ISRAELITE AND INDIAN. 65 



for which the Polynesian word tabu has "been adopted. The moral 

 idea of goodness of a Pani chief is to be a successful warrior or 

 hunter. The actual condition at the moment of death decided the 

 condition in the future far more than any conduct during the past. 

 In the portions of the continent where the scalp was taken, the 

 scalped man remained scalped in the world of spirits, though some 

 tribes believed that scalping prevented his reaching that world. 

 If he had but one leg or eye here, he had but one leg or eye after- 

 ward. In tribes where they cut off the ears of slain foes the 

 spirit remained without ears. A special instance is where the vic- 

 tim was considered too brave to be scalped, but the conquerors cut 

 off one hand and one foot from the corpse to keep him from in- 

 flicting injury upon the tribe of the conquerors in the next world. 

 Some of the tribes thought that if an Indian died in the night he 

 remained in total darkness ever afterward. 



One of the most curious of their beliefs was in connection with 

 drowning and hanging, the conceit being that the spirit (which 

 was in the breath) did not escape from the body. This doctrine 

 was made of special application to prevent suicide, which was 

 generally performed either by hanging or drowning, the deduction 

 being that suicides could not go to the home of the ancestors. 



It is probable that the various trials which the spirit is sup- 

 posed to undergo before reaching the other world were devised 

 to secure 'confidence in the absence thereafter of the ghosts of the 

 dead, because the same difficulty would attend their return. As 

 without the assistance of mortuary rites the ghosts would not be 

 able to reach their final home, their permanent absence was se- 

 cured because there were no repetitions of those rites to assist their 

 return. Fear of the ghosts, not only of enemies but of the dearest 

 friends, generally prevailed. After a death all kinds of devices 

 were employed to scare away the spirit. Sometimes a new exit, 

 through which the corpse was taken, was cut through the wigwam 

 and afterward filled up, it being supposed that the spirit could 

 re-enter only by the passage through which it went out. Some- 

 times the whole wigwam was burned down. There was often a 

 long period, which travelers called that of mourning, during 

 which drums and rattles were used to drive away the spirits. 

 After firearms were obtained, they were discharged in and around 

 the late home of the deceased with the same object. The loud 

 cries of so-called lamentation had probably a similar origin, and 

 this is more marked when the lamenters were strangers to the 

 dead, and even professionals, not unlike the Irish keeners. 



In this general connection it is proper to allude to the common 

 abstinence from pronouncing the true name of any dead person. 

 This is more distinct than the sociologic custom where the man's 

 true name should not be used in his life except on special occa- 



VOL. XXXVI. 5 



