126 MORTUARY CUSTOMS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
deposited on the ground a short distance from the village. The La- 
tookas bury within the inclosure of a man’s house, although the bones 
are subsequently removed, placed in an earthen jar, and deposited out- 
side the village. The Kaffirs bury their head-men within the cattle 
inclosure, the graves of the common people being made outside, and the 
Bechuanas follow the same general plan. 
The following description of Damara burial, from the work quoted 
above (p. 314), is added as containing an account of certain details which 
resemble somewhat those followed by North American Indians. In the 
narrative it will be seen that house burial was followed only if specially 
desired by the expiring person: 
When a Damara chief dies, he is buried in rather a peculiar fashion. As soon as 
life is extinet—some say even before the last breath is drawn—the bystanders break 
the spine by a blow from a large stone. They then unwind the long rope that encir- 
cles the loins, and lash the body together in a sitting posture, the head being bent 
over the knees. Ox-hides are then tied over it, and it is buried with its face to the 
north, as already described when treating of the Bechuanas. Cattle are then 
slaughtered in honor of the dead chief, and over the grave a post is erected, to which 
the skulls and hair are attached as a trophy. The bow, arrows, assagai, and clubs of 
the deceased are hung on the same post. Large stones are pressed into the soil above 
and around the grave, and a large pile of thorns is also heaped over it, in order to 
keep off the hyenas, who would be sure to dig up and devour the body before the 
following day. The grave of a Damara chief is represented on page 302. Now and 
then a chief orders that his body shall be left in his own house, in which ease it is laid 
on an elevated platform, and a strong fence of thorns and stakes built round the hut. 
The funeral ceremonies being completed, the new chief forsakes the place and takes 
the whole of the people under his command. He remains at a distance for several 
years, during which time he wears the sign of mourning, i. ¢., a dark-colored conical 
cap, and round the neck a thong, to the ends of which are hung two small pieces of 
ostrich-shell. When the season of mourning is over, the tribe return, headed by the 
chief, who goes to the grave of his father, kneels over it, and whispers that he has 
returned, together with the cattle and wives which his father gave him. He then 
asks for his parent’s aid in all his undertakings, and from that moment takes the 
place which his father filled before him. Cattle are then slaughtered, and a feast 
held to the memory of the dead chief and in honor of the living one, and each person 
present partakes of the meat, which is distributed by the chief himself. The deceased 
chief symbolically partakes of the banquet. A couple of twigs cut from the tree of 
the particular eanda to which the deceased belonged are considered as his representa- 
tive, and with this emblem each piece of meat is touched before the guests consume it. 
Tn like manner, the first pail of milk that is drawn is taken to the grave and poured 
over it. 
CAVE BURIAL. 
Natural or artificial holes in the ground, caverns, and fissures in rocks 
have been used as places of deposit for the dead since the earliest pe- 
riods of time, and are used up to the present day by not only the Ameri- 
can Indians, but by peoples noted for their mental elevation and civili- 
zation, our cemeteries furnishing numerous specimens of artificial or 
partly artificial caves. As to the motives which have actuated this 
