Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-25
INDIAN BuRIALs.
Recalled by q Find on Lake su-
perior

peT1or.
From the New York Evening Post.
The skeleton of an Indian girl In birch
bark canoe. afioat on Lake Superior. sug-
gested to the people of Grand Marais
Mich, when they found II recently. that 1t
was evidence Of some strange tribal burial
custom. There was color In the brief dis
patch sent out: THE bones of the girl
rested on a rich blanket, and on the wrists
were heavy silver bracelets This dead
Lady of Shallot must have been an Indian
princess. consigned by reverent followers
to sepulture in the great lake. The act
must have had some peculiarly intimate
religious significance
So the current of speculation drifted The
iinag1natl0ns OF the northern Indian poets
belt might be excused for clothing the
bones OF the skeleton with beautiful dusky
nesh-and the meagre framework of the tale
difficult to find veri1cation for the belief
that any tribe of Indians should put their
dead beauty into a richly furnished canoe
and set her adrift. No people ever guarded
their dead more jealousy than the Indians.
The idea of separation from the relics of
the departed before 1t was judged that the
journey to the other land had been COM
pieted is repulsve to them. and it is their
disposition. Only by doing this. among
other things, have the tribal and clan his
tories been made continuous and veracious.
In the details OF sculpture, however. the
customs Of the tribes have been as various
as the ina ginations of superstitious peoples
could suggest From the old Mandan plat
form burial to the Iroquois interment In a
crouching posture the practice differed as
the local interpretations of portents and the
local conception of the happy grounds
differed.
It is probably true that student of
Inaian customs could reconstruct from the
evidence furnished by the burial mounds
OF the middle west and south, as accurate
picture Of the old society as from any
liefs and state OF artistic development of
the people that sepulchered their dead so
eiaborateiy may be discovered. As Prof.
Cyrus Thomas Of the Smithsonian Insti-
tuition wrote, In the annual report twenty
two years ago. The gift to- or property Of,
i Hhe.t dead deposited in these sepulchres
some rays Of light into their homes and
daily life. and the regard for their dead
Indicated by the remaining evidences Of
their modes of burial and sepuIchral rites
anords some glimpses of their religious
Deilers and superstftfons." The symbol
ism OF the geographical form of the larger
wrapping Of the bodies. their posture, and
the material of the sarcophag1 too point
to distinct tribal differences: and the ex-
tent and length of tribal occupancy of
certain territory are to be guessed with
rough precision from the old cemetery re-
The numberless burial mounds found
throughout Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa
and Wisconsin all indicate a care In the
final disposition of the Indian dead that
Is far from agreeing with the theory of the
Michigan dispatch. In majority of them
a number of skeletons are found-seldom
but one Is found inferred alone Many of
these mounds are veritable cemeteries
containing scores of skeletons. Frequent
ly they are made up Of great collections of
bones, thrown together without arrange
uent as If the burial had been undertaken
years after death and widely scattered
interment This might happen in a period
OF continuous wars when it was impossible
to follow out the tribal burial customs
and the bringing together of the bones
had to be done by a later generation that
was unacquafnted with the history of the
dead Nothing in a case like this could
be done except to gather what remained
OF these scattered bones and renter them