A Further Contribution to the Study of the Mortuary Customs of the North American Indians | Page 6

before closing
it at the grave. After lowering, a saddle and bridle, blankets, dishes, &c.,
are placed upon it, the mourning ceases, and the Indians prepare to
close the grave. It should be remembered, among the Otoe and
Missouri Indians dirt is not filled in upon the body, but simply rounded
up from the surface upon stout logs that are accurately fitted over the
opening of the grave. After the burying is completed, a distribution of
the property of the deceased takes place, the near relatives receiving
everything, from the merest trifle to the tent and homes, leaving the
immediate family, wife and children or father out-door pensioners.
Although the same generosity is not observed towards the whites
assisting in funeral rites, it is universally practiced as regards Indians,
and poverty's lot is borne by the survivors with a fortitude and
resignation which in them amounts to duty, and marks a higher grade
of intrinsic worth than pervades whites of like advantages and
conditions. We are told in the Old Testament Scriptures, "four days and
four nights should the fires burn," &c. In fulfillment of this sacred

injunction, we find the midnight vigil carefully kept by these Indians
four days and four nights at the graves of their departed. A small fire is
kindled for the purpose near the grave at sunset, where the nearest
relatives convene and maintain a continuous lamentation till the
morning dawn. There was an ancient tradition that at the expiration of
this time the Indian arose, and mounting his spirit pony, galloped off to
the happy hunting-ground beyond.
Happily, with the advancement of Christianity these superstitions have
faded, and the living sacrifices are partially continued only from a
belief that by parting with their most cherished and valuable goods they
propitiate the Great Spirit for the sins committed during the life of the
deceased. This, though at first revolting, we find was the practice of our
own forefathers, offering up as burnt offerings the lamb or the ox;
hence we cannot censure this people, but, from a comparison of
conditions, credit them with a more strict observance of our Holy Book
than pride and seductive fashions permit of us.
From a careful review of the whole of their attendant ceremonies a
remarkable similarity can be marked. The arrangement of the corpse
preparatory to interment, the funeral feast, the local service by the aged
fathers, are all observances that have been noted among whites,
extending into times that are in the memory of those still living.
The Pimas of Arizona, actuated by apparently the same motives that led
the more eastern tribes to endeavor to prevent contact of earth with the
corpse, adopted a plan which has been described by Capt. F.E.
Grossman,[5] and the account is corroborated by M. Alphonse Pinart[6]
and Bancroft.[7]
Captain Grossman's account follows:
The Pimas tie the bodies of their dead with ropes, passing the latter
around their neck and under the knees, and then drawing them tight
until the body is doubled up and forced into a sitting position. They dig
the graves from four to five feet deep and perfectly round (about two
feet in diameter), and then hollow out to one side of the bottom of this
grave a sort of vault large enough to contain the body. Here the body is

deposited, the grave is filled up level with the ground, and poles, trees,
or pieces of timber placed upon the grave to protect the remains from
coyotes.
[Illustration: FIG 2--Pima burial]
Burials usually take place at night without much ceremony. The
mourners chant during the burial, but signs of grief are rare. The bodies
of their dead are buried if possible, immediately after death has taken
place and the graves are generally prepared before the patients die.
Sometimes sick persons (for whom the graves had already been dug)
recover. In such cases the graves are left open until the persons for
whom they are intended die. Open graves of this kind can be seen in
several of their burial grounds. Places of burial are selected some
distance from the village, and, if possible, in a grove of mesquite trees.
Immediately after the remains have been buried, the house and personal
effects of the deceased are burned and his horses and cattle killed, the
meat being cooked as a repast for the mourners. The nearest relatives of
the deceased as a sign of their sorrow remain within their village for
weeks, and sometimes months; the men cut off about six inches of their
long hair, while the women cut their hair quite short. * * *
The custom of destroying all the property of the husband when he dies
impoverishes the widow and children and prevents increase of stock.
The women of the tribe, well aware that they will