Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1893-01-12

] r.
/ triOtism, exploits and influence Of the
deceased. The corpse is then carried
/ by four pall-bearers, selected from the
/ young braves, from the hurdle to the
/ grave, which IS about six feet deep and
/ eight feet long. At each end of the
/ grave stands deep driven down, pine
/ pitchfork. The bottom Of the grave is
then covered with bark.
/ The corpse is then lowered very slow
/ ~ by two belts, with which the Indians
carry their burdens A ridgepole is then
+ laid across the grave in the forks and
+ then rooted over with pitch pine logs.
+ These are covered over and over with
/ bark, on which the earth dug from the
/ grave IS thrown and beaten down Thus
/ the body lies in vault. nothing touch
/ ing it, practically mummhed by the
/ embalming pitch process Of the pine.
! After a time the body is exhumed, the
/ bones cleaned and laid in an ossuary.
! The dead was spoken to by mediciue
men, who sped him on his way The
J Sacs and Foxes observe this manner of
i burial in their mortuary customs. The
] Otoe and Missouri tribes followed
/ somewhat this mode of burial, with
/ slight variations. The Indian women
cut their hair off Then the relatives
adanced tomahawk to drive away the
death spirit.
The Pimas of Arizona bury their dead
! by night. Sometimes after the graves
are dug the sick recover In that case
the grave is always left open till the
person dies. The place Of burial is al
ways, II possible, in a grove Of mes
quite trees The custom of destroying
all the personal effects of the husband
when he dies impoverishes the bride.
As consequence women do not care to
have many children and infanticide
prevails to great extent The Yukis
of California adopt the same custom.
The Comanches of the Indian terri
tory adopt precisely the other extreme
Before a person dies his knees are
doubled up and the head bent down
upon the knees. The dying person is
roped firmly in this position. blanket
is wrapped round the body and roped
The body is then placed in a sitting
posture in saddle on a pony, for a
Comanche is all Workmanship 70 the
last, squaw riding behind to hold the
body up. AS soon as the grave is
reached the corpse is literally tumbled
In. The grave is found generally at the
heads Of canyons or deep washes.
Broken bows and arrows are thrown in
after the body. A pony is killed and
away rides the spirit Of the departed to
the happy hunting grounds.
The Pueblos of New Mexico bury
their dead horizontally in the grave and
level it with the ground, so that you
cannot find it. They paint the body
and put ornaments in the grave, and
also food to feed the departed on his
journey. A wake, with lighted candles,
followed by supper, precedes the bur
ial. The Pueblos howl over the body,
mourn for one year, have high mass said
for the repose of the soul and are hap
Ply. The Wichita Indians of the tat
tooed eyelids cry the town at death,
ride the corpse to the grave on pony,
build a palisade of poles round the
grave and shave off the grass within.
The relatives do not as a rule go to the
grave. The Caddoes or Timber Indians
leave their dead, If killed in battle, to
be devoured by birds or beasts of prey.
Outside Of this instance they follow the
foregoing custom.
The Parsee towers Of silence on Mala-
bar hill filled with dead and crowned
with circle { living vultures, waiting
70 glut tn greed upon the bodies
below, are a type Of this. They
have in a rude way their followers /
among the Indians. though the exeep-
tions are few. The Trinity and Klamath
Indians of the Nor invest coast bury in
a grave with a circular stone coping, on
which the birds sit
Black Bird, the great war chief of the
Omahas, at his own request was buried
on the top of high hill, logged out in
all his plumed finery and seated astride
the back of his living snow-white steed.
Gradually the turfs We're heaped around
the limps and TANKS of the animal,
covering him all over the body as they
rose higher and higher, till at last only
the nozzle of the noble brute peeped
out of the mound for a last breath,
when with singis large turf the
smooth mound closed over forever and
not struggle beneath its smooth surface
told the story of the living steed that
lay folded beneath it.
There is stir another form of burial.
II IS aquatic burial The Karague
bury their common people by sinking
their bodies in a stream. Sometimes a
canoe is turned adrift on stream or
over fall. Niagara has seen many
such funeral both of the dead and of
the living. There are a few very de-
PRAYED tribes who eat their dead and
thus become living sepulchres entombed
with the departed.
Posts, with Indian characters graved I
on them, are sometimes placed at the
heads of graves, fires are llindled,
dances are performed. sacrifices offered.
feasts made and gambling INDUCED in
with plum stones, Enthusiastically
marked. The superstitions INDUCED in
are as sadly grotesque and as cruelty
imperious as the ignorance Of the prim-
tive race can make them
The Indian breads death. He will
take no open or even chances for his