198 MORTUARY CUSTOMS OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 
or, in modern days, a small ensign of American fabric, displayed on a standard at the 
head of their graves, which is left to fly over the deceased till it is wasted by the ele- 
ments. Scalps of their enemies, feathers of the bald or black eagle, the swallow- 
tailed falcon, or some carnivorous bird, are also placed, in such instances, on the adje- 
datig, or suspended, with offerings of various kinds, ona separate staff. But the latter 
are superadditions of a religious character, and belong to the class of the Ke-ke-wa- 
o-win-an-tig (ante, No. 4). The building of a funeral fire on recent graves is also a 
rite which belongs to the consideration of their religious faith. 
FIRES. 
It is extremely difficult to determine why the custom of building fires 
on or near graves was originated, some authors stating that the soul 
thereby underwent a certain process of purification, others that demons 
were driven away by them, and again that they were to afford light to 
the wandering soul setting out for the spirit land. One writer states 
that— 
The Algonkins believed that the fire lighted nightly on the grave was to light the 
spirit on its journey. By a coincidence to be explained by the universal sacredness of 
the number, both Algonkins and Mexicans maintained it for four nights consecutively. 
The former related the tradition that one of their ancestors returned from the spirit 
land and informed their nation that the journey thither consumed just four days, and 
that collecting fuel every night added much to the toil and fatigue the soul encoun- 
tered, all of which could be spared it. 
So it would appear that the belief existed that the fire was also in- 
tended to assist the spirit in preparing its repast. 
Stephen Powers* gives a tradition current among the Yurok of Cali- 
fornia as to the use of fires: 
After death they keep a fire burning certain nights in the vicinity of the grave. 
They hold an] believe, at least the ‘‘ Big Indians” do, that the spirits of the departed 
are compelled to cross an extremely attenuated greasy pole, which bridges over the 
chasm of the debatable land, and that they require the fire to light them on their 
darksome journey. A righteous soul traverses the pole quicker than a wicked one, 
hence they regulate the number of nights for burning a light according to the charac- 
ter for goodness or the opposite which the deceased possessed in this world. 
Dr. Emil Bessels, of the Polaris expedition, informs the writer that a 
somewhat similar belief obtains among the Esquimaux. 
Figure 47 is a fair illustration of a grave-fire; it also shows one of 
the grave-posts mentioned in a previous section. 
*Cont. to N. A. Ethnol., 1877, vol. ii., p. 58. 
