010 THE PAINTING OF HUMAN BONES AMONG THE INDIANS. 



particularly rod paint, was, and to some extent still is, among 

 many American Indians, a part of the warrior's j^reparation for 

 battle, and it Avas a mark of fitness, elevation, bravery, honor; and 

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

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

 manner in Avhich it was used 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 underlying 

 all customs connected with the preservation of l)ones among various 

 American people was " that a part of the soul, or one of the soids, 

 dwelt in the bones; that these 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 v.ord for bone is ' cshcn^^ for soul, ' nfishou^ literally that 

 which is within the bone. (Rruyas, Ead. Verborum Iroqufforum.) 

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

 mann, Athap, Sprachstamm, pp. 182, ISS.)" 



Yet thei-e may have been instances in which the flesh or the bones 

 of the dead were i)artly or wholly painted for other reasons. It is 

 probable that in some instances the paint was considered a necessary 

 or advantageous or proper equipment for the journey to the future 

 Avorld. Lafitau (vol. ii, 8, ]). 888) says that the Indians ''applied 

 the paint to the head and face in order that the hoi-rors of death 

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

 bur}' their dead mostly in canoes raised above the ground, after a 

 time ''the burial place is made good with red paint.'" which implies 

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

 Finally, according to Bandelier, among the JNIuysca in Bogota, New 

 (iranada, bodies jjainted with red ocher were a sign of deep mourn- 

 ing. Judging fi'oni the general want among Indians of rational 

 notions regarding the natural i)rocesses in the living or dead, it seems 

 very improljable (though I formerly was inclined to think otherwise) 

 that llic paint was in any instance a])])lied simjily as a jn-eservative. 



IJKFKKKXCKS. 



AxToxovTTni. Transactions of the Arclioolo.txi'':il Coiitrrcss of Vihia. 1Sn:i; 



rcf. ill I/Anthr(i))olojJCie, Paris. 1804, p. 7.'>. 

 iJAiNDii.iKi;, A. l\ <;il(le(l Man, New York, ]S!«. p. H. 

 liAUTKAM, A\'m. Travcis thronsli North and South (':ii-oliii:i. Loiulon, 17!t-. i». 



BiET. Voyage <1»' l:i 'I'cri'c JO(iiiino\i;il('. ni. clini). 14. 



P.KINTON, D. G. Myths of the New World, ji. I'.'.T. 



Cati.in, Geo. Manners, Customs, clc, of North Aiiifi'icnii Indians, 1884, n, 



1). n. 

 CiiAKi.EVorx, P. F. X. .loiiriiiil d")!!! Voynt^c etc, vi. )). Iti7. 



