Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1893-05-11
MOJAVE FUNERAL RITES.
Grief and Appetite Go Hand In Hand at
These Ceremonies.

Grief and Appetite Go Hand In Hand at
These Ceremonies
On the banks of the lower Colorado,
.mong 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. nwestern Arizona, where
snow and ice are unknown, clothing is
useless except for ornament, and the
mesquite tree bears all the food needed
to sustain life, we find the Mohave 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 the re-
straints of clothing, and the same pas
sionate fondness for brilliant plumage
and gaudy cosmetics. Peculiar are the
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.
The Mohaves 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 Is
minutes past. Indeed it is said that the
mourners are sometimes startled at see
ing the dead come to life again when the
fire begins to grow fervent. 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 ch:lJ present at the festivities. You
can see the reasonableness of my calling
it by such name when you are told that
the affair concludes by the killing and
eating of all the horses of the departed.
and every one goes to his own hut feel
ing that he has enjoyed himself greatly.
The Mohaves believe in demonstrating
their feelings through the agency of the
mouth and limbs, and this woman being
much beloved the mourners were many,
and their grief could be heard a mile
away. If ever you have heard pack of
coyotes bowling forth their misery in
the middle of the night, when they howl
most artistically, You have this noise to
dot
Arriving at that place we 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 it in picturesque attitudes were
all the friends trying to outdo each
other in exclamations of grief. The head
doctor, for the Mohaves have physicians,
stood by the side of the genius who
stirred the fire, giving directions for the
most rapid destruction of the body,
which he had, no doubt, with great skill
assisted in becoming corpse. He thus
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
haranguing the assembly doubtless on
the many virtues of the departed, and
when he seemed to make an unusually
good point the mourners manifested their
appreciation by an increase in the force
Of their groans.
Finally the relatives and friends ate
the horses that were the property of the
deceased and went home firmly believ-
ing that the dead woman's spirit is roam
ing untroubled in "Ghost mountain"
just across the river.-San Francisco
Chronicle