Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-19
WEIRD RITES FOUND
IN OBSCURE TRIBE
OF COAST INDIANS
Hearts of Dead Are Burned
by KamiaS--Bad Ones
Turn to Owls.
BELIEVE EACH PERSON
HAS MULTIPLE SOULS
Enemies May Steal One, Causing
Sickness-Death Results if
All Are Lost.
Ely THOMAS R. HENRY.

BY THOMAS r. HENRY.
= Some of the weirdest of promitive
superstitionS have just been reported by
Smithsonian Institution ethnologists in
the Kama tribe, a small and obscure
group of California Indians who hith-
erto have escaped the attention Of
science.
Among these, as reported by DR.. E.
w. clifford, is the belief in multiple
souls. A person may have from che. to
four spirits, which may be stolen by
enemies. When one soul is taken the
victim becomes very Ill and, if that
happens to be the only one he has, he
dies. Otherwise it is possible TO exist
on the reserve supply. The theft OF a
soul is a common explanation OF serious
illness
The souls are invisible and nobody
knows just how they are stolen That
is where cne's enemies have the ad-
vantage. Also no man knows how many
souls he has. The only time the soul
can be seen is when a person Is dying.
Then some observers claim TO nave
seen it leaving the body in the form OF
an apparition-somethin quite dill
ferent from a ghost which would APP
pear only after death Nobody was
found who ever had seen a ghost.
Soul Goes to South.
Immediately after the soul leaves the
body it flies directly through the air to
the land of the departed in the south,
somewhere beyond the mountains in
Lower California. There it Is blown
around by the wind until it is joined by
the isaslich, or invisible spirit OF the
dead person. This is conceived CT as
quite distinct from the soul and as
something similar to total personanty.
1t fingers about the body for four days
before going to join the soul.
When the spirit joins the soul the
person is born again, with a new BODY
either of man or animal. This hap
pens four times The fifth time the
Individual is reborn as a black beetle
The beetle often returns to the Kamia
country, but no special precautions are
taken not to kill it. The cycle of re-
tncarnations is believed at an END.
When a baby dies its spirit is es-
corted to the other world by some
dead relative. There it grows to ma
turity, as if nothing had happened
Dead relatives also come sometimes to
guide the spirits of ADULTS. Food
burned at a funeral is for these guides
rs well as for the dead person. The
dead are not aware that they are any
different from the living.
Heart Always Burned.
Special precautions are taken to
burn the heart of dead person. Some
times the heart will not burn, they say.
Then it is buried in a pit, from which
1t comes forth in a few days as a
Young owl. One old man has seen
this happen. A heart was only few
feet away from him. 1t disappeared
and reappeared again little farther
on These disappearances and reap
pearances were repeated several times,
but at every appearance the old man
saw that the heart looked more and
more like an owl. Finally it rose and
new away.
Generally the Kamia believe only
the hearts of bad people become Owls.
II a heart burns rapidly it Is sign
that the dead person has lived q good
life. Sometimes fire will be kindled
several times in an effort entirely to
consume a heart.
The funeral ceremonies start when
q person is dying. AS soon as it is OBJ
vious that he will not recover, the rel
atives start cutting wood to be used
on the funeral pyre on which the body
Is cremated They also start the weird
wailing which attends Kamia fune-
raj. All relatives cut their hair about
the shoulders. Once the body is nlaced
on the pyre the name of the dead per-
son never can be mentioned again
Story Of Creation.
The Kamia have their own story OF
the creation of the world. The first
human beings, they sey, we're made out
OF clay by the god Mastamho. Hidden
under the ocean in the south was the
great snake Mayihauchauwit. who was
the repository of all knowledge. Mas
tamho advised the new beings he had
created to invite the great serpent To
visit them. When he came he was
trapped in a house, which was set on
FIRE AS Mayihauchauwit burned, the
knowledge especially the songs and
charms OF the tribe, came from his
body. Thus knowledge came amcng
men.
Then Mastamho gave the Indians the
seeds of maize and beans. which they
planted and became an agricultural peo'
pie. Some who had wandered into tho
mountains never got any seeds and hac
10 subsist ever afterward by hunting
alone.
The Kamia, according TO the report
have their own astronomical mythology
Different star consultations are named
for animals whose prototypes, the In
dams believed, assembled into the SIX,
after they were slain.
Unusual difficulty was encountered II
getting the tribal lore because of thu
belief that any one who knows yer!
much will soon die So the Indians d.
not like TO admit how much they know
The ideal is to know little. like yer!
young person who is long way from
death.