YARROW. ] BURIAL SUPERSTITIONS—CHIPPEWAS. 199 
SUPERSTITIONS. 
An entire volume might well be written which should embrace only 
an account of the superstitions regarding death and burial among the 
Indians, so thoroughly has the matter been examined and discussed by 
various authors, and yet so much still remains to be commented on, but 
in this work, which is mainly tentative, and is hoped will be provoca- 
tive of future efforts, it is deemed sufficient to give only a few accounts. 
The first is by Dr. W. Mathews, United States Army,* and relates to 
the Hidatsa : 
When a Hidatsa dies, his shade lingers four nights around the camp or village in 
which he died, and then goes to the lodge of his departed kindred in the “ village of 
the dead.” When he has arrived there he is rewarded for his valor, self-denial, and 
ambition on earth by receiving the same regard in the one place as in the other, for there 
as here the brave man is honored and the coward despised. Some say that the ghosts 
of those that commit suicide occupy a separate part of the village, but that their con- 
dition differs in no wise from that of the others. In the next world human shades 
hunt and live in the shades of buffalo and other animals that have here died. There, 
too, there are four seasons, but they come in an inverse order to the terrestrial seasons. 
During the four nights that the ghost is supposed to linger near his former dwelling, 
those who disliked or feared the deceased, and do not wish a visit from the shade, 
scorch with red coals a pair of moccasins which they leave at the door of the lodge. 
The smell of the burning leather they claim keeps the ghost out; but the true friends 
of the dead man take no such precautions. 
From this account it will be seen that the Hidatsa as well as the Al- 
gonkins and Mexicans believed that four days were required before the 
spirit could finally leave the earth. Why the smell of burning leather 
should be offensive to spirits it would perhaps be fruitless to speculate on. 
The next account, by Keating,t relating to the Chippewas, shows a 
slight analogy regarding the slippery-pole tradition already alluded to : 
The Chippewas believe that there is in man an essence entirely distinct from the 
body; they call it Ochechag, and appear to supply to it the qualities which we refer to 
the soul. They believe that it quits the body at the time of death, and repairs to 
what they term Chekechekchekawe ; this region is supposed to be situated to the south, 
and on the shores of the great ocean. Previous to arriving there they meet with a 
stream which they are obliged to cross upon a large snake that answers the purpose 
of a bridge; those who die from drowning never succeed in crossing the stream; they 
are thrown into it and remain there forever. Some souls come to the edge of the 
stream, but are prevented from passing by the snake, which threatens to devourthem ; 
these are the souls of the persons in a lethargy or trance. Being refused a passage 
these souls return to their bodies and reanimate them. They believe that animals 
have souls, and even that inorganic substances, such as kettles, &c., have in them a 
similar essence. 
*Ethnol. and Philol. of the Hidatsa Indians. U.S. Geol. Surv. of Terr., 1877, p. 409, 
tLong’s Exped., 1824, vol. ii, p. 158, 
