its long journey.
[Illustration.]