112 MORTUARY CUSTOMS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
frequently neglected or forgotten, but when the mourner is reminded of his duty he 
renews his howling with evident interest. This custom of mourning for the period of 
thirty days corresponds to that formerly observed by the Natchez. 
Somewhat similar to this rude mode of sepulture is that described in 
the life of Moses Van Campen*, which relates to the Indians formerly 
inhabiting Pennsylvania : 
Directly after, the Indians proceeded to bury those who had fallen in battle, which 
they did by rolling an old log from its place and laying the body in the hollow thus 
made, and then heaping upon it a little earth. 
As a somewhat curious, if not exceptional, interment, the following 
account, relating to the Indians of New York, is furnished, by Mr. Frank- 
lin B. Hough, who has extracted it from an unpublished journal of the 
agents of a French company kept in 1794: 
CANOE BURIAL IN GROUND. 
Saw Indian graves on the plateau of Independence Rock. The Indians plant a 
stake on the right side of the head of the deceased and bury them in a bark canoe. 
Their children come every year to bring provisions to the place where their fathers 
are buried. One of the graves had fallen in, and we observed in the soil some sticks 
for stretching skins, the remains of a canoe, &c., and the two straps for carrying it, 
and near the place where the head lay were the traces of a fire which they had kindled 
for the soul of the deceased to come and warm itself by and to’partake of the food 
deposited near it. 
These were probably the Massasauga Indians, then inhabiting the north shore of 
Lake Ontario, but who were rather intruders here, the country being claimed by the 
Oneidas. 
It is not to be denied that the use of canoes for cofiins has occasionlly 
been remarked, for the writer in 1875 removed from the graves at Santa 
Barbara, California, an entire skeleton which was discovered in a redwood 
canoe, but it is thought that the individual may have been a noted fish- 
erman, particularly as the implements of his vocation—nets, fish-spears, 
&e.—were near him, and this burial was only an exemplification of the 
well-rooted belief common to all Indians, that the spirit in the next world 
makes use of the same articles as were employed in this one. It should 
be added that of the many hundreds of skeletons uncovered at Santa 
Barbara the one mentioned presented the only example of the kind. 
Among the Indians of the Mosquito coast, in Central America, canoe 
burial in the ground, according to Bancroft, was common, and is thus 
described : 
The corpse is wrapped in cloth and placed in one-half of a pitpan which has been 
cut intwo. Friends assemble for the funeral and drown their grief in musihla, the 
women giving vent to their sorrow by dashing themselves on the ground until covered 
with blood, and inflicting other tortures, occasionally even committing suicide. As 
it is supposed that the evil spirit seeks to obtain possession of the body, musicians are 
called in to lull it to sleep while preparations are made for its removal. All at once 
four naked men, who have disguised themselves with paint so as not to be recognized 
and punished by Wulasha, rush out from a neighboring hut, and, seizing a rope at- 
*Life and adventures of Moses Van Campen, 1841, p. 252. 
