154 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 195 



Fletcher and La Flesche (1911, p. 310) also record a belief in the 

 continued existence of the soul. In describing the Ponca chief -making 

 ceremony they cite the speech of an old man, who remarked: "The 

 chiefs, although long dead, are still living and still exercise a care over 

 the people and seek to promote their weKare ; so we make the offering 

 of food, the support of our Ufe, in recognition of them as still our 

 chiefs and caring for us." PLC also mentioned an old Ponca, stating 

 that after he died he would be "above," or in heaven, looking down 

 upon his people. 



Occasionally spirits hovered about on the earth as ghosts and there 

 are several Ponca tales concerning encounters with them. Whitman 

 (1939, p. 193, footnote 60) writes that: "Black Eagle was afraid of 

 ghosts. Power, it was thought, might also be handed on after death 

 if the recipient came to the grave after dark immediately following 

 burial. When a man dies, the heart and eye are thought still to possess 

 life until the spirit passes to the spirit world." 



Ghosts sometimes tormented the Uving: "The spirit of a murdered 

 person will haunt the people, and when the tribe is on the hunt, will 

 cause the wind to blow in such a direction as to betray the hunters 

 to the game and cause the herd to scatter, making it impossible for the 

 people to get food" (Fletcher and La Flesche, 1911, p. 216). This 

 beUef was also mentioned by JLR, who told of a murderer shooting a 

 ghost with his gun and thus freeing himself from the curse. 



Shamans were thought to be able to predict their own deaths. 

 J. O. Dorsey (1888 a, p. 73) records that: "Bare-legs had a presenti- 

 ment of his own death. He saw his spirit covered with blood upon a 

 hill; four days later, May 3, 1872, he was slain." Whitman (1939, 

 pp. 192-193) likewise records WBB's father predicting his own death 

 by the fact that his spirit helper, a mescal bean, had become cracked. 



PLC described Ponca mortuary customs as follows: 



When someone died, the relatives would cut off their hair and mourn for a 

 long time. Both men and women would cut off their hair and cut their arms 

 and legs with a knife. They wouldn't eat for four days afterwards. 



A body was buried in the ground and a roof was made over the grave. This 

 roof was made of logs in a A shape. This was then covered with dirt. 



The people often thought of the dead. Sometimes they will throw away a 

 little piece of food when eating, for a dead person's spirit, or set a glass of water 

 out for it. When a crying is heard outside people throw a little food out. They 

 think maybe it is the spirit come back. 



People were usually buried in some of their best clothes, and sometimes a little 

 food and water was placed with them. 



Special painted designs, denoting the clan of the deceased, were 

 applied before burial. In some cases other special insignia were 

 added as well. Fletcher and La Flesche (1911, p. 44) write: "When 

 a member of the subdivision Tdhatd-itdzi [of the Nikapdsna gens] died, 

 moccasins made from the skin of the deer (which was taboo to the 



