﻿148 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 74 



The Yuma and Cocopa are the most primitive tribes visited by IMiss 

 Densmore and are probably as little affected by civilization as any 

 living in the United States. The Yaqui are still citizens of ^lexico 

 though they have lived in Arizona for many years, their little settle- 

 ment being known as Guadalupe Village. They obtain a scanty living 

 by working for neighboring farmers and their chief pleasure is 

 music, which is heard in the village at all hours of the day. They are 

 governed by a chief and several captains, and seem contented and 

 orderly. 



The field-work among the Yuma and Cocopa centered at the Fort 

 Yuma Indian agency, situated on the site of Fort Yuma, in California. 

 An opportunity presented itself to observe their custom of cremating 

 the dead. The body of an Indian who had died in an asylum for the 

 insane was brought to the reservation for cremation. When Miss 

 Densmore went to the cremation ground in the morning the body was 

 seen lying on a cot under a " desert shelter." The relatives were 

 crowded around it, sitting close to it and fondling the hands as they 

 wept. The face of the dead man was covered. The wailing had been 

 in progress all the previous night and the people showed signs of 

 weariness. About lOO people were present, many being old men who 

 sat with tears streaming down their faces while others sobbed con- 

 vulsively. The cremation took place at about two o'clock in the after- 

 noon. The ceremony was witnessed from the time when the body 

 was lifted for removal to the funeral pyre, until the flames had 

 destroyed it. Clothing and other articles of value were placed with 

 the body or thrown into the fire. The ceremony was given in its 

 most elaborate form, the deceased being accorded the honors of a 

 chief because he had, prior .to his mental illness, been one of the two 

 leading singers at cremations. The rattle used in the ceremony is 

 said to be about 250 years old. It is made of the " dew-claws " of 

 the deer, one being added for each cremation in early times. It is 

 now impossible to continue this as the deer are not available. 



Information concerning this ceremony was surrounded with the 

 secrecy which envelopes this class of material among all Indian 

 tribes. Many of the ceremonial songs were, however, recorded pho- 

 nographically by the oldest man who has the right to sing them, and 

 an account of the history of the custom was obtained, together with 

 a description of the Knrok, or memorial ceremony which is held 

 every summer. In this ceremony there is a public burning of effigies 

 of the more prominent persons who have died during the year. The 

 dead are never mentioned, this custom being rigidly observed. The 



