22 ANTIQUITIES IN TENNESSEE. 



this is an awning, made ridge-ways, like the roof of a house, and is sup- 

 ported by nine stakes or small posts, the grave being six or eight feet in length 

 and four feet in breadth; about it are hung gourds, feathers, and other similar 

 trophies, placed there by the dead man's relatives. As soon as the person is dead, 

 they lay the corpse upon a piece of bark in the sun, seasoning or embalming it with 

 a small root beaten to powder, which appears as red as vermilion ; the same is mixed 

 with bear's oil, to beautify the hair and preserve their heads from vermin, which 

 is plentiful in these parts of America. After the carcass lias lain a day or two 

 in the sun, they place it upon crotches, cut of a sufficient length for its support 

 from the earth ; then they anoint it all over with the fore-mentioned powder of 

 beaten root and bear's oil. When this is done, they cover it very carefully over 

 with bark of the pine or cypress tree, to prevent any rain from falling upon it, 

 sweeping the ground very clean all about it. One of his nearest of kin brings all 

 the temporal estate the deceased was possessed of at the time of his death, such 

 as guns, bows, arrows, beads, feathers, match-coat, etc. This relative is the chief 

 mourner, being clad in moss, and having a stick in his hand, keeping up a mournful 

 ditty for three or four days, his face being black Avith the smoke of pitch pine 

 mingled with bear's oil. All the while he tells the dead man's relatives and the 

 rest of the spectators, who the dead person was, and of the great feats he performed 

 in his lifetime ; all the discourse tending to the praise of the deceased. As soon 

 as the flesh will separate from the bone, they take it off and burn it, making all 

 the bones very clean ; they then anoint them with the ingredient aforesaid, wrap- 

 ping up the skull very carefully in a cloth artificially woven of " 'possmns hair." 

 The bones they carefully preserve in a wooden box, every year oiling and cleansing 

 them. By these means they preserve them for many ages, so that you may see an 

 Indian in possession of the bones of his grandfather, or of some of his relatives of 

 a greater antiquity. The Indians have otlier sorts of tombs, as when one is slain : 

 in that very place, they make a heap of stones (sticks where stones are not to be 

 found) ; to this memorial, every Indian that passes by adds a stone, to augment 

 the heap, out of respect to the deceased hero.^ 



In his detailed account of the Indians of North Carolina, Lawson adds several 

 particulars, illustrating more fully their mode of burial. The dead body is wrapped 

 in mats made of rushes or cane, and these coverings are surrounded with a long web 

 of woven rods or hollow canes, which constitutes the coffin, and which is wound 

 round the body several times, and tied fast at both ends, making a very decent 

 appearance. After certain ceremonies and the rehearsal of the good deeds and 

 possessions of the deceased, the body is borne to the grave, which is about six feet 

 deep and eight feet long, having at each end (that is, at the head and foot), a 

 light-wood or pitch-pine fork, driven into the ground, close to the grave, and de- 

 signed to support the ridge pole. Before the corpse is laid in the grave, they 

 cover the bottom with two or three thicknesses of the bark of trees; then they 

 let down the corpse with two of the straps with which the Indians carry their 

 burdens ; a pole is then placed over the grave, the ends resting in the two forks, 



' A New Voyage to Carolina, etc., 1709, pp. 21-22. 



