Sketcher.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2014, 7 January 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Sketcher.

Death Customs of the Indian* BY “STELLA OCCIDBNS." We have observed the care with which the Otoe and Missouri Indians preserve the body from being touched by the berth: the Comanche* of Indian territory go to the opposite extreme. “ When a Comanche is dying, while the death-rattle may yet be faintly heard in the throat, and the natural warmth has not yet departed from the body, the knees are strongly bent upon the chest, and the legs flexed upon the thighs. The arms are also flexed upon each side of the chest, and the head bent forward upon the knees. A lariat, or rope, is now used to firmly bind the limbs and body in this position. A blanket is then wrapped around the body, and this again tightly corded, so that the appearance when ready for burial is that of an almost round and compact body, very unlike the confused pall of his Wichita or Caddo brother. The body is then taken and placed in a saddle upon a pony, in a sitting posture, a squaw usually riding behind (though sometimes one, on either side of the horse) holds the body in position until the place of burial is reached, when the corpse is literally tumbled into the excavation selected for the purpose. The deceased is only accompanied by two or three squaws, or enough to perform the little labour bestowed upon the burial. The body is taken due west of the lodge or.village of the bereaved, and usually one of the deep washes or heads of canons, in which the Comanche country abounds, is selected, and the body thrown in, without special reference to position. With this are deposited the bows and arrows; these, however, are first broken. The saddle is also placed in the grave, together with many of the personal valuables of the departed. The body is then covered over with sticks and earth, and sometimes stones are placed over the whole. The best pony owned by the deceased is brought to the grave and killed, that the departed may appear well mounted and caparisoned among his fellows In the other world. Formerly, if the deceased were a chief or man of consequence and had large herds of ponies, many were killed, ■ometimes amounting to 200 or 300 head in number.”

An amusing story is told in illustration of the importance attached to the pony provided for the deceased in the happy hunting grounds. An old chief died who was very poor, and had no friends or relations. The people thought that any kind of a pony would do for him, so an old, dilapidated, lopeared scraggy pony was killed at his grave. However, to their great astonishment, he returned a few weeks later on the same old pony, and tie wu worn out with hunger and fatigue. When the men of his tribe saw his hollow cheeks and sunken eyes they fled from him in consternation. He begged for food, and one bolder than the rest offered him a piece of meat on the end of a lodge-pole. When he appeared at his own camp, the Comanches and Wichitas fled in dismay to a place on Rush Creek. “ When the troubled spirit from the snnsetting world was questioned why he thus appeared among the inhabitants of earth, he made reply that when he came to the gates of Paradise the keepers would on no account permit him to enter upon such an ill-conditioned beast as that which bore him, and thus in sadness he returned to haunt the homes of those whose stinginess and greed permitted him no better equipment. Since then no Comanche has been permitted to depart with the sun to his chambers without a steed which in appearance should do honor alike to the rider and his friends.”

The body is buried on the western side of the camp, that “ the spirit may accomplish the journey to the setting sun beyond.” It is supposed among the Comanches that the spirit starts on its journey the following night. Among the mourning observances of the Comanches are many strange customs differing from those of other tribes. Instead of the property of the deceased being disposed of among the relations, it is all destroyed or buried in the ground. It is believed that when the goods are burnt they ascend to heaven in the smoke, and will thus be of service to the owner in the other world. “ Immediately after death, the relatives begin a peculiar wailing, and the immediate relatives of the family take off theirapparel and clothe themselves in rags, and cut themselves across the arms, breast, and other portions of the body, until a sometimes fond wife or mother faints from loss of blood. This is also customary among the Dacotah Indians. A missionary at Fort Snelling related the story of a woman who had lost a brother. With her friends she set tip a most piteous crying, or rather wailing, which continued during.all the night. She would keep on repeating the words which in English would mean. “ Come, my brother, I shall see you no more for ever.” Next morning preparations were made for the ceremony of cutting their flesh. The thermometer was at ten to twenty below zero, and the snow lay thick on the ground. Howover, a space was cleared, in the centre of which a very small fire was kindled, not so much for warmth as to cause a smoke which would ascend to the land of the setting sun. The sister and three other women came out of her lodge barefooted, and nearly naked, ud all three began wailimg and crying. They cut their knees and ankles with sharp stones and one poor woman made more than a hundred gashes in her flesh. She was thoroughly exhausted with pain, loss of blood, cold, and long-continued fasttng, and soon she sank on the frozen ground, shivering from the cold, and moaning with pain. She appeared frantic with grief; but it is not easy to imagine what benefit she expected for herself or her dead brother in return for this self-inflicted torture.

I may quote in”conclusion the following translation of Schiller’s burial song’ believed to have been written by Bulwer ; See on his mat, as if of yore, How life-like sits he here, With the same aspect that he wore When life to him was dear.

But wheretheright arm’s strength, and where The breath he used to breathe

To the Great Spirit aloft in air The peace-pipe's lusty wreath? And where the hawk-like eye, alas ! That wont the deer pursue Along the waves of rippling grass Or fields that shone with dew ? Are these the limber, bounding feet That swept the winter snows ? What startled doer was half so fleet 1 Their speed outstripped the roe’s. These hands that once the sturdy bow Could supple from its pride, How stark and helpless hang they now Adown the stiffened side 1 Yet weal to him 1 at peace he strays Where never fall the snows, Where o’er the meadow springs the maize That mortal never sows; Where birds are blythe in every brake, Where forests teem with deer, Where glide the fish through every lake. One chase from year to year 1 With spirits now he feasts above ; All left ns, to revere The deeds we cherish with our love, The rest we bury here.