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Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2030, 25 February 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

Why People Were buried- When pt-<■!>!>: 1 m.".ja:i to Imry their dead they did so in the linn belief in another life, which life was regarded as (lie exact counterpart of (his present nne. The unsophisticated savage, holding tint in that eipitil sky his faitlii'ul doo would hoar him company, naturally enoiejh had tlie dog in question killed and bnriecl with him. in order that, it might follow him to tlie happy hunting ground. Clearly, y m can't limit without your arrows and tomahawk : so the Hint weapons and trusty how accompanied their owner to his new dwelling place. Tito wooden haft, the deer sinew bowstring, the perishable articles of food and drink, have long since decayed within the damp tumulus; but the harder stone and earthen ware articles have survived till now, to tell the story of their crude and simple early faith. Very crude and illogical, indeed, it was, however, for it is quite clear that the actual hotly of the dead man was thought of as persisting to live a sort of underground life, A stone hut was constructed for its use, retd weapons and implements were left by its side, and slaves and wives were ruthlessly massacred, as stiil in Ashantee. in order that their bodies mmht accompany the corpse of the buried master in his subterranean dwelling. In all this we Inne clear evidence of a very inconsistent, savage, materialistic belief, nit indeed in the immortality of the soul, hut in the continued underground life of the body. -