BULL. 30] 



MORZHOVOI MOSAIC 



947 



shaped mortuary houses, or box-shaped 

 wooden receptacles raised on posts, on the 

 ground, or occasionally in trees, and some- 

 times in caves, though cremation, except of 



BURIAL HOUSES, NORTHWEST COAST TRIBES. (yarrow) 



the shamans, was formerly common in this 

 section. The bodies of shamans w'ere 

 placed in small rectangular houses built 

 up of poles; the bones of children were 

 sometimes suspended in baskets. Another 

 method of disposing of the dead is that 

 known as canoe burial, the bodies l)eing 

 deposited in canoes which were placed 

 on posts or in the forks of trees. This 



CANOE BURIAL, CHINOOK. (swan) 



method was practised by the Clallam, 

 Twana, and other tribes of the N.W. 

 coast. Cremation was formerly practised 

 by a number of tribes of the Pacific slope. 

 The ancient inhabitants of s. Arizona 

 practised cremation in addition to house 

 laurial, the ashes of the cremated dead l)e- 

 ing placed in urns; but among the modern 

 Pueblos, especially those most affected by 

 Spanish missionaries, burials are made in 

 cemeteries in the villages. 



The ceremonies attendingand following 

 burial were various. The use of fire was 

 common, and it was also a very general 

 custom to place food, articles especially 

 prized by or of interest to the dead, 

 and sometimes articles having a symbolic 

 signification, in or near the grave. Scari- 

 fying the body, cutting the hair, and 

 blackening the "face by the mourners were 

 common customs, as, in some tril)es, were 

 feasts and dancing at a death or funeral. 

 As a rule the bereaved relatives observed 

 some kind of mourning for a certain 

 period, as cutting the hair, discarding or- 

 naments and neglecting the personal ap- 

 pearance, carrying a bundle representing 

 the husband (among the Chippewa, etc. ), 

 or the bones of the dead husband (among 

 some northern Athapascan tribes), and 

 wailing night and morning in solitary 

 places. It was a custom among some 



tribes to change the name of the family 

 of the deceased, and to drop tlie name of 

 the dead in whatever connection. 



Consult Bancroft, Native Races, 1874; 

 Dixon in Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., xvii, 

 pt. Ill, 1905; Farrand, Basis of Am. 

 Hist., 1904; Holm, Descr. New Sweden, 

 1834; Jesuit Relations, Thwaites ed., 

 i-Lxxii, 1896-1901; Kroeber in Bull. Am. 

 Mus. Nat. Hist., xviii, pt. i, 1902; Owen, 

 Musquakie Folk-lore, 1904; and the vari- 

 ous reports of the B. A. E., especially 

 the 1st Report, containing Yarrow's JMor- 

 tuary Costoms of the N. A. Indians, and 

 authorities therein cited. See Movrnhig, 

 Religion, Urn Uurial. (t'-T. ) 



Morzhovoi (Russian: 'walrus'). An 

 Aleut village at theend of Alaska penin., 

 Alaska, formerly at the head of Morzho- 

 voi bay, now on the n. shore, on Traders 

 cove, which opens into Isanotski bay. 

 Pop. 45 in 1833 (according to Veniaminof), 

 68 in 1S90. 



Morshevoi.— Petroff in lOth Census, Alaska,19, 1884. 

 Morshewskoje. — Holmberg, Ethnog. Skizz., map, 

 142, 1.S55. Morzaivskoi. — Elliott, Cond. Aff. Alaska, 

 225, 1875. Morzhevskoe. — VeniamiiKif, Zapiski.ii, 

 203, 1810. Morzovoi.— Post rontt- map, 1903. New 

 Morzhovoi.— Bak or, Cieog. Diet. Alaska, 1902. 

 Old Morzhovoi.— Ibid. Protasso.— PetrolY in 10th 

 Census, Alaska, map, 1884 (strictly the name of the 

 Greek church here). Protassof.— Ibid., 23. Pro- 

 tassov.— Petroff, Rep. on Alaska, 25, 1881. 



Mosaic. An art carried to high perfec- 

 tion among the more cultured aborigines 

 of Mexico, where superb work was done, 

 several examples of which enrich Euro- 

 pean museums. The art was but little 

 in vogue x. of Mexico. Hojii women of 

 to-day wear jjendants made of small 

 square or oblong wooden tablets upon 

 which rude turquoise mosaics are set in 

 black piiion gum. These are very inferior, 

 however, to specimens recovered from 

 ancient ruins in the Gila and Little Colo- 

 rado valleys in Arizona, and in Chaco 

 canyon, N. Mex., which consist of gor- 

 gets, ear pendants, and other ol:)jects, 

 some of which are well preserved while 

 others are represented only by the foun- 

 dation form surroimded by clusters of 

 settings loosened l)y decay of the matrix. 

 Turquoise was the favorite material, but 

 ])its of shell and various bright-colored 

 stones were also employed. The foun- 

 dation form was of shell, woo<l, bone, and 

 jet and other stone, and the matrix of gum 

 or asphaltum. Although the work is 

 neatly executed, the forms are sim])le and 

 the designs not elaborate. ( )ne of the best 

 examjiles, from the Little Colorado drain- 

 age in Arizona, is a pendant rudely repre- 

 senting a frog, the foundation of which is 

 a bivalve shell, the matrix of pitch, and 

 the settings of turquoise are arranged in 

 lines conforming neatly to the shape of 

 the creature, a bit of red jasper being set 

 in the center of the back ( Fewkes ) . Un- 

 fortunately the head of the frog has dig- 



