YARROW.] PARTIAL CREMATION. 151 
It is thought no doubt can attach to the statements given, but the 
cases are remarkable as being the only instances of the kind met with 
in the extensive range of reading preparatory to a study of the subject 
of burial, although it must be observed that Bruhier states that the 
ancient Ethiopians covered the corpses of their dead with plaster (pro- 
bably mud), but they did not burn these curious coffins. 
Another method, embracing both burial and cremation, has been prac- 
ticed by the Pitt River or Achomawi Indians of California, who 
Bury the body in the ground in a standing position, the shoulders nearly even with 
the ground. The grave is prepared by digging a hole of sufficient depth and circum- 
ference to admit the body, the head being cut off. In the grave are placed the bows 
and arrows, bead-work, trappings, &c., belonging to the deceased; quantities of 
food, consisting of dried fish, roots, herbs, &c., were placed with the body also. The 
grave was then filled up, covering the headless body; then a bundle of fagots was 
brought and placed on the grave by the different members of the tribe, and on these 
fagots the head was placed, the pile fired, and the head consumed to ashes ; after this 
was done the female relatives of the deceased, who had appeared as mourners with 
their faces blackened with a preparation resembling tar or paint, dipped their fingers 
in the ashes of the cremated head and made three marks on their right cheek. This 
constituted the mourning garb, the period of which lasted until this black substance 
wore off from the face. In addition to this mourning, the blood female relatives of the 
deceased (who, by the way, appeared to be a man of distinction) had their hair 
cropped short. I noticed while the head was burning that the old women of the tribe 
sat on the ground, forming a large circle, inside of which another circle of young girls 
were formed standing and’ swaying their bodies to and fro and singing a mournful 
ditty. This was the only burial of a male that I witnessed. The custom of burying 
* females is very different, their bodies being wrapped or bundled up in skins and laid 
away in caves, with their valuables, and in some cases food being placed with them 
in their mouths. Occasionally money is left to pay for food in the spirit land. 
This account is furnished by Gen. Charles H. Tompkins, deputy 
quartermaster-general, United States Army, who witnessed the burial 
above related, and is the more interesting as it seems to be the only 
well-authenticated case on record, although I. A. Barber* has described 
what may possibly have been a case of cremation like the one above 
noted : 
A very singular case of aboriginal burial was brought to my notice recently by Mr. 
William Klingbeil, of Philadelphia. On the New Jersey bank of the Delaware River, 
a short distance below Gloucester City, the skeleton of a man was found buried in a 
standing position, in a high, red, sandy-clay bluff overlooking the stream. A few 
inches below the surface the neck bones were found, and below these the remainder 
of the skeleton, with the exception of the bones of the hands and feet. The skull 
being wanting, it could not be determined whether the remains were those of an 
Indian or of a white man, but in either case the sepulture was peculiarly aboriginal. 
A careful exhumation and critical examination by Mr. Klingbeil disclosed the fact that 
around the lower extremities of the body had been placed a number of large stones, 
which revealed traces of fire, in conjunction with charred wood, and the bones of the 
feet had undoubtedly been consumed, This fact makes it appear reasonably certain 
that the subject had been executed, probably as a prisoner of war. A pit had been 
dug, in which he was placed erect, and a fire kindled aroundhim. Then he had been 
buried alive, or, at least, if he did not survive the fiery ordeal, his body was imbedded 
*Amer. Naturalist, Sept., 1878, p. 629. 
