Arizona silver belt., 1893-10-07
MoJAve FUNERAL RITES.
Grief and Appetite Go Hand hi Hand at
 Thns., Cnrn,,,n,,Inn

| Grief and Appetite Go Hand hi Hand at
 These Ceremonies.
 On the banks of the lower Colorado,
 amons the gravel mesas and mesquite
 covered valleys, live the Mohave Indians,
 having their commercial headquarters at
 The Needles, Cal, famed as the hottest
 place in the United States excepting
 Death valley, and their seat of learning,
 supported by the government at Fort Mohave, A. T. In western Arizona, where
 Enow and ice arc unknown, clothing is
 useless except for ornament, and the mesquite tree bears all the food needed
 tosustain life, we find the Mohaye Indians to resemble in appearance and habits the negroes of central Africa except in
 the particulars of curly hair and thick lips, having the same scorn for tho re- straints of clothing and the same pas. eionate fondness for brilliant plumage and gaudy cosmetics. Peculiar are tho customs of these benighted people, but there is none more unique than the cere. mony connected with their disposal of their dead.
 An Indian woman died at noon, and we attended the funeral, four of us. Tho Mohayes practice cremation, and the cremating commences as soon as the breath is out of the body, as wit ness the fact that the woman died at noon and was on the funeral pile at l5 minutes past. Indeed it is said that the mourners are sometimes startled at zee ing the dead come to life again when the fire begins to grow feryent. Not many hicos as the white people are called, are accorded the privilege of attending these ceremonies, but as we stand well with one of the wise men of the tribe we were invited to be present. As soon as we could swallow our dinners we started for the place and were guided there by the wailings of the friends of the de parted, consisting of every man, woman and child present at the festivities. You can see the reasonableness of my calling 1t by such aname when you are told that the affair concludes by the killing and eating of all the horses of the departed and every one goes 10 his own hut feel ing that he has enjoyed himself greatly.
 The MohaYes believe ir demonstrating their feelings through the agency of the mouth and limbs, and this woman being much beloved the mouruers were many, and their grief could be heard 0 mile away. If ever you have heard a pack of coyotes bowling forth their misery in the middle of tho night when they howl 1 most artistically, you have this noise to i Q dot.
 Arriving ct that place wo found hole | dug in the ground about 10 feet in di- . ameter and feet deep, heaped full of . wood and surmounted by the body of . the deceased. This was burning, and . around 1t in picturesque attitudes were all the friends trying 10 outdo each . other in eXclalnations of grief The head doctor, for the Mohayls havephysicians. f stood by the side of the eeaias &hJ stirred the fire, giving directions for the most rapid destruction of the body, which he had mo doubt. with great skill I assisted in becoming 9 corpse. He tlus carried his functions @ step further than the physicians in civilized life
 One old fellow, who seemed to be the minister, was standing within the circle the assembly doubtless on the many virtues of the departed. and when he seemed to make an unusually good point the inourners manifested thcis by an increase in inc force of their groans
 Finally the relatives and friends ate the horses that were the property of the and went homo firmly Jel;cv- ing that the dead wonGn's sGpiTit is roam ing untroublod il "Ghost mountain, just across the river.-San Francisco Chronicle