()1() THE PAINTING OF HUMAN BONES AMONG THE INDIANS. 



partieiilarly red paint, Avas, and to sonio oxtent still is, among 

 many American Indians, a ])art of the warrior's ))reparation for 

 l)attle, and it was a mark of fitness, elevation, bravery, honor; and 

 some of the tribes honored their distinguished dead, or even all 

 their dead, Avitli the same paint, applied in more or less the same 

 manner in Avhich it was nsed by the living. The bones of at least 

 the naturally deceased friends were generally regarded with rev- 

 erence. 



According to Brinton (op. cit., p. 257) the opinion nnderlying 

 all cnstoms connected with the preservation of bones among various 

 American people was "• that a ])art of tlie soul, or one of the souls, 

 dwelt in the bones: that tliese were the seeds which, planted in the 

 earth, or preserved unbroken in safe places would in time put on 

 once again a garb of flesh and germinate into living human beings. 

 Language in some localities seems to strengthen this theory. The 

 Iroquois word for bone is ' c^v/r//,' for soul, ' fifi.-il-rii," literally that 

 which is within the bone, (Bruyas, Rad. Verboiuui Iro(|u(eorum.) 

 In an Athapascan dialect bone is ' yani,' soul. ' i-yune.' (Busch- 

 mann, Athap, Sprachstamm. pj). 1S2. ISS.)" 



Yet there may have l)een instances in whicli the flesh or the bones 

 of the dead Avere partly or Avholly painted for other reasons. It is 

 probable that in some instances the paint Avas considered a necessary 

 or advantageous or proper equipment for the journey to the future 

 Avorld. Lafitau (vol. n, 8, p. 888) says that the Indians " ajjj^lied 

 the paint to the head and face in order that the horrors of death 

 should not be seem." According to Boas, among the Chinook, Avho 

 l)ury their dead mostly in canoes raised above the ground, after a 

 time " the burial place is made good Avith red ])aint," Avhich implies 

 that in this tribe such paint is connected with some superstition. 

 Finally, according to Bandelier, among the Muysca in Bogota, Xcav 

 (Jranada, bodies painted Avith red ocher Avere a sign of deep mourn- 

 ing. Judging from the general Avant among Indians of rational 

 notions regarding the natural processes in the liA'ing or dead, it seems 

 \('rv improbable (though I formerly Avas inclined to think otherAvise) 

 (hat the ])aint Avas in any instance ai)plied simply as a preservatiA'e. 



1!I:FKI!KN('ES. 



Antonovitcu. Transactions of llic Arclu'olo.uical Contxivss of A'ilnn, IS'.):'.; 



rel. in I.'.VnthropoJo.iiic. I'liris, IS'.M. ji. 7.">. 

 Bandfmkic, a. V. <;il(l<'(l .AI;in. New Yoi'Jv. ISIt:;. p. 11. 

 Rartram, \V.\i. Travels thron.s^li Xoi'lli .-ukI Soulli (';u-oIiii;i. r.ondon, 17!>2. ]>. 



r>i-i. 



BiET. Voyage de la Terre lOiiuinoxialc, in, cliai). 14. 



Brinton, D. G. Myths of llio New AVorld, ]). 27>~. 



Catlin. (Jko. Manners, Customs, etc. of North .Vnierican Indians. ISSJ. ii, 



1). rK 



Charlevoix, 1'. F. X. .lonrnal d'nii N'ova.^e, ete.. vi. p. loT. 



