144 MORTUARY CUSTOMS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
of this rite among the people spoken of and the Indians of North Amer- 
ica, yet, did space admit, a discussion might profitably be entered upon 
regarding the details of it among the ancients and the origin of the cer- 
emony. As it is, simple narrations of cremation in this country, with 
discursive notes and an account of its origin among the Nishinams of 
California, by Stephen Powers,* seem to be all that is required at this 
time: 
The moon and the coyote wrought together in creating all things that exist. The 
moon was good, but the coyote was bad. In making men and women the moon 
wished to so fashion their souls that when they died they should return to the earth 
after two or three days, as he himself does when he dies. But the coyote was evil 
disposed, and said this should not be; but that when men died their friends should 
burn their bodies, and once a year make a great mourning for them; and the coyote 
prevailed. So, presently when a deer died, they burned his body, as the coyote had 
decreed, and after a year they made a great mourning for him. But the moon cre- 
ated the rattlesnake and caused it to bite the coyote’s son, so that he died. Now, 
though the coyote had been willing to burn the deer’s relations, he refused to burn 
his own son. Then the moon said unto him, ‘‘This is your own rule. You would 
have it so, and now your son shall be burned like the others.” So he was burned, and 
after a year the coyote mourned for him. Thus the law was established over the co- 
yote also, and, as he had dominion over men, it prevailed over men likewise. 
This story is utterly worthless for itself, but it has its value in that it shows there 
was a time when the California Indians did not practice cremation, which is also es- 
tablished by other traditions. It hints at the additional fact that the Nishinams to 
this day set great store by the moon; consider it their benefactor in a hundred ways, 
and observe its changes for a hundred purposes. 
Another myth regarding cremation is given by Adam Johnston, in 
Schoolcraft,t and relates to the Bonaks, or root-diggers : 
The first Indians that lived were coyotes. When one of their number died the body 
became full of little animals or spirits, as they thought them. After crawling over 
the body for a time they took all manner of shapes, some that of the deer, others the 
elk, antelope, &c. It was discovered, however, that great numbers were taking 
wings, and for a while they sailed about in the air, but eventually they would fly off 
tothe moon. The old coyotes or Indians, fearing the earth might become depopu- 
lated in this way, concluded to stop it at once, and ordered that when one of their 
people died the body must be burnt. Ever after they continued to burn the bodies of 
deceased persons. 
Ross Cox gives an account of the process as performed by the Tolko- 
tins of Oregon:{ 
The ceremonies attending the dead are very singular, and quite peculiar to this 
tribe. The body of the deceased is kept nine days laid out in his lodge, and on the 
tenth it is buried. For this purpose a rising ground is selected, on which are laid a 
number of sticks, about 7 feet long, of cypress, neatly split, and in the interstices is 
placed a quantity of gummy wood. During these operations invitations are dispatched 
to the natives of the neighboring villages requesting their attendance at the ceremony. 
When the preparations are perfected the corpse is placed on the pile, which is imme- 
diately ignited, and during the process of burning, the bystanders appear to be ina 
* Cont. to N. A. Ethnol., 1877, vol. iii, p, 341. 
t Hist. Indian Tribes of the United States, 1854, part IV, p. 224. 
t Adventures on the Columbia River, 1831, vol. ii, p. 387. 
