rtion of these Indians being members of the
Presbyterian church (the missionaries of which church have labored
among them for more than forty years past), the dead of their
families are buried after the customs of that church, and this
influence is felt to a great extent among those Indians who are not
strict church members, so that they are dropping one by one the
traditional customs of their tribe, and but few can now be found who
bury their dead in accordance with their customs of twenty or more
years ago. The dead of those Indians who still adhere to their
modern burial customs are buried in the ways indicated below.
_Warrior._--After death they paint a warrior red across the mouth,
or they paint a hand in black color, with the thumb on one side of
the mouth and the fingers separated on the other cheek, the rest of
the face being painted red. (This latter is only done as a mark of
respect to a specially brave man.) Spears, clubs, and the
medicine-bag of the deceased when alive are buried with the body,
the medicine-bag being placed on the bare skin over the region of
the heart. There is not now, nor has there been, among these Indians
any special preparation of the grave. The body of a warrior is
generally wrapped in a blanket or piece of cloth (and frequently in
addition is placed in a box) and buried in the grave prepared for
the purpose, always, as the majority of these Indians inform me,
with the head towards the _south_. (I have, however, seen many
graves in which the head of the occupant had been placed to the
_east_. It may be that these graves were those of Indians who
belonged to the church; and a few Indians inform me that the head is
sometimes placed towards the _west_, according to the occupant's
belief when alive as to the direction from which his guiding
medicine came, and I am personally inclined to give credence to this
latter as sometimes occurring.) In all burials, when the person has
died a natural death, or had not been murdered, and whether man,
woman, or child, the body is placed in the grave with the face _up_.
In cases, however, when a man or woman has been murdered by one of
their own tribe, the body was, and is always, placed in the grave
with the face _down_, head to the _south_, and a piece of fat (bacon
or pork) placed in the mouth. This piece of fat is placed in the
mouth, as these Indians say, to prevent the spiri
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