24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 71 



left by the deceased, may appear to advantage, and accompanied by 

 as great a number of friends as can be collected. It is then let down 

 into the coffin, covered with the cloth, and the lid being nailed down, 

 the grave is filled up with earth. During the letting down of the 

 corpse the women set up a dreadful howl, but it is deemed a shame in 

 a man to weep. Yet in silence and unobserved, they cannot refrain 

 from tears. At the head of the corpse, which always lies towards the 

 east, a tall post is erected, pointing out who is buried there. If the 

 deceased w^as the Chief of a tribe or nation, this post is only neatly 

 carved, but not painted. But if he was a captain, it is painted red, 

 and his head and glorious deeds are pourtrayed upon it. This is also 

 done in honor of a great warrior, his warlike deeds being exhibited in 

 red colors. The burial-post of a physician is hung with small tortois- 

 shells or a calabash, Avhich he used in his practice. After the burial 

 the greater part of the goods left by the deceased are distributed 

 among those who assisted in burying him, and are not related to 

 him. . . . After the ceremony is over, the mother, grandmother, 

 and other near relations retire after sunset, and in the morning early, 

 to weep over the grave. This they repeat daily for some time, but 

 gradually less and less, till the mourning is over. Sometimes they 

 place victuals upon the grave, that the deceased may not suffer 

 hunger." And folloAving this is an account of the mourning for the 

 dead. (Loskiel, (1), pt. 1, pp. 119-121.) 



In the preceding description of the manner in which graves were 

 prepared by the DelaAvare about the last years of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury there is something quite suggestive of the stono-lined graves. In 

 both instances pits were dug, to be lined in earlier days with thin, 

 natural slabs of stone, and later, when boards were obtainable, they 

 were used in the place of stones. Then when coffins were to be had 

 they were looked upon as a ready-prepared grave lining, one which 

 did not require any fitting together when placed inside the grave. 

 And so the grave would be dug of a size to accommodate the wooden 

 lining — the coffin — which had already been fastened together, and 

 when the grave was thus lined the body would be placed within it. 

 Such was the custom and such was the characteristic reasoning of the 

 Indian. 



THE NANTICOKE 



The Nanticoke, who lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, 

 Avere connected, linguistically, with the Delaware, and before the 

 latter removed westward beyond the Alleghenies the}^ were neigh- 

 boring tribes. The Nanticoke were encountered by Capt. John Smith 

 and his party of colonists from Jamestown in 1608, living on or 

 near the river which continues to bear their tribal name. For many 

 years they were enemies of the colonists^ but remained in the region 



