ANTIQUITY OF CREMATION 49 



etc., and covered over with saplings of the mountain aspen ; on top of these 

 the removed bowlders were piled, forming a huge cairn, which appeared 

 large enough to have marked the last resting place of an elephant. In the 

 immediate vicinity of the graves were scattered the osseous remains of a 

 number of horses which had been sacrificed no doubt during the funeral 

 ceremonies. In one of the graves, said to contain the body of a chief, in 

 addition to a number of articles useful and ornamental, were found parts of 

 the skeleton of a boy, and tradition states that a captive boy was buried 

 alive at this place. 



In connection with this mode of burial it may be said that the ancient 

 Balearic Islanders covered their dead with a heap of stones, but this cere- 

 mony was preceded by an operation which consisted in cutting the body in 

 small pieces and collecting in a pot. 



CREMATION. 



Next should be noted this mode of disposing of the dead, a common 

 custom to a considerable extent among North American tribes, especially 

 those living on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains, although we 

 have undoubted evidence that it was also practiced among the more eastern 

 ones. This rite may be considered as peculiarly interesting from its great 

 antiquity, for Tegg informs us that it reached as far back as the Theban 

 war, in the account of which mention is made of the burning of Menoeacus 

 and Archemorus, who were contemporary with Jair, eighth judge of Israel. 

 It was common in the interior of Asia and among the ancient Greeks and 

 Romans, and has also prevailed among the Hindoos up to the present time. 

 In fact, it is now rapidly becoming a custom among civilized people. 



While there is a certain degree of similarity between the performance 

 of this rite among the peoples spoken of and the Indians of North America, 

 yet, did space admit, a discussion might profitably be entered upon regard- 

 ing the details of it among the ancients and the origin of the ceremony. As 

 it is, simple narrations of cremation in this country, with discursive notes 

 and an account of its origin among the Nishinams of California, by Stephen 

 Powers,* seem to be all that is required at this time : 



* Cont. to N. A. Ethuol., 1877, vol. iii, p. 341. 

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