The Press. (Stafford Springs, Conn.) 1883-1935, 1900-07-12
THE MOHAVE INDIANS
THEY ARE THE MOST suPERsTlTlOUs
OF ALL OUR RED MEN. Z


Not Burned Turn to Owls. H]
j. K. Meekinson, formerly govern
ment special agent. says that the Mo-
haves are the most superstitious tribe
Of North American Indians.
1.-THE Mohaves," said he, believe in
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.
'"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, filed 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 infiammable firewood.
"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-lia 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 f1ercely 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 it's going up in smoke
with him to White Mountain, thereby
adding to his comfort
''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
membranes 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. 81
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 it's MOhave occupant will thereby be
quieted and thus enabled to approach
Mas-zam-hO, confident that its 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 a 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 Mohaves 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 doated 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 4
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, of the reservation, it IL
not now ohserved."-