The Delta independent., 1888-04-17
when tho funeral honors had beea

when tho funeral honors had been
performed by the medicine men, every
warrior painted the palm and fingers
of his right hand with vermillion and
impressed them on the milk white sides
of the horse. Sods were next placed
around the feet and legs of the animal
and gradually up its sides, until the
whole of its body was thus entombed.
and even the eagle plumes of the chief
were hidden.
This curious grave was to be seen at
Omaha for many years, but We believe
it has now disappeared.
Cairn, or rock burial, is common
among the tribes living in the Rocky
Mountains and the Sierra Nevada. A
cavity is formed in the rock slide of
high mountain and is lined with skins.
In this the body is deposited with
weapons. ornaments and other articles,
and covered with the saplings of noun
tain aspens. Boulders are piled on top
of it to form cairn, which is high
enough, in most instances, to cover an
elephant.
Cremation is most common among
the Indians west of the Rocky Noun
tains, and is attended with elaborate
ceremonies. AS the body lies upon
its funeral pyre, the survivors place
coins in the ears and hands. and it is
robed in all the finery Of life-man-
ties, plumes, fancy bows and painted
arrows. When the torch is applied
the spectators chant and dance around
it, gradually working themselves into
wild, ecstatic raving, during which
many of them Iacerate themselves
severely. AS the flames increase and
acrarS tho paon1a fhrou, offar;p ,,pon
the fire and do not scruple to sacrifice
their most valuable possessions. They
| cast upon it their clothing, blankets and
ornaments.
On one occasion, to test the sincerity
of young chief who was about to
burn his valuable Californian blankets,
a white man offered him sixteen dollars
for them, jingling the coins before his
eyes, but the savage, otherwise so
avaricious, hurled the money away from
him with yell of execration, and ran
and threw his offering into the flames.
The squaws fling upon the pyre their
dearest ornaments, their gaudiest
dresses, their strings of glittering shells.
Some of them throw themselves into
the flames, and would perish but for
the interference of their friends.
The friends are not always so con-
siderate, however. Among other
tribes the squaw of the dead
warrior is sometimes grossly ill-treated
during the ceremony. She is flung
upon tho pyre, and is scorched and
singed until she becomes unconscious
For some time afterward she is
treated as a slaye. She must obey all
the orders of all the women, and even
of the children belonging to the village.
| She must keep the grave in which the
ashes of her husband are deposited free
from weeds, and she is frequently
beaten by his relatives, The intention
of all this cruelty is to make her grief
sincere, and to make her truly lament
the death which has brought this suf-
fering upon her!
If she survives the treatment for
three or four years, it is considered that
she has sufficiently mourned the depart
ed. She is restored to independence in
the tribe; her conduct as q widow is
publicly extolled, and she is at liberty
| to marry again. 1t would be singular,
however, if she is willing to run the
risk of second widowhood.
Tree and scaffold burial prevail to a
great extent at the present time. Our
readers know how often in pictures OF
the plains the mortuary scaffolds ap-
pear against the long, wild reach OF
horizon. They are as much an element
| of the scene as the peaked lodge of the
Indian, or the whitened bones of the
cattle which have perished during the
winter storms.
Four stout posts, with forked ends,
are firmly set in the ground, and upon
them @ flooring is laid. On this the
body is placed in n waterproof wrap
ping, and baskets and buckets contain
ing food and drinks are hung up beside
it.
The practical purpose of burial in this
manner is to protect the body from the
wolves and bears which would dig il
up were it inferred in the ground; but it
also has an occult religious significance.
The Indians, like the peasants OF
European countries, are showing the
influence of civilization in abandoning
many of their superstitious rites; and as
they trust less to their medicine men
than to the physicians at the froaeier
towns and army posts, they find less
occasion for blrials. Youths Com
panion.