MODES OF BURIAL. 33 



"The Moluches and Pampas of Patagonia bury their dead in large square pits. The bodies are 

 placed in a row, silling, with all the weapons aud other property which had belonged to the dead.' 

 JL)obrizho£fer also observes that the equestrian tribes of that country ' prepare the corpse in such 

 manner that, the knees touch the face." 



" The Indians of Chili had the same customs, but they exposed their dead on a stage above ground.' 



" The Coroados of Brazil place the body in a sitting posture in a large pot, which is buried in 

 the ground amidst cries and lamentations.* 



" The Paraguas of Paraguay place the dead in a similar attitude '"■ This custom as practised 

 among the Atures, in the Valley of the Orinoco, has already been stated 



" Garcilasso de la Vega states that in the year 15G0, he saw five embalmed bodies of Peruvian 

 Incas, three men and two women. 'They were seated in the manner of Inhians, with the hands 

 across upon the breast, and their eyes toward the earth.'* 'The mountain Indians,' says Herrera, 

 ' commonly build their tombs high, like towers, and hollow ; and they buried their dead bowing the 

 body, their thighs bound and in the sitting attitude " Dr. Ruschenbei'ger, who personally e.xhumed 

 several mummies near Arica, states that 'the body was placed in a squatting posture, with the 

 knees drawn up and the hands applied to the side of the head."" Dr. Mortou himself examined 

 the desiccated bodies of six Peruvians, all of which were in the same position. 



" The Indians of New Grenada followed the same custom, as is proved by the annexed illustration. 

 The Spanish residents of that republic have a tradition that the natives, flying from the violence of 

 their conquerors, died in caves and other obscure places, in an attitude which truly seems indicative 

 of despair. Some very ancient monuments are said by Herrera to have been discovered by the early 

 Spaniards near Zenu, in Venezuela : ' These graves or tombs were magnificent, adorned with broad 

 stones, into which the bodies were placed in a sitting posture." 



"The Mexicans sometimes burned and sometimes buried their dead ; when they buried them it 

 was ' in deep ditches formed of stone and lime, within which they placed the bodies in a sitting 

 posture, on low seats, or icpalli."" The same author adds, that Quinetzin, oTie of the early Chichi- 

 mecan kings of Mexico, was embalmed ' and afterwards placed in a great chair, clothed in royal 

 habits."' 



"When a Carib died, his body was placed in the grave in an attitude 'resembling that in which 

 they crouched round the fire or the table when alive, with the elbows on the knees, and the palms of 

 the hands against the cheeks. "- 



" The Muskogees or Creeks had a similar usage.'' The latter author adds that the Arkansas had 

 the same practice, ' with the addition of tying the head down to the knees."* 



"The Alibamons bury their dead in a sitting posture; in order to justify this custom they say 

 that man is upright, and has his face turned towards heaven, which is to be his habitation.'" 



" On the discovery of the Mammoth cave in Kentucky, a woman was found in a state of complete 

 desiccation. ' She was buried in a squatting form, with the knees drawn up close to the breast, the 

 arms bent, with the hands raised, and crossing each other about the chin."" 



" Dr. Morton was informed by Mr. Nuttall, that such was tlie custom of the Osages of Missouri ; 



' Falkner's Patagonia, quoted in Appendix to Molina. " Hist. Abipones, i, p. 132. 



' Forster, Obs. during a Voyage Round the World, p. 564. 

 * Spix and Martius, Trav. in Brazil, ii, p. 250. 

 ^ De Azara, Voy. dans I'Amerique, ii, p. 143. 



« Comment., Book V, Chap. 29. ' Hist., Dec. Ill, Lib. 9, Cap. 3- 



' Crania Am., p. 109. ' Hist. Araer., iv, p. 221. 



"" Clavigero, Hist, of Mexico, B. VI. 

 " Idem, B. II. 



" Sheldon, in Archseolog. Amer., i, p. 318 ; Sir W. Young, Account of the Caribs, p. 8. 

 '' Bartram, Travels, p. 515 ; Romans, History of Florida, i, i?. 98. 

 '* Idem, p. 101. 



'^ Le Bossu, Trav. in Louisiana, i, p. 157- '^ Archseolog. Amer., i, p. 359. 



5 April, 1876. 



