The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1899-12-28
TO HEAVEN By SMOKE.
The Alohave Custom Of BURNING tn
Dead and Their Personal
BelOnginys.

j. A. Meek:nson, formerly govern
ment special agent, says that the Mo
HAYES are the most superstitious tribe
of North American Indians.
''The Mohaves," said he, "believe in
god, Mat-o-we-lia. He is the maker OF
all things. He has a 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 tht
rain and the sunshine, and de
cides whether the season shall bring
feast or famine. He guards the hunt
ing ground. Mas-zam-ho has full
charge of affairs in Heaven, or White
mountain. as they call it.
''They believe that the spirit dead
go up to White mountain in smoke, and
that all the personal property de,
stroyed in the flames with the deceased
will go with him. There pots are con.
stantly boiling, filled with the choicest
things to eat. They invariably ere.
mate their dead, that Mas-zam-ho may
be appeased, and the funeral pyre is
made ready for the corpse as soon az
life is extinct, in order that the spirit
journey to White mountain may be ac'
CELEBRATED.
81 witnessed, about IL months ago
the cremation of an influential sub
chief, whose death was deeply mourned
The funeral pyre was made near the
temporary village, just off the reserya
ton at Fort Mohave. Shortly after
midnight all the inhabitants of the vii
lage gathered about the pyre. The
body, wrapped in gorgeous Mohave
blanket, with the fringes artistically
worked in beads, was carried on the
shoulders of four braves from the lodgt
to the platform of infiammable fire.
wood. Following the pail bearers came
the women and children and near rela.
tives. The family group crouched neal
the pyre. The chief of the medicine
mer offered, first, words of praise anc
thanks to Mat-o-we-lia for making thu
elements favorable to an easy passage
and then supplication to Mas-zam-ht
10 receive the spirit of the departed
chieftain with due honors at White
mountain.
''Then the dead body was placed or
the pyre, the fire was lighted, the crack
ling flames swept fiercely up about thu
corpse and the spirit was on its way tt
its eternal home on White mountain
Friends and relatives chanted songs o.
lamentation and moaned piteously
while the flames devoured the body
AT short intervals the four pail bear
ers cast upon the flames personal prop
erty of the deceased in the expecta
ton of its going up in smoke with hin
TO White mountain, thereby adding t.
his comfort. The mourners also con
tributed some of their choicest persona
belongings, SO that in his new and eter
nal home the absent one might hav'
about him remembrances of their at
lection. To the women of the imme
iiate family was granted the privilege
of contributing portions Of their hal
to the flames. After the incarceration
was complete Mohave etiquette for
babe the friends and relatives to ca
salt or wash themselves for four days
1T is belief firmly fixed in the Mo
have mind that all Mohaves who di
and are not cremated turn into owls
When an owl is heard hooting at nigh
near their village, they think it is tn
spirit of some dead Mohave returned
If by chance an owl falls into thei
hands, the bird is properly cremate,
in the belief that the wandering spiri
of its Mohave occupant will thereby b
Iquieted and thus enabled to approach
Mas-zam-ho, confident that it's petitio
to be allowed to enter the promise
land, and thereafter rest in peac
among the other good Indians Of Whit
mountain, cannot be refused.
/ until very recently 1.-The Mohave
held yearly q mournful festival.
was the annual burning Of persona
property in honor of the departed men
bers Of the tribe. At the time deeme
most propitious by the medicine me
to both Mat-o-we-lia and to Nassau
no, the Mohaves assembled in an ope
spot near their village, high kno
usually being selected. The pyre ha
been prepared as though for the crem,
| ton of the dead. When the fire wa
hottest each member of the tribe cor
tributed to the flames some bit Of pei
sonal property held in choice esteem
As the thick smoke floated skywar
the mourning Indians were console
for the loss of objects of person,
adornment, apparel, or of hunting in
plements, by their firm belief that til
curling smoke rings were waite
straight to Mas-zam-ho, king of til
departed spirits, and that their love
ones on White mountain were soon i
possession of these proofs of their las
| ing love and remembrance. Under th
influence Of their agents the Mohave
have abandoned the annual sacrifice I
the dead and, except at Needles, off th
reservation, it is not now Observed
IN v S,,n