132 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [boll. 71 



duct, having as Jaioe a Prerogative in liis Way of Kuiing as the 

 Present King I now spoke of. 



"The manner of their Interment is thus: A Mole or Pyramid 

 of Earth is raised, the Mole thereof being Avorked very smooth and 

 even, sometimes higher or lower, according to the dignity of the 

 Person whose Monument it is. On the Top there is an Umbrella, 

 made Ridge-Ways, like the roof of an House; this is supported by 

 nine Stakes or small Posts, the grave being about G to 8 foot in 

 Length, and Four Foot in Breadth; about it is hung Gourds, 

 Feathers, and other suchlike Trophies, placed there by the dead 

 man's relations, in Respect to him in the Grave. The other part of 

 the Funeral Rites are thus: As soon as the party is dead, they lay 

 the corpse on a piece of bark in the Sun, seasoning or embalming 

 it with a small root beaten to powder, which looks as red as Ver- 

 million ; the same is mixed with Bear's Oil to beautify the Hair. . . . 

 After the Carcass has laid a day or two in the Sun, they remove it 

 and lay it upon Crotches cut on purpose for the support thereof 

 from the Earth ; Then they anoint it all over with the fore-mentioned 

 ingredients of the powder of this root and Bear's Oil. When it is 

 so done, they cover it over very exactly with bark of the Pine or 

 Cyprus Trees, to prevent any Rain to fall upon it, sweeping the 

 ground very clean all about it. Some of the nearest Kin brings all 

 the temporal Estate he was possess'd of at his death, as Guns, Bows, 

 Arrows, Beads, Feathers, Match-Coat, etc. This relation is the chief 

 mourner, being clad in moss, and a stick in his hand, keeping a 

 mournful ditty for three or four days, his face being black with the 

 Smoke of Pitch Pine mingled with Bear's Oil. All the while he 

 tells the dead Man's relations, and the rest of the spectators who that 

 Dead Person was, and of the Great Feats performed in his lifetime ; 

 all of what he speaks, tending to the praise of the defunct. As soon 

 as the flesh grows mellow, and will cleave from the bone, they get it 

 off, and burn it, making all the bones very clean, then anoint them 

 with the ingredients aforesaid, wrapping up the Skull (very care- 

 fully) in a cloth artificially woven of Possum's Hair, (These 

 Indians make Girdles, Sashes, Garters, etc., after the same manner) 

 The bones they very carefully preserve in a wooden box. every year 

 oiling and cleaning them ; by this means preserve them for many 

 ages, that you ma}' see an Indian in possession of the bones of his 

 grandfather, or some of his relations of a larger Antiquity. They 

 have other sorts of Tombs, as where an Indian is slain, in that place 

 they make a heap of stones, (or sticks Avhere stones are not to be 

 found) to this memorial every Indian that passes by adds a stone to 

 augment the Heap, in respect to the deceas'd hero." (Lawson, (1), 

 pp. 9-10.) 



