Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-08-18
CiviIIzIng the sayares.

Indian Agent G. A. Huntington writes
70 the Pacific Christian Advocate of
Portland, Oregon, from Meath Bay In
dian reservation, an account of the first
CHRISTIAN burial among the Makah tribe
Of Indians. He says:
The fear Of a human r the fear
of being brought in contact with II. or
with anything that has touched ID IL
absolutely pitiable, as it is seen
among the0 Indians. A little girl
connected with our mission school died
this morning, June Ia, and it was resolved
to give her a Christian burial. The In.
dian mode is to remove the corpse off the
premises instantly after the breath leaves
the body, and as they have a supersti.
ton that if carried through the door of
the house, the first person that passes
through the door is doomed 10 die soon
atterward, the general custom is to make
an opening through the side Of the house
through which the body is passed out,
and then the opening is closed. This
makes the exit of the dead possible
without e%ndangering the lie of
the other inmates. But the body
OF this child was taken in charge by the
agent. She was properly laid out inn
mediately after death, and none of the
Indians were allowed to interfere while
a good coffin was made by the reservation
carpenter. A grave was dug at a point
near where the school is kept, the
funeral was appointed at 3 o'clock, and
all the Indians invited to attend. The
distance from Neah bayt the grave is
two miles, and it was necessary to carry
the coffin in a canoe. The head chief of
the tribe, q man of more intelligence
and more manhood than any other
Indian in the tribe, was ordered
to take the corpse into the
canoe, with the mother Of the
deceased, and carry them to the placeof
burial. The chief did not object to do
this. He never objects to any order Of
the agent, however disagreeable. he is
Railways prompt to obey any request. The
coffin was brought to the beach, some
hundred yards from the grave, where the
school and the agents family met it in
procession. The purpose was to have
the Indian boys at the school act as
bearers. This they we're all afraid to do.
But it was q point to gain to induce
some Of them to do this service.
Out Of twelve boys, four were induced
by persuasion, amounting almost to com
pulsion, to put a hand to the bier and
bear the coffin to the grave. The lid was
then lifted, and all the school children
brought zeal to view the face Of the
corpse, an act that caused the children
much fear, and to the older Indians it
seemed horrible. The school thus stand
ing around the grave sang the familiar
school song, REST for the Weary" and
after prayer, offered by the agent, the
other sweet hymn, There is a Beauti-
full Land on High" when the coffin
was lowered and buried. But the
fact of most significant import
remains yet to be stated, a fact that re-
veals the deep seated superstition Of
those people. Do you think that canoe
in which the chief conveyed that corpse
was ever to be used again? By no means.
Having been the receptacle of a coffin
containing a human corpse, it must
never again be used as a vehicle for the
living. And the owner demolished it on
the spot, in no spirit Of anger toward the
agent who had ordered a duty evidently
revolving to his feelings, but more in the
spirit of a willing sacrifice upon the
alter Of his superstition.