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
kind of burial.
Bartram [Footnote: Bartram's Travels, 1791, pp. 515.] 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 eldest 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, 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."
Mr. 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"