The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1899-12-05
THE MONA We INDIANS
THEY ARE THEtMoST sUPERsTITIOus
OF ALL OUR RED MEN.

SIS
After Death Their Spirits, They Say,
Are Carried to Heaven In the smoke
From Their Burning BOdtes-rhose
Not Burned Turn to Owls.
]. K. Meekinson, formerly a govern
ment special agent says that the Mo-
HAYES are the most superstitious tribe
of North American Indians.
THE Mohaves," said he, believe In
a god Mat-o-we-lia. He is the maker
| of all things. He has son, whom they
call Mas-zam-ho, who is king Of the de-
parted spirits. Mat-o-we-lia, they say,
| conducts the movements of the sun,
moon and stars. He sends the rain
and the sunshine and decides whether
the season shall bring feast or famine.
He guards the hunting ground. Mas
zam-ho has full charge of affairs In
heaven, or White Mountain, as they
call it. 1s-N 1s5
J ''They believe that the spirit dead go
up to White Mountain in smoke and
that all the personal property destroy
ed in the flames with the deceased will
| go with him. There pots are constant
ly boiling. filled with the choicest
things to eat They Invariably cremate
their dead that Mas-zam-ho may be
! appeased, and the funeral pyre is made
ready for the corpse as soon as life Is
extinct, in order that the spirit journey
to White Mountain may be accelerated.
81 witnessed about II months ago the
cremation Of an influential subchief,
whose death was deeply mourned. The
funeral pyre was made near the tenn
porary village. just off the reservation
at Fort Mohave. Shortly after night
fall all the inhabitants, OF. the village
gathered about the pyre. The body,
wrapped In a gorgeous Mohave blanket.
with the fringes artistically worked in
beads, was carried on the shoulders of
four braves from the lodge to the plat
form of infammable frewoOd.
Following the pallbearers came the
women and children and near rela-
tives. The family group crouched near
the pyre. The chief of the medicine
men offered first words of praise and
thanks to Mat-o-we-ia for making the
elements favorable to an easy passage
and then a supplication to Mas-zam-ho
! to receive the spirit of the departed
chieftain with due honors at White
| Mountain.
@Then the dead body was placed on
the pyre, the fire was lighted, the crac-
king flames swept lercely up about
the corpse, and the spirit was on its
way to its eternal home on White
Mountain. Friends and relatives chant
ed songs of lamentatiOn and moaned
piteously while the flames devoured
the body. At short intervals the four
pallbearers cast upon the flames per-
sonal property of the deceased In the
expectation of its going up In smoke
with him to White Mountain, thereby
adding to his comfort.
1.-THE mourners also contributed some
of their choicest personal belongings,
SO that In his new and eternal home
the absent one might have about him
remembrances of their affection. To
the women of the immediate family
was granted the privilege Of contribut-
| ing portions of their hair to the flames.
After the incineration was complete
Mohave etiquette forbade the friends
and relatives to eat salt or wash them
selves for four days.
ut is belief firmly fixed in the Mo
have mind that all Mohaves who die
and are not cremated turn into owls.
When an owl is heard hooting at night
near their village. they think it Is the
spirit of some dead Mohave returned.
| If by chance an owl falls into their
hands. the bird is properly cremated,
in the belief that the wandering spirit
| of its Mohave occupant will thereby be
quieted and thus enabled to approach
| Mas-zam-ho, confident that It's petition
to be allowed to enter the promised
land and thereafter rest in peace
among the other good Indians of White
Mountain cannot be refused =.
Until very recently the Mohaves
held yearly mourning festival. 1t
was the annual burning of personal
property in honor of the departed mem
bers of the tribe. At the hour deemed
most propitious by the medicine men
to both Mat-o-we-lia and to Mas-zam-
no the Mohayes assembled In an open
spot near their village. a high knoll
usually being selected. The pyre had
been prepared as though for the crema-
ton of the dead. When the fire was
hottest. each member of the tribe con.
| tributed to the flames some bit of per-
sonal property held in choice esteem.
''As the thick smoke foated sky
ward the mourning Indians were con-
soled for the loss of objects of personal
adornment. apparel or of hunting i'm
plements by their firm belief that the
curling smoke rings were waited
straight to Mas-zam-ho. king of the de-
| parted spirits. and that their loved
ones on White Mountain were soon in
possession of these proofs of their last
ing love and remembrance.
''Under the influence of their agents
the Mohaves have abandoned the an
nual sacrifice to the dead, and, except
at Needles. off the reservation, it Is
not now observed. Washington Let
ter In New York Sun.