nt burials and attendant ceremonies, it
has been deemed expedient to introduce entire accounts as furnished, in
order to preserve continuity of narrative, and in no case has the
relator's language been changed except to correct manifest
unintentional, errors of spelling.

INHUMATION.

_PIT BURIAL._

The commonest mode of burial among North American Indians has been that
of interment in the ground, and this has taken place in a number of
different ways; the following will, however, serve as good examples of
the process:

One of the simplest forms is thus noted by Schoolcraft:[1]

The Mohawks of New York made a large round hole in which the body
was placed upright or upon its haunches, after which it was covered
with timber, to support the earth which they lay over, and thereby
kept the body from being pressed. They then raised the earth in a
round hill over it. They always dressed the corpse in all its
finery, and put wampum and other things into the grave with it; and
the relations suffered not grass nor any wood to grow upon the
grave, and frequently visited it and made lamentation.

In Jones[2] is the following interesting account from Lawson[3] of the
burial customs of the Indians formerly inhabiting the Carolinas:

Among the Carolina tribes the burial of the dead was accompanied
with special ceremonies, the expense and formality attendant upon
the funeral according with the rank of the deceased. The corpse was
first placed in a cane hurdle and deposited in an outhouse made for
the purpose, where it was suffered to remain for a day and a night,
guarded and mourned over by the nearest relatives with disheveled
hair. Those who are to officiate at the funeral go into the town,
and from the backs of the first young men they meet strip such
blankets and matchcoats as they deem suitable for their purpose. In
these the dead body is wrapped and then covered with two or three
mats made of rushes or cane. The coffin is made of woven reeds or
hollow canes tied fast at both ends. When everything is prepared for
the interment, the corpse is carried from the house in which it has
been lying into the orchard of peach-trees and is there deposited in
another hurdle. Seated upon mats are there congregated the family
and tribe of the deceased and invited guests. The medicine man, or
conjurer, having enjoined silence, then pronounces a funeral
oration, during which he